From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 8 12:40:40 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5A0CB16A4CE for ; Wed, 8 Dec 2004 12:40:40 +0000 (GMT) Received: from fledge.watson.org (fledge.watson.org [204.156.12.50]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C66A343D54 for ; Wed, 8 Dec 2004 12:40:39 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from robert@fledge.watson.org) Received: from fledge.watson.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by fledge.watson.org (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id iB8CcD9v000244; Wed, 8 Dec 2004 07:38:13 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from robert@fledge.watson.org) Received: from localhost (robert@localhost)iB8CcDrp000241; Wed, 8 Dec 2004 12:38:13 GMT (envelope-from robert@fledge.watson.org) Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 12:38:13 +0000 (GMT) From: Robert Watson X-Sender: robert@fledge.watson.org To: Michael Nottebrock In-Reply-To: <200412081316.50578.michaelnottebrock@gmx.net> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: crashdumps not working X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2004 12:40:40 -0000 On Wed, 8 Dec 2004, Michael Nottebrock wrote: > > > I don't have kdb enabled in my kernel configuration at all... > > > > I'm guessing it might be useful at this point, if possible :-). > > Useful for what exactly? I'm mainly interested in getting this machine > to auto-reboot after a (watchdog-triggered) panic, crashdumps are a > bonus. At the moment, it will just hang on a panic (even if I do not > enable crashdumps in rc.conf, it won't reset), and since it's usually > running X, it will just stand there while the CRTs burn in. If you think > you can get a clue as to why it wouldn't crashdump or reset by something > I can do in kdb, I will enable it ... The primary goal in using KDB would be to see what parts of the crash, dump, and reset work separately. For example, by entering KDB using the sysctl, we can see if dumps work on your system when not in a potentially sticky situation (i.e., not in an interrupt handler, or with interrupts disabled, after a controller wedge, or the like). So I'm thinking it would be nice to know: - Can you enter and continue from kdb normally using the sysctl. - If you can enter kdb using the sysctl, does "call doadump()" work from kdb? - If you can enter kdb using the sysctl, oes "reset" work from kdb? I.e., do the individual elements work from the debugger. If they do, then we can try the same from entering the debugger following the panic, and see how things differ. > > This is a NULL pointer dereference; you can use addr2line or gdb on your > > kernel.debug to turn it into a line number even without a core. That > > might well be worth doing, as we might be able to debug that even without > > getting dumping working on the box. > > It's a SCHED_ULE + PREEMPTION triggered panic, probably there's no point > in investigating it at this point, as _ULE has been demoted to > abandonware :-(. ULE is temporarily without an owner, but Jeff and others have expressed interest in working on it further. I'd not run it for the time being, but it's probably not a hopeless case. Does the above statement mean that the hangs or panics you are experiencing don't happen at all if you just use 4BSD? > > Syncing on panic is, in general, probably not going to make it work better > > than not. I guess there's no chance the box has an NMI button? > > Right. I just enabled it for the SW_WATCHDOG experiments (which made me > discover that this machine would just get stuck on panics in the first > place), I already turned it off again. Thanks. Just trying to keep track of and reduce the number of variables. Robert N M Watson FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Projects robert@fledge.watson.org Principal Research Scientist, McAfee Research