David Gilbert wrote:
> 
>         Among my other problems (I'm back to my normal kernel right
> now), I just started getting these messages on my console (this is all
> of them):
> 
> sd5(si0:5:0): non-media hardware failure, data = 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
> sd5(si0:5:0): non-media hardware failure, data = 00 00 01 32 00 00 00 00 00 00

I get these when a cranky CDC 94171 overheats and shuts down.

> sd5(si0:5:0): medium error, info = 514848 (decimal), data = 00 00 01 32 00 00 00 00 00 00
... 
>         Now... the system's still running... and I havn't noticed
> anything wrong, but is this a sign of imanent disk failure?

Possibly.  If you have a copy of the SCSI spec you should be able to 
translate the info/data fields and work out which LBN is failing on you,
and either map it out with a hand-constructed SCSI command (the FreeBSD 
'scsi' program is ideal for this) or use 'badsect' to put it out of the
way.

> |David Gilbert, PCI, Richmond Hill, Ontario.  | Two things can only be     |

--
Mike Smith  *BSD hack  Unix hardware collector
The question "why are the fundamental laws of nature mathematical"
invites the trivial response "because we define as fundamental those
laws which are mathematical".  Paul Davies, _The_Mind_of_God_