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Date:      Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:39:49 -0600
From:      John Nielsen <lists@jnielsen.net>
To:        Karl Pielorz <kpielorz_lst@tdx.co.uk>
Cc:        freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: File system corruption with 9.2-R on PC Engines Alix boards
Message-ID:  <0D92C2CC-3640-42AA-B589-33929641E984@jnielsen.net>
In-Reply-To: <C7112211D77A121BD752C9B7@Mail-PC.tdx.co.uk>
References:  <C7112211D77A121BD752C9B7@Mail-PC.tdx.co.uk>

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On Mar 28, 2014, at 11:02 AM, Karl Pielorz <kpielorz_lst@tdx.co.uk> =
wrote:

> We have a number of PC Engines Alix boards, running FreeBSD 8.2. They =
boot off of an onboard CF cards.
>=20
> I recently installed a new one of these with 9.2-Release (i386) - only =
to discover that it silently (i.e. with no errors) destroys the file =
system when in use.
>=20
> Typically we install these systems then flip the file system over to =
'read-only' when sending them out. The corruption happens while we're =
installing various packages etc.
>=20
> We don't run journal soft-updates on these boxes - just regular =
soft-updates .
>=20
> No console errors are logged, no syslog messages are logged. Just =
after a while you might go to edit '/etc/rc.conf' - to find when you vi =
it - it's now become a copy of '/etc/ntp.conf' - or other oddities.
>=20
> A reboot runs fsck - which will usually fail then. Running a =
foreground check reals off thousands of duplicate errors. If you =
foreground check the file system, you're usually left with "not a lot" =
when it's finished (i.e. if you run 'fsck -y /').
>=20
> 8.2 runs fine (we have systems that have been running embedded for =
years) - 9.2 doesn't.
>=20
> I found a similar thread:
>=20
> =
<http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2012-March/066697.html>=

>=20
> This eludes to CF card quality etc. - the cards we've been using have =
worked fine for years - and a 9.2 'flaky' system reformatted to 8.2 then =
runs fine.
>=20
> Anyone else running later than 8.2 on PC Engine Alix kit?

I have a pair of alix3dw systems that I use as wireless access points. =
Both are running 10-STABLE on internal CF without problems. (I do world =
and package builds on a faster host.) One has SU+J, the other has just =
SU. I know I ran some version of 9-STABLE on the same hardware as well =
(probably 9.1-ish) and don't remember any issues like those you are =
describing.

FWIW, both use this CF card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=3DN82E16820134575

You might try to see when the badness appeared in the FreeBSD 9 branch =
by building kernels from various points and running them. If you use a =
different build host and just build a custom kernel without (many) =
modules or world it shouldn't be too onerous. I'd be curious to see if a =
different CF card has the same problems too.

JN




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