Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Hanging/Crashing every few hours

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    25 Posts 6 Posters 3.5k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • C Offline
      cmb
      last edited by

      What hardware?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • K Offline
        kryngle
        last edited by

        Hardware is as follows :

        Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D525 @ 1.80GHz
        4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s) x 2 HTT threads

        1 x Transcend SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 Memory 2GB

        1 x Emphase Industrial - S1 SATA Flash Module 4 GB

        1 x Jetway 3x 1Gb Realtek LAN Module

        The hardware has run pfSense 2.1 for the past two years or so, recently I updated to the most current version

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • P Offline
          Paint
          last edited by

          @kryngle:

          Hardware is as follows :

          Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D525 @ 1.80GHz
          4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s) x 2 HTT threads

          1 x Transcend SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 Memory 2GB

          1 x Emphase Industrial - S1 SATA Flash Module 4 GB

          1 x Jetway 3x 1Gb Realtek LAN Module

          The hardware has run pfSense 2.1 for the past two years or so, recently I updated to the most current version

          Are you getting any watchdog timeouts on the console screen?

          Can you share system log files before and after the crash/hang?

          Can you share any custom sysctl (system tunables) or loader.conf.local modifications? I noticed when configuring my 2.3.2 pfSense setup that many of the FreeBSD tweaks on the web are wrong for recent version of FreeBSD.

          pfSense i5-4590
          940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
          BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
          Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • K Offline
            kryngle
            last edited by

            I have not touched sysctl.conf or loader.conf.local, and here they are :

            sysctl.conf :

            $FreeBSD$

            #  This file is read when going to multi-user and its contents piped thru
            #  sysctl'' to adjust kernel values.  man 5 sysctl.conf'' for details.

            Uncomment this to prevent users from seeing information about processes that

            are being run under another UID.

            #security.bsd.see_other_uids=0

            loader.conf.local :

            kern.cam.boot_delay=10000

            I see no console messages, the system just grinds to a halt and becomes unresponsive, let me see if I can get the system logs before/after a crash, it may be a trick as I am using cron to auto-reboot every hour as a duct tape/bubblegum workaround

            Thank you

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • P Offline
              Paint
              last edited by

              @kryngle:

              I have not touched sysctl.conf or loader.conf.local, and here they are :

              sysctl.conf :

              $FreeBSD$

              #  This file is read when going to multi-user and its contents piped thru
              #  sysctl'' to adjust kernel values.  man 5 sysctl.conf'' for details.

              Uncomment this to prevent users from seeing information about processes that

              are being run under another UID.

              #security.bsd.see_other_uids=0

              loader.conf.local :

              kern.cam.boot_delay=10000

              I see no console messages, the system just grinds to a halt and becomes unresponsive, let me see if I can get the system logs before/after a crash, it may be a trick as I am using cron to auto-reboot every hour as a duct tape/bubblegum workaround

              Thank you

              That would be good.  Does the machine lock up at the console or does the NIC just fail?

              I have a feeling your Realtek NIC is experiencing a watchdog timeout, or something similar.

              pfSense i5-4590
              940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
              BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
              Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • K Offline
                kryngle
                last edited by

                does this help at all :

                gateways.log:Jul 26 00:46:16 pfSense dpinger: send_interval 500ms  loss_interval 2000ms  time_period 60000ms  report_interval 0ms  data_len 0  alert_interval 1000ms  latency_alarm 500ms  loss_alarm 20%  dest_addr XX.XX.XX.XX  bind_addr YY.YY.YY.YY  identifier "GW_WAN "

                there are also alot of these :

                dhcpd.log:Jul 27 12:49:32 pfSense dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.2.29 from b0:a7:37:cb:ca:73 via re0: unknown lease 192.168.2.29.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • P Offline
                  Paint
                  last edited by

                  @kryngle:

                  does this help at all :

                  gateways.log:Jul 26 00:46:16 pfSense dpinger: send_interval 500ms  loss_interval 2000ms  time_period 60000ms  report_interval 0ms  data_len 0  alert_interval 1000ms  latency_alarm 500ms  loss_alarm 20%  dest_addr XX.XX.XX.XX  bind_addr YY.YY.YY.YY  identifier "GW_WAN "

                  there are also alot of these :

                  dhcpd.log:Jul 27 12:49:32 pfSense dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.2.29 from b0:a7:37:cb:ca:73 via re0: unknown lease 192.168.2.29.

