On Wed, October 3, 2007 11:27 am, Gregory K. Ruiz-Ade wrote:
> So, in a similar vein to the other hardware debugging issues that
> have been discussed here, does anyone have recommendations for
> debugging when a system spontaneously reboots?
>
> The basic result is as if someone hit the reset button. Now, unless
> the reset button on the case is actually triggering somehow (why
> would it?), what could be causing this?
>
> It's driving me absolutely batty, because it started on Tuesday,
> apparently in the morning:
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED](pts/2):~ 4 > last reboot
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Wed Oct 3 07:20 - 11:13 (03:53)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Wed Oct 3 00:56 - 00:57 (00:00)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Wed Oct 3 00:47 - 00:54 (00:06)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Wed Oct 3 00:31 - 00:31 (00:00)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Tue Oct 2 23:30 - 00:31 (01:01)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Tue Oct 2 23:19 - 23:29 (00:09)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Tue Oct 2 21:24 - 23:29 (02:05)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Tue Oct 2 11:47 - 23:29 (11:42)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Tue Oct 2 10:46 - 23:29 (12:42)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Tue Oct 2 09:46 - 23:29 (13:42)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Tue Oct 2 08:46 - 23:29 (14:43)
> reboot system boot 2.6.20-16-generi Tue Oct 2 07:46 - 23:29 (15:43)
>
> I've checked last month's wtmp for reboot entries, and there's
> nothing aside from when I know I've restarted the system.
>
> To top it all off, this is my MythTV system, and these antics have
> interfered with recording schedules that we've pulled off of the TiVo
> (guess I visit the iTunes store?).
>
> I've pulled the machine (new everything, all purchased, assembled and
> installed ~1 month ago) out of the cabinet, cleaned all the dust off
> the air intake screens, adjusted the intake fans up a notch (from
> "low" to "medium"; I love these Antec Tri-Cool fans) to increase
> airflow through the case. I went into the BIOS and told it to be
> more aggressive with the control of the CPU cooler's fan.
>
> While I was there, I checked the temps. everything was ~30-33 C, but
> MCH and ICH zones were 67 and 66 C, respectively. Are these the CPU
> core temps? This is a Q6600 (i think) Core 2 Quad 2.4GHZ part. Am I
> not getting enough cooling? The heatsink fins are warm to touch, but
> not unbearably hot.
>
> I tried to install lm-sensors, but sensors-detect detected no
> sensors. It's possible the latest code from upstream might support
> my motherboard (Intel DP35DPM), but what's included with Ubuntu 7.04
> does not. Didn't have time to investigate further.
>
> Is my power supply glitched? This particular case orients the PSU so
> that it's fan draws air from directly outside the case via its own
> intake screen... This was caked with dust (hooray SoCal air!), which
> I wiped off the screen. Do modern PSU's have a thermal cut-out that
> prevent them from powering up the box or cut power to a running
> system if it's too hot?
>
> I ran a memtest86+ overnight, and the RAM came up clean.
>
> The vendor did a burn-in test on the CPU/Mobo/RAM combo before
> shipping it. It's been running non-stop for over a month without
> problem...
>
> Do I just need to do a monthly dusting & blow-out? (Or move into an
> hermetically-sealed house?)
>
> Frustrating.
>
> Gregory
>
Any idea of what it's doing when it reboots? Also, which MythTV are you
using?
Myth lists itself as 0.20.2, and it doesn't deserve better. Mine (MythDora
4) locks up if I do controls too fast (no ping, reset needed) and
occaisonally needs the file system repaired with an alternate superblock.
It also does this weird thing where the frame freezes and the sound goes
into an Elmer Fudd loop ("lubba lubba lubba") of a repeated fragment --
also a reset error. And yes, I ran memtest86 overnight too. They're that
sort of errors[0].
I suspect Myth has a lot of race conditions, and also that the different
distros (deb, rpm, knoppix, etc) make unjustified configuration
assumptions. Sometimes changing distros "just works" (but introduces a
different set of problems).
Finally, if this is happening on boot, it sounds like the type of thing a
typo or bad line in /etc/inittab is famous for causing.
[0] Has anyone else noticed that top always shows Myth using 180K swap? I
doubled my RAM from 1/2 G to a full G, and that 180K is still there.
What's that all about?
--
Lan Barnes
SCM Analyst Linux Guy
Tcl/Tk Enthusiast Biodiesel Brewer
--
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