Panic: 6.2-STABLE/RELEASE, sysctl (on boot) -- ath related

[Hugo Silva]

Hi,


While upgrading a fileserver / home wireless access point to 
6.2-RELEASE, it wouldn't come back after the regular 
build/installworld/mergemaster procedures.

I attached a keyboard and monitor to the server and noticed it was 
panicking on boot, current process being sysctl:


Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: Fatal trap 12: page fault while in 
kernel mode
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: fault virtual address        = 0x0
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: fault code           = supervisor 
read, page not present
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: instruction pointer  = 0x20:0xc06fb2a6
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: stack pointer                = 
0x28:0xd9734ad8
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: frame pointer                = 
0x28:0xc3383000
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: code segment         = base 0x0, 
limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: = DPL 0, pres 1, def32 1, gran 1
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: processor eflags     = interrupt 
enabled, resume, IOPL = 0
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: current process              = 186 
(sysctl)
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: trap number          = 12
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: panic: page fault
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: Uptime: 3s
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: Cannot dump. No dump device defined.
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: Automatic reboot in 15 seconds - 
press a key on the console to abort
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: --> Press a key on the console to reboot,
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: --> or switch off the system now.
Feb 13 18:27:51 hyperblast kernel: Rebooting...


The last line seen before the panic is sysctl adjusting values 
(according to sysctl.conf):

# tail /etc/sysctl.conf

dev.ath.0.tpscale=1
dev.ath.0.diversity=0


Now, there are two interesting things to note:

a) If I uncomment these lines with the system running and reload 
(/etc/rc.d/sysctl reload), there's no panic.

b) It used to work just fine on 6.0-RELEASE-p5.


It is not a big deal, but just something that perhaps should be fixed.

For the records, I tried -RELEASE and -STABLE. Currently running -STABLE 
(as of 2007-02-12 @ about 2AM GMT)


Best regards,


Hugo