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From: Ant on 6 Mar 2010 02:12
Hello.

Is /var/log/syslog the only place where Linux keeps records of kernel
(v2.6.30 and v2.6.32) panics? dmesg and /var/log/messages doesn't seem
to show anything about the crashes unless I am misreading them. I am
trying to figure out a rare and random kernel panic issue on my old
Debian box.

I know it's not X because I exited it, logged out of bash, went into
fullscreen text console's login screen (I boot up my Debian to text
mode, log into bash, and use startx command to go to X), and saw a bunch
of datas (e.g., memory addresses and codes) on my screen from the kernel
crash. However, its data dump was too long and my computer was in frozen
mode with two blinking PS/2 keyboard lights (caps and scroll lock) so I
couldn't scroll up or copy and paste.

I poked around in my Debian and on the Web. I read that kernel panic
errors/datas can be found in /var/log/syslog (dmesg didn't show me
anything related to Kernel panics that I could find) like:

# cat /var/log/syslog
....
Mar 4 23:12:07 foobar smartd[2647]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Usage
Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 30 to 31
....
Mar 5 15:11:31 foobar smartd[2610]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate changed from 58 to 59
Mar 5 15:11:31 foobar smartd[2610]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Usage
Attribute: 195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered changed from 58 to 59
Mar 5 15:15:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[8815]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
Mar 5 15:17:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[11199]: (root) CMD ( cd / &&
run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Mar 5 15:25:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[20721]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
Mar 5 15:35:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[32588]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
Mar 5 15:45:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[12129]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
Mar 5 15:55:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[23947]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
< rebooted my crashed PC from its kernel panic >
Mar 5 21:05:19 foobar syslogd 1.5.0#5: restart.
....

I couldn't find any similiar from an earlier one like (don't think
smartctl with /dev/hda is it?):
....
Mar 5 05:17:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[26833]: (root) CMD ( cd / &&
run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Mar 5 05:25:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[29514]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
Mar 5 05:35:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[372]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
Mar 5 05:45:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[3772]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
Mar 5 05:55:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[7160]: (root) CMD (command -v
debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
Mar 5 06:41:19 foobar syslogd 1.5.0#5: restart.
....

I saw LKCD (http://lkcd.sourceforge.net/ and
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lkcd/files/), but it seems to be
outdated? I also couldn't find a Debian package of it, so I don't know
if I should even try it to get more datas.

And yes, I already tried memtest86+ v4.00 and it came out no errors
after six hours with its default tests. I will try it again later just
in case.

Thank you in advance. :)
--
"If I find one beer can in that car, it's over!" --Red; "And no donuts
either! Ants!" --Kitty from That '70s Show pilot
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phil./Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Nuke ANT from e-mail address: philpi(a)earthlink.netANT
( ) or ANTant(a)zimage.com
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.
From: Mark Hobley on 6 Mar 2010 05:08
Ant <ant(a)zimage.comant> wrote:
> Is /var/log/syslog the only place where Linux keeps records of kernel
> (v2.6.30 and v2.6.32) panics? dmesg and /var/log/messages doesn't seem
> to show anything about the crashes unless I am misreading them. I am
> trying to figure out a rare and random kernel panic issue on my old
> Debian box.

Is it a panic, or is it a crash?
>
> I know it's not X because I exited it, logged out of bash, went into
> fullscreen text console's login screen (I boot up my Debian to text
> mode, log into bash, and use startx command to go to X), and saw a bunch
> of datas (e.g., memory addresses and codes) on my screen from the kernel
> crash.

What type of computer are you using? What type of CPU does it have?
There are some issues with invalid instructions being embedded into the kernel
which causes a similar problem on IA32 compatible machines. (A 486 build
contains non-IA32 instructions).

Write down what you see, and lose the rest. The information does not get
logged.

Mark.

--
Mark Hobley
Linux User: #370818 http://markhobley.yi.org/

From: Ant on 6 Mar 2010 10:33
On 3/6/2010 2:08 AM PT, Mark Hobley typed:

> Ant<ant(a)zimage.comant> wrote:
>> Is /var/log/syslog the only place where Linux keeps records of kernel
>> (v2.6.30 and v2.6.32) panics? dmesg and /var/log/messages doesn't seem
>> to show anything about the crashes unless I am misreading them. I am
>> trying to figure out a rare and random kernel panic issue on my old
>> Debian box.
>
> Is it a panic, or is it a crash?

Panic since my box frozen, required a reboot, and had flashing keyboard
lights.


