system randomly freezes

[Gergely CZUCZY]

On Sat, Nov 11, 2006 at 02:02:46PM -0500, Kris Kennaway wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 11, 2006 at 07:57:47PM +0100, Gergely CZUCZY wrote:
> 
> > > OK, seems weird to go through all the disruption of changing to a new
> > > OS instead of a few minutes work at a console to give us what we need
> > > to resolve the matter -- but whatever works for you.
> > already done some stuff like these movings... i'm familiars with them.
> > it's not about a few minutes work. it's about the few hours' downtime :)
> 
> It's a few minutes to perform the additional work at the serial
> console when your system hangs, which is *required* for a developer to
> help with your problem.  If you're not willing to do this, there's not
> much more we can do for you.
i will see what can i do. a serial console may be accessable, but i'm not sure.
i will have to visit the server hotel and talk with the techies there. we
have two boxes there, and it may be somehow possible to connect their
serial ports. the problem is, they are far away in the room from each other.
the hotel only gives system console(VGA+ps2 keyboard) access if i ask. but
this bloody box sometimes ain't even responses to that anyways, the LCD
remains blank.
i'd like to solve this, but the technical opportunities are limited here.
we cannot have downtime, and if we have it have to be minimized. as you see
clients won't accept a reasons like "sorry, we were debugging this OS we
run at the server".

the question will be that, when i have a serial link, and shit happens(tm),
should i inspect it myself, or should i scream somewhere for a more decent
person (maybe a developer) to check it?

> > > > > > taking into account these facts, exactly what additional debugging
> > > > > > would you recommend?
> > > > > 
> > > > > Turn on all the usual debugging checks (WITNESS, INVARIANTS,
> > > > > DEBUG_*_LOCKS, etc) and check whether anything turns up.
> > > > i've found these in conf/NOTES and i386/conf/NOTES:
> > > > options         WITNESS
> > > > options         INVARIANTS
> > > > options         DEBUG_VFS_LOCKS
> > > > 
> > > > anything else?
> > > 
> > > Well, yeah...I'd hoped you'd be able to figure it out for yourself
> > > though without me spelling it out :) Also add INVARIANT_SUPPORT and
> > > DEBUG_LOCKS.
> > good. i had some compiling errors :)
> > sorry, but i'm not familiar with building a debug kernel
> > 
> > > First, try with just altq removed, in case that already fixes it.  If
> > > not, then proceed as above.
> > okey. when 6.2 comes at, to that on the nearest sunday i will update
> > the system anyways, and check it with this new configuration. i wouldn't
> > make an unnessecary downtime if it's not required.
> 
> After 6.2 is release will of course be too late for you, again.  If
> the problem is not fixed by magic then you'll be in the same position
> you are now.
why too late? it usually go for a month with a reboot. and it should be
released in a month. as i see, it fits into the time :)
> 
> I really suggest you get that serial console hooked up, read the
> documentation I pointed you at, and then put in the trivial effort
> required to let the FreeBSD team help you.
> 
> > BTW, currently' i'm not on the list, and these emails are not
> > going to be posted there.
> > would you be so kind and include the mailing list in your
> > next reply's CC list?
> > it would be nice if the mailing list could archive this
> > discussion.
> 
> You were the one who dropped the list from the CC in your reply to
> me ;-)
err... the first letter i'd got from you didn't contained the list itself.
i usually do a reply-to-all, and because it wasn't mentioned, i double-checked it.
nevermind, now it gets CC'd there.

Bye,

Gergely Czuczy
mailto: gergely.czuczy at harmless.hu

-- 
Weenies test. Geniuses solve problems that arise.
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