my computer is resetting each hour

[hirohitosan]

Hi there.

I have a strange problem. I found that my computer is resetting automatically every approximately 1 hour. I discover this accidentally. After each reset fsck_ufs is automatically started. I don't know if this is a software or hardware problem. I don’t know how to solve this.

Any help is appreciated :\

 

[Sylhouette]

First try to look in your log files.

Secondly try to disable any cronjob that is running, maybe a cronjob is responseable for this!

regards,
Johan Hendriks

 

[graudeejs]

also take a look at at.

 

[hirohitosan]

Thanks guys. At this moment I know that is not a harware problem. I started my computer with a live CD and it works more dthen 12 hours.

So I started again FreeBSD and after the system starts here is the output of:

# ps ax
  PID  TT  STAT      TIME COMMAND
  881  ??  Is     0:00.00 /usr/sbin/cron -s
  942  ??  DN     0:01.48 fsck_ufs -p -B /dev/ad8s1f
  920 con- I+     0:00.00 sh /etc/rc autoboot
  921 con- I+     0:00.00 logger -p daemon.notice -t fsck
  922 con- IN+    0:00.00 fsck -B -p

I don't know what logs to check and I think there is something with cron, but where to check

and if I try top command the first process is

942 root          1  -8    4 32812K 13560K biord  0   0:04  0.00% fsck_ufs

any help? thanks

 

[graudeejs]

show output of
crontab -l root
crontab -l username
replace user name with user name/names

 

[hirohitosan]

show output of
crontab -l root
crontab -l username
replace user name with user name/names

as root I did

# crontab -l
crontab: no crontab for root

or if I try like this:

#crontab -u root -l
crontab: no crontab for root
# crontab -u user -l
crontab: no crontab for user

or like this:

# crontab -l root
crontab: usage error: no arguments permitted after this option
usage: crontab [-u user] file
       crontab [-u user] { -e | -l | -r }

 

[DutchDaemon]

cat /etc/crontab

 

[hirohitosan]

here is /etc/crontab

# cat crontab
# /etc/crontab - root's crontab for FreeBSD
#
# $FreeBSD: src/etc/crontab,v 1.32 2002/11/22 16:13:39 tom Exp $
#
SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/etc:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
HOME=/var/log
#
#minute hour    mday    month   wday    who     command
#
*/5     *       *       *       *       root    /usr/libexec/atrun
#
# Save some entropy so that /dev/random can re-seed on boot.
*/11    *       *       *       *       operator /usr/libexec/save-entropy
#
# Rotate log files every hour, if necessary.
0       *       *       *       *       root    newsyslog
#
# Perform daily/weekly/monthly maintenance.
1       3       *       *       *       root    periodic daily
15      4       *       *       6       root    periodic weekly
30      5       1       *       *       root    periodic monthly
#
# Adjust the time zone if the CMOS clock keeps local time, as opposed to
# UTC time.  See adjkerntz(8) for details.
1,31    0-5     *       *       *       root    adjkerntz -a

 

[DutchDaemon]

Nothing interesting there.

Try this:

touch /var/log/all.log

Then in /etc/syslog.conf:

*.*                                            /var/log/all.log

(it's probably already in there, just uncomment the line)

followed by

/etc/rc.d/syslogd restart

Then open /etc/newsyslog.conf and put in there:

/var/log/all.log                        600  7     *    @T00  J

(it may already be in there)

Then wait for the next reboot and look in /var/log/all.log

 

[DutchDaemon]

Is that reboot at the same exact time every hour, by the way?

 

[lme@]

Please show us the output of

last crash

and

last reboot

 

[Djn]

I had an issue like that when the background fsck died (and for some reason took the kernel down with it) on some weird filesystem error - it took roughly the same time to get to the problematic directory after each reboot, so I had the same "crash after x minutes"-feeling.
A manual fsck -y / in singleuser mode cleared it up.

 

[hirohitosan]

I did what DutchDaemon sugested and I reboot and from now it's works fine since 20 hours.

I don't actually know if I changed something. Anyway here's the outputs.

