Member Avatar for lewashby

I just installed a new WD HDD. All I did was physicaly place the HDD in the computer and turn it on, now I'm getting this error. Imaged attached, any ideas? Thanks.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by rproffitt

Dani AI

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This new-drive symptom (system boots normally with the WD unplugged, kernel ATA errors when plugged in) points to a problem that happens very early in device initialization. The fault could be a bad cable/port, a power/rail spin-up problem, a controller/firmware compatibility issue, or a failing drive. The following concise, non-destructive sequence isolates the cause and gives evidence useful for repair or warranty replacement.

  • Swap the SATA data cable and try a different motherboard SATA port.
  • Use a different SATA power connector (different PSU cable/rail) or a powered SATA-to-USB dock to rule out spin-up/power issues. As noted, an external USB enclosure/dock is a quick isolation step.
  • Temporarily disconnect other non-essential drives so only the suspect WD is attached; that rules out inrush current or resource conflicts.
  • If available, test the WD in a second computer or in a known-good powered enclosure. If the same errors persist off the original motherboard, the drive is strongly suspect.

A Linux live environment can be used to collect diagnostic logs and SMART data. Useful commands:

lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,MODEL,ROTA
sudo dmesg -T | egrep -i 'ata|comreset|error|failed' | tail -n 100
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdX
sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sdX   # wait for the test to finish, then run -a again
sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdX

How to interpret results and next steps: repeated COMRESET/bus-reset errors on different cables/ports usually mean a bad drive or controller. SMART attributes showing reallocated, pending, or UDMA CRC errors indicate impending or present failure — stop writing and arrange replacement/RMA. If SMART is clean and the drive works in an external dock but not on the original board, investigate BIOS/firmware updates and SATA mode (AHCI) or chipset incompatibilities (older boards and very large drives can be problematic). Filesystem checks (fsck) are only useful after the device is reliably visible at the block level.

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Member Avatar for lewashby

Thanks. Most of those errors and solutions happen after the system boots. I can't even get to the login screen without this error. If I unplug the new HDD everything works fine but as soon as I plug it in I get those ata errors. I probably purchased the HDD about a year ago but I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever used it, so it's pretty much brand new. I'm thinging that it's either a bad HDD or maybe it's using too much power along with the other two HDDs + one SSD.

Member Avatar for rproffitt

In a pinch, I try some USB case to prepare the drive. As to power I rarely run into that as a run of the mill HDD takes at most 20 Watts. A good PC should have much more headroom or spare Watts.

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