"ATA error count X inconsistent with error log pointer" - trouble or bug?

[René Bertin]

I received a new 256Gb Kingston (M-SATA) SSD and as usual I filled it with zeroes and then ran a long self-test before taking it into use.

Here's the output of smartctl -a (smartmontools 7.4):

smartctl 7.4 2023-08-01 r5530 [x86_64-linux-4.14.23-ck1-mainline-core2-rjvb] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-23, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Silicon Motion based SSDs
Device Model:     KINGSTON SKC600MS256G
Serial Number:    50026B77856B72A3
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0026b7 7856b72a3
Firmware Version: S4800105
User Capacity:    256,060,514,304 bytes [256 GB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    Solid State Device
Form Factor:      2.5 inches
TRIM Command:     Available, deterministic, zeroed
Device is:        In smartctl database 7.3/5533
ATA Version is:   ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.3, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Sat Sep  9 18:35:36 2023 CEST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82) Offline data collection activity
                                        was completed without error.
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever 
                                        been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:                (    0) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        Offline surface scan supported.
                                        Self-test supported.
                                        Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                        Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0002) Does not save SMART data before
                                        entering power-saving mode.
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                        General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (  30) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x0031) SCT Status supported.
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.
                                        SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       4
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2
148 Total_SLC_Erase_Ct      0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       19
149 Max_SLC_Erase_Ct        0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2
150 Min_SLC_Erase_Ct        0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
151 Average_SLC_Erase_Ct    0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1
159 DRAM_1_Bit_Error_Count  0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
160 Uncorrectable_Error_Cnt 0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
161 Valid_Spare_Block_Cnt   0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       37
164 Total_Erase_Count       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1487
165 Max_Erase_Count         0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       6
166 Min_Erase_Count         0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2
167 Average_Erase_Count     0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2
169 Remaining_Lifetime_Perc 0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       100
177 Wear_Leveling_Count     0x0000   100   100   050    Old_age   Offline      -       0
181 Program_Fail_Cnt_Total  0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
182 Erase_Fail_Count_Total  0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0000   043   063   000    Old_age   Offline      -       43
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0000   100   100   016    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0000   100   100   050    Old_age   Offline      -       0
231 SSD_Life_Left           0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       100
232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       100
241 Host_Writes_32MiB       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       13512
242 Host_Reads_32MiB        0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
245 TLC_Writes_32MiB        0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       24535

SMART Error Log Version: 1
Warning: ATA error count 0 inconsistent with error log pointer 1

ATA Error Count: 0
        CR = Command Register [HEX]
        FR = Features Register [HEX]
        SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
        SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
        CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
        CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
        DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
        DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
        ER = Error register [HEX]
        ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 0 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 0 hours (0 days + 0 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  00 ec 00 00 00 00 00

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:00.000  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:00.000  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:00.000  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:00.000  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  c8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:00.000  READ DMA

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%         4         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

The above only provides legacy SMART information - try 'smartctl -x' for more
```

I'm attaching the output of `smartctl -a -x`.

The SSD is in an Inateck enclosure currently connected over USB2.

Does this indicate a problem with the drive, a glitch (cat tripping over the cable or something like that ;)) or an issue in smartmontools?

[René Bertin]

smartctl -a -x /dev/sdc