# last crash
wtmp begins Thu Jan  1 05:11:06 EET 2009

# last reboot
reboot           ~                         Tue Jan  6 14:05
reboot           ~                         Tue Jan  6 13:20
reboot           ~                         Tue Jan  6 12:58
reboot           ~                         Tue Jan  6 08:24
reboot           ~                         Tue Jan  6 07:24
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 14:35
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 13:26
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 12:25
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 10:59
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 09:59
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 08:58
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 07:58
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 06:57
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 05:57
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 04:56
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 03:56
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 02:55
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 01:55
reboot           ~                         Mon Jan  5 00:54
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 23:54
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 22:53
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 21:53
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 20:53
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 19:52
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 18:52
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 17:51
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 16:51
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 15:50
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 14:50
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 13:49
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 12:49
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 11:48
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 10:48
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 09:47
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 08:47
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 07:46
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 06:46
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 05:45
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 04:45
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 03:44
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 02:44
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 01:43
reboot           ~                         Sun Jan  4 00:43
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 23:42
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 22:42
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 21:42
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 20:41
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 19:40
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 18:40
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 17:40
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 16:39
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 15:39
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 14:38
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 13:38
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 12:37
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 11:37
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 10:36
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 09:36
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 08:35
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 07:35
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 06:34
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 05:34
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 04:33
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 03:33
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 02:32
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 01:32
reboot           ~                         Sat Jan  3 00:31
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 23:31
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 22:30
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 21:30
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 20:29
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 19:29
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 18:28
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 17:28
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 16:28
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 15:27
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 14:27
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 13:26
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 12:26
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 11:25
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 10:25
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 09:24
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 08:24
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 07:23
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 06:23
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 05:22
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 04:22
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 03:21
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 02:21
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 01:20
reboot           ~                         Fri Jan  2 00:20
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 23:19
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 22:19
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 21:18
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 20:18
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 19:17
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 18:17
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 17:16
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 16:16
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 15:15
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 14:15
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 13:14
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 12:14
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 11:14
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 10:13
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 09:13
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 08:12
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 07:12
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 06:11
reboot           ~                         Thu Jan  1 05:11

wtmp begins Thu Jan  1 05:11:06 EET 2009

 

[DutchDaemon]

Interesting series. I guess it takes one minute to boot and then start something that executes a reboot exactly one hour later. It's obviously not cron-based. Why it stopped after adding a log entry is beyond me though .. unless there's something in a background fsck that aborts and reboots if something gets stuck for an hour and you performed a fsck -y in single-user mode in the meantime.

 

[anex]

hi...

I have exactly the same problem...

but I've got

background_fsck="NO"
fsck_y_enable="YES"

and resetting is continuing... any help will be appreciated

 

[tangram]

Did you change anything related to hardware? Like messed with the BIOS, added a new hard drive, new cooler, new PXU, etc?

 

[anex]

Did you change anything related to hardware? Like messed with the BIOS, added a new hard drive, new cooler, new PXU, etc?

Nothing, the only thing is that I've installed webmin... now it's deinstalled, removed anything related to it...

I didn't tried fsck -y in single user mode cause I have set up in rc.conf not to run fsck in background..

 

[Mel_Flynn]

Remove any bzip2 compress flags from /etc/newsyslog.conf. If the problem goes away, you likely have one or a series of big log files that stress the CPU. Bzip2 is very good at heating up a CPU.

It is then time to look at the thermal paste.

 

[anex]

Problem solved after fsck -y was performed in single user mode. Thank anyway.

 

[AlexP]

anex,hirohitosan, do you have Intel's motherboard on rebooting machines? Esp. DG33FB, DG33BU models?

 

[hirohitosan]

do you have Intel's motherboard on rebooting machines?

yes, I have. But now that problem is gone

 

[anomie]

What was the cause, and how did you resolve the problem?

 

[AlexP]

What was the cause, and how did you resolve the problem?

The cause, I think, is somewhere in hardware, maybe ACPI or RTC subsystems. The problem comes and goes, maybe triggered by abnormal reboots and suppressed by normal shutdowns.

The problem is cross-platform, there are reports on each-hour reboots on Windows and Linux too. One common thing is vendor — Intel and, I think, chipset.