>> I know it's not X because I exited it, logged out of bash, went into
>> fullscreen text console's login screen (I boot up my Debian to text
>> mode, log into bash, and use startx command to go to X), and saw a bunch
>> of datas (e.g., memory addresses and codes) on my screen from the kernel
>> crash.
>
> What type of computer are you using? What type of CPU does it have?
> There are some issues with invalid instructions being embedded into the kernel
> which causes a similar problem on IA32 compatible machines. (A 486 build
> contains non-IA32 instructions).

http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt for my
secondary computer specifications. I am currently using 2.6.32-trunk-686
#1 SMP Sun Jan 10 06:32:16 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux. I was using 2.6.30
too and it had the same problem.


> Write down what you see, and lose the rest. The information does not get
> logged.

Darn. That's a lot stuff to write down.
--
"To the ant, a few drops of dew is a flood." --Iranian
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phil./Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Nuke ANT from e-mail address: philpi(a)earthlink.netANT
( ) or ANTant(a)zimage.com
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.
From: Tecknode on 9 Mar 2010 12:47
Ant wrote:
> Hello.
>
> Is /var/log/syslog the only place where Linux keeps records of kernel
> (v2.6.30 and v2.6.32) panics? dmesg and /var/log/messages doesn't seem
> to show anything about the crashes unless I am misreading them. I am
> trying to figure out a rare and random kernel panic issue on my old
> Debian box.
>
> I know it's not X because I exited it, logged out of bash, went into
> fullscreen text console's login screen (I boot up my Debian to text
> mode, log into bash, and use startx command to go to X), and saw a bunch
> of datas (e.g., memory addresses and codes) on my screen from the kernel
> crash. However, its data dump was too long and my computer was in frozen
> mode with two blinking PS/2 keyboard lights (caps and scroll lock) so I
> couldn't scroll up or copy and paste.
>
> I poked around in my Debian and on the Web. I read that kernel panic
> errors/datas can be found in /var/log/syslog (dmesg didn't show me
> anything related to Kernel panics that I could find) like:
>
> # cat /var/log/syslog
> ...
> Mar 4 23:12:07 foobar smartd[2647]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Usage
> Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 30 to 31
> ...
> Mar 5 15:11:31 foobar smartd[2610]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
> Attribute: 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate changed from 58 to 59
> Mar 5 15:11:31 foobar smartd[2610]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Usage
> Attribute: 195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered changed from 58 to 59
> Mar 5 15:15:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[8815]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> Mar 5 15:17:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[11199]: (root) CMD ( cd / &&
> run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
> Mar 5 15:25:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[20721]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> Mar 5 15:35:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[32588]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> Mar 5 15:45:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[12129]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> Mar 5 15:55:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[23947]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> < rebooted my crashed PC from its kernel panic >
> Mar 5 21:05:19 foobar syslogd 1.5.0#5: restart.
> ...
>
> I couldn't find any similiar from an earlier one like (don't think
> smartctl with /dev/hda is it?):
> ...
> Mar 5 05:17:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[26833]: (root) CMD ( cd / &&
> run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
> Mar 5 05:25:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[29514]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> Mar 5 05:35:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[372]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> Mar 5 05:45:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[3772]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> Mar 5 05:55:01 foobar /USR/SBIN/CRON[7160]: (root) CMD (command -v
> debian-sa1 > /dev/null && debian-sa1 1 1)
> Mar 5 06:41:19 foobar syslogd 1.5.0#5: restart.
> ...
>
> I saw LKCD (http://lkcd.sourceforge.net/ and
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/lkcd/files/), but it seems to be
> outdated? I also couldn't find a Debian package of it, so I don't know
> if I should even try it to get more datas.
>
> And yes, I already tried memtest86+ v4.00 and it came out no errors
> after six hours with its default tests. I will try it again later just
> in case.
>
> Thank you in advance. :)

Did you use "System" menu, Administration, Log File Viewer?

Look for "kern.log"
From: Ant on 10 Mar 2010 10:17
On 3/9/2010 9:47 AM PT, Tecknode typed:

> Did you use "System" menu, Administration, Log File Viewer?
>
> Look for "kern.log"

That's a new one (catted it in shell). What's the difference between
this and /var/log/messages and dmesg? FYI:

....
Mar 10 04:52:55 foobar kernel: [162599.988025] Machine check events logged
Mar 10 05:10:25 foobar kernel: [163649.988019] Machine check events logged
....
--
"Lay a stick of bubble gum on an anthill for instant Siamese Ant Twins."
--unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phil./Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Nuke ANT from e-mail address: philpi(a)earthlink.netANT
( ) or ANTant(a)zimage.com
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.
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