From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Dec 30 05:51:27 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1819216A418 for ; Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:51:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from iain@workingsoftware.com.au) Received: from gulfstream.scoastnet.com.au (gulfstream.scoastnet.com.au [202.177.214.10]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AE1F113C45A for ; Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:51:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from iain@workingsoftware.com.au) Received: from socata.scoastnet.com.au (socata.iaindooley.com [202.167.244.104]) by gulfstream.scoastnet.com.au (8.13.3/8.13.6) with ESMTP id lBU5pPnr079072; Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:51:25 +1100 (EST) (envelope-from iain@workingsoftware.com.au) Received: by socata.scoastnet.com.au (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 1846422B13; Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:50:30 +1100 (EST) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by socata.scoastnet.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1736222AA6; Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:50:30 +1100 (EST) Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:50:30 +1100 (EST) From: Iain Dooley To: Ivan Voras In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20071230164430.A2071@socata.scoastnet.com.au> References: <20071230122718.D2071@socata.scoastnet.com.au> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: kernel panic 6.2-RELEASE SMP dual quad core X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:51:27 -0000 hi ivan, >> uname -a >> FreeBSD HOSTNAME 6.2-RELEASE FreeBSD 6.2-RELEASE #0: Fri Jan 12 11:05:30 >> UTC 2007 root@dessler.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/SMP i386 >> >> running on dual quad core intel xeons with 4gb ram. > > Are you using PAE? (probably not if this is the generic SMP configuration). no, i checked and i'm not using PAE. >> current process = 12 (idle: cpu5) > > This is important. The "idle" process does literary nothing and is > highly unlikely to contain a bug. > > Does this mean that the problem only appears when the system is idle? hmm maybe i should leave the system idle and see if it crashes again :) i've been running an application which just loads up RAM with lots of processes keeping at least 32 processes running at all times. each script is killed when it uses too much space. the machine hasn't crashed again for like 2 days. i'm going away so i might leave it idle for that time and see if it crashes again. i've got a dump device setup this time which will give me more information to send into the list. > By the way, you are likely not to get any performance benefits (and some > performance regressions are likely) with this number of CPUs on FreeBSD > 6.2, except if you intend to do CPU-intensive tasks (like scientific > caluclations). If you can, try the latest release candidate of 7.0. i'm just running a web application on it. it's a total pain though. i should have just bought a late model second hand p4 or something rather than a state of the art machine. i'm too out of touch with modern hardware to have known what i was getting myself into. live and learn i guess. cheers iain