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    Updated 2.1 -> 2.2-RELEASE (amd64): Server Crashing / Rebooting

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • D Offline
      dbennett
      last edited by

      Greetings,

      pfSense is crashing and I'm interested in knowing why if that is possible via the crash dumps.  I've submitted a number of crash dumps and am curious if there is any insight into what is happening.  I suspect it's hardware but would like to lean on something more then a hunch.

      Attached is one crash dump if no one has access to my submitted crash dumps

      Thanks in advance for any help.

      Dino
      [Crash Dump 20150305.txt](/public/imported_attachments/1/Crash Dump 20150305.txt)

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      • V Offline
        viragomann
        last edited by

        Hi,

        have you tried to reinstall pfSense?
        The 2.2 runs commonly stable, but sometimes the installation fails.

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        • D Offline
          dbennett
          last edited by

          Thanks for the reply!

          I have attempted to install it on 2 other servers that were running fine with 2.1 and they failed HARD before the installation even began (the 2 others are identical hardware and firmware).

          Is it possible that the RRD Graph could cause an issue?  A post I read stated that if the RRD Graph was 'corrupt' that could bring the server down and cause it to reboot.  Resetting RRD supposedly was the solution (no one replied back after that).

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          • stephenw10S Online
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Very unlikely to be RRD data causing this.
            What hardware are you running?

            Steve

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            • C Offline
              cmb
              last edited by

              What is the specific hardware in question?

              The crash is in lem_* bits, which is legacy em (old chipsets which are relatively uncommon). It sounds like it might be a driver regression in the new Intel driver with some legacy card.

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              • D Offline
                dbennett
                last edited by

                Thanks again for your replies!

                They are Dell PowerEdge SC1425. Xeon 3GHz Procs with 2G's RAM.  Nothing much

                So the NIC card is in question then?  Well, (step back) There is a dual on board NIC and a dual port NIC card.  Since it works fine on one of the servers, could I assume then the NIC card could be the issue?  Honesty don't know if the cards are the same.

                Dean

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                • K Offline
                  kejianshi
                  last edited by

                  Whenever I get crashes, no matter the reason, first thing I do is a ram test and then run it hard under prime95…

                  If you have a bad mobo, ram, PSU etc this will probably show that with an immediate crash.

                  If the system is stable under those two tests or other stress tests, then move on to looking for compatibility issues.

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                  • D Offline
                    dbennett
                    last edited by

                    Thanks for the reply!

                    You know what…?  DUH ME!  Can't believe I totally blanked troubleshooting '101'.

                    I'll run it hard and see where that takes me.  They are pretty old systems so I wouldn't be surprised if I have a problem.

                    Thanks for the reminder.

                    Also, if anyone has tips / suggestions on reading the crash dumps, that would be awesome.

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                    • K Offline
                      kejianshi
                      last edited by

                      Very basic troubleshooting is about as far as I could take you anyway  ;D

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                      • D Offline
                        dbennett
                        last edited by

                        Thought I would update this post with a resolution.

                        The installation found a RAID controller (or software RAID through the BIOS) and assumed that I was using RAID even through there was only 1 HDD and BIOS was set to SATA.
                        The solution was in the pfSense installation troubleshooting guide at the very bottom of that screen;  going to a prompt, running a command telling it ‘No RAID’ and then booting (VERY condensed).  Was very simple and allowed me to continue using 5 servers.

                        Thanks again to everyone that posted!

                        https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#.22Fake.22_RAID_cards_with_a_GRAID_error

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