From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 10 05:38:34 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C1F0316A4EE for ; Tue, 10 May 2005 05:38:34 +0000 (GMT) Received: from malasada.lava.net (malasada.lava.net [64.65.64.17]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82B2843D49 for ; Tue, 10 May 2005 05:38:34 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from cliftonr@lava.net) Received: by malasada.lava.net (Postfix, from userid 102) id BE606153882; Mon, 9 May 2005 19:38:33 -1000 (HST) Date: Mon, 9 May 2005 19:38:33 -1000 From: Clifton Royston To: RW Message-ID: <20050510053832.GA26530@tikitechnologies.com> Mail-Followup-To: RW , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <5EEBE9C3C61D1142994C6B620C51E847110A73@depot.weblinkmo.com> <44hdhgh5nx.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> <20050507010038.GH9865@tikitechnologies.com> <200505100430.15798.list-freebsd-2004@morbius.sent.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200505100430.15798.list-freebsd-2004@morbius.sent.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2i cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 5 day lockup on Densitron X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 05:38:34 -0000 On Tue, May 10, 2005 at 04:30:15AM +0100, RW wrote: > On Saturday 07 May 2005 02:00, Clifton Royston wrote: > > What you describe > > could conceivably be the result of a special counter or RTC chip > > running as a "watchdog timer" with a count-down from boot time, and > > generating some kind of special interrupt when that countdown reaches > > 0. Watchdog devices are sometimes set up to require the application > > software to "stroke" the timer periodically (reset it in software) with > > the intent to force a reset of the system (usually a reboot) after > > such-and-such a period of time if not stroked. > > Watchdog timeouts are typically a fraction of a minute, a 5 day watchdog > timeout is very unlikely. Watchdogs are normally designed to be initialized at boot by the software, and as FreeBSD doesn't know about it... It's a long-shot, but less so than "overheating" always happening to build up and cause a reset randomly at exactly the same 5 day period of time as somebody suggested. -- Clifton -- Clifton Royston -- cliftonr@tikitechnologies.com Tiki Technologies Lead Programmer/Software Architect "I'm gonna tell my son to grow up pretty as the grass is green And whip-smart as the English Channel's wide..." -- 'Whip-Smart', Liz Phair