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Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 17:42:40 +0930
From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To: Joe McGuckin <joe@via.net>
Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: 2.2.2R panics
References: <199709140714.AAA06192@monk.via.net>
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In-Reply-To: <199709140714.AAA06192@monk.via.net>; from Joe McGuckin on Sun, Sep 14, 1997 at 12:14:42AM -0700
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On Sun, Sep 14, 1997 at 12:14:42AM -0700, Joe McGuckin wrote:
>
> 2.2.2R on my news machine will die 30 to 90 minutes after a reboot.
>
> The msg looks like:
>
>   Fatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel mode.
>   Superuser read: page not present.
>   Stopped at allocbuf+0x463	btrl ....
>
> I've replaced the CPU, motherboard, memory, power supply, disk controllers
> and cables - but I still get kernel panics.
>
> (etc)

Then they must be coming from somewhere else.

The kernel doesn't panic just for the fun of it.  It does so to help
you find out where it's dying.  Use the help.  The hint with
allocbuf+463 is good, but if you could take a dump, it would be a
whole lot better.  Take a look at the section in the online handbook
about how to analyze a dump.

> I've been trying to make this work for a week now. I'm just about ready
> to pitch the f*&$%ing thing into the wastbasket & buy a Sun.

Suns have been known to do this too.  Until you know what the problem
is, you can't even be 100% sure that the same problem won't happen on
a Sun!

> FreeBSD has worked great for our web servers and for four months, it worked
> great for our news server. Now it's as if someone put a curse on the news
> machine. No matter what I do, I just can't make it stay alive.

Let's see that dump.

Greg