From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Nov 19 03:16:04 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0D3EC16A41F for ; Sat, 19 Nov 2005 03:16:04 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jhb@freebsd.org) Received: from speedfactory.net (mail6.speedfactory.net [66.23.216.219]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6DDD243D49 for ; Sat, 19 Nov 2005 03:16:03 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jhb@freebsd.org) Received: from server.baldwin.cx (unverified [66.23.211.162]) by speedfactory.net (SurgeMail 3.5b3) with ESMTP id 2259185 for multiple; Fri, 18 Nov 2005 22:16:07 -0500 Received: from zion.baldwin.cx (zion.baldwin.cx [192.168.0.7]) (authenticated bits=0) by server.baldwin.cx (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id jAJ3FwEp042539; Fri, 18 Nov 2005 22:15:58 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from jhb@freebsd.org) From: John Baldwin To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 22:15:03 -0500 User-Agent: KMail/1.8.3 References: In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200511182215.04399.jhb@freebsd.org> X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.8 required=4.2 tests=ALL_TRUSTED autolearn=failed version=3.0.2 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.2 (2004-11-16) on server.baldwin.cx X-Server: High Performance Mail Server - http://surgemail.com r=1653887525 Cc: Charles Sprickman Subject: Re: 4.8 "Alternate system clock has died" error X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 03:16:04 -0000 On Friday 18 November 2005 10:05 pm, Charles Sprickman wrote: > Hello, > > I tried this query on -stable, hoping someone here can help me further > understand and troubleshoot this. > > Reference: > http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.os.freebsd.stable/32837 > > In short, top, ps report 0% CPU on all processes as of a few weeks ago. > "systat -vmstat" hands out the "Alternate system clock has died" error. > > Box is running 4.8-p24 and has been up 425 days. Nothing out of the > ordinary except for the above symptoms. In searching the various > lists/newsgroups, it seems that the other folks with this problem have > fixed it in various ways: > > -early 4.x users referenced a PR that was committed before 4.8 > -some 5.3 users reported this with unknown resolution/cause > -sending init a HUP was suggested (tried it, no luck) > -setting kern.timecounter.method: 1 (tried it, no luck) > -one user seemed to actually have a dead timer Actually, there was a patch that was committed in 5.4 and 6.0 for this issu= e. =20 You can see the diff here: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/i386/isa/clock.c.diff?r1=3D1.= 213&r2=3D1.214&f=3Dh That patch would probably backport to 4.x fairly easily. > The -stable poster had a warning that if the RTC is bad, the machine > likely won't come back up if I boot it. That has me very worried as this > box is very important (mail server). If it's a software glitch such as the ones fixed in the patch above, your b= ox=20 will come up after a reboot without a problem. > Can anyone help me determine if this is a hardware problem? If it is, I > really need to stretch the budget and dig up some new hardware to > transplant everything into. That is not very easy to tell. It's doubtful that it is a hardware problem= ,=20 but if it is, it would require a new motherboard to fix as the RTC is part = of=20 the southbridge which is rather firmly attached to your motherboard. :) =2D-=20 John Baldwin =A0<>< =A0http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve" =A0=3D =A0http://www.FreeBSD.org