                  no, the first gateways.log messages are just dpinger (gateway monitor) telling you that you lost your WAN connection

                  the dhcp.log issue is also not the cause of this. Are you losing WAN or LAN or both when this issue occurs?

                  pfSense i5-4590
                  940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
                  BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
                  Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • K Offline
                    kryngle
                    last edited by

                    LAN stays up, WAN goes down, and pinging / communicating with pfsense is lost

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • P Offline
                      Paint
                      last edited by

                      @kryngle:

                      LAN stays up, WAN goes down, and pinging / communicating with pfsense is lost

                      Can you access the console next time the WAN goes down? I am pretty sure you are getting watchdog timeouts on your WAN ethernet adapter. What type of Realtek adapter are you using? How much traffic are you pushing through your WAN when the interface fails?

                      pfSense i5-4590
                      940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
                      BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
                      Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • K Offline
                        kryngle
                        last edited by

                        When the WAN goes down the box is hanging, accessing the webconfigurater or ssh-ing to the console does not respond.

                        The system just crashed in between auto-reboots, and looking at system.log the last entery was midnight last nihgt, which does not seem correct.

                        As a another clue, the system is up right now and email/web sites responding, but pings result in immediate time outs

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • K Offline
                          kryngle
                          last edited by

                          will get the NIC details shortly

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • P Offline
                            Paint
                            last edited by

                            @kryngle:

                            When the WAN goes down the box is hanging, accessing the webconfigurater or ssh-ing to the console does not respond.

                            The system just crashed in between auto-reboots, and looking at system.log the last entery was midnight last nihgt, which does not seem correct.

                            As a another clue, the system is up right now and email/web sites responding, but pings result in immediate time outs

                            This is probably due to a bad Realtek driver.  Can you turn off the auto reboot? Otherwise, there is no point debugging this

                            pfSense i5-4590
                            940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
                            BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
                            Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • K Offline
                              kryngle
                              last edited by

                              I am way from the office ( its a small small company ) for the next week, which is why the auto-reboot is on, the webserver and email server need to be keep up ), when I get back I can turn it off, and reboot when need be

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • P Offline
                                Paint
                                last edited by

                                @kryngle:

                                I am way from the office ( its a small small company ) for the next week, which is why the auto-reboot is on, the webserver and email server need to be keep up ), when I get back I can turn it off, and reboot when need be

                                no worries. i've been in your position before - have a nice evening

                                pfSense i5-4590
                                940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
                                BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
                                Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • K Offline
                                  kryngle
                                  last edited by

                                  Ok I am back in the office and found the following message reported twice in the console when a crash happened :

                                  re0: discard frame w/o leading ethernet header ( len 4294967292 pkt len 4294967292 )

                                  does that help?

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • C Offline
                                    cowburner
                                    last edited by

                                    I'm going to follow this post intensely, as I have a very similar problem.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • w0wW Offline
                                      w0w
                                      last edited by

                                      @kryngle:

                                      Ok I am back in the office and found the following message reported twice in the console when a crash happened :

                                      re0: discard frame w/o leading ethernet header ( len 4294967292 pkt len 4294967292 )

                                      does that help?

                                      Definitely it's not good, but not always causes crash or hang.
                                      DO you have polling enabled?
                                      Does reverting back to 2.1 solves problem?

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • K Offline
                                        kryngle
                                        last edited by

                                        I do not have device polling enabled, is it worth turning on?

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • K Offline
                                          kryngle
                                          last edited by

                                          where can I find older versions to try a reversion?

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • K Offline
                                            kryngle
                                            last edited by

                                            a new piece of the puzzle -> I was comparing my old config file to the current one line by line and noticed the old config had IPv6 config type for the WAN set to DHCP6 and the LAN set to track the WAN IPv6 Interface.  I updated the new config to match and now when I see

                                            re0 : discard frame w/o leading ethernet header (…....
                                            re2 : watchdog timeout

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.