zebulon@csd.uwo.ca (Scott Feeney) (04/10/90)
I really wouldn't wish this problem on anyone, but... I hope someone _has_ experienced this and solved it. Setting: network of Sun 3/50s and 3/60s connected to 2 - 3/180 and 1 - 3/280 servers; X11R4 (fixes 1-3,6-9; fixes 4 & 5 being non-Sun specific); SunOS4.0.3 (with one notable exception) Symptoms: At seemingly random times, seemingly random X11 applications will go into a disk wait state. This has even occurred when bringing X11 up (via xinit -- :0 -a 4 -bs -su -t 5 -co /usr2/lib/X11R4/rgb). Remote logging in to the affected station (this state invariably freezes the screen) and running ps -aux shows a random sampling of X11 applications in disk wait states. This has happened to xterms, twm, the X server, xload, etc., and any combination of the afore mentioned. I have waited as long as my patience has allowed (which is admittedly getting extremely short) but the disk wait states persist. I have tried to delete the offending processes but they won't go away. (The local Unix/Sun guru has confirmed that it is impossible to delete processes which are in a disk wait state. sigh...) There is nothing left to do but reboot the work-station. 8^( Diagnosis: ?????? Cure: ?????? Is there anyone who has seen this problem and fixed it. Oh yes. The notable exception.... It just so happens that _my_ 3/60 has yet to have its kernel upgraded to SunOS4.0.3. I'm still at 4.0.1.... and I have yet to experience any of the above symptoms 8^>. I know there is a connection, but for the life of me I haven't been able to decipher it. Help. - scott P.S. - An office-mate has pointed out that occasionally, non-X11 processes will go into disk-wait states as well. Most notably cc and latex. (?!?!) And, I have yet to hear of any problems reported from local Sunview users. --- Scott Feeney, Research Associate, Department of Computer Science The University of Western Ontario, London Canada, N6A 5B7 zebulon@csd.uwo.ca, zebulon@uwocsd.UUCP ---
holtz@valais.csmil.umich.edu (Brian Holtz) (04/10/90)
In article <218@ria.ccs.uwo.ca> zebulon@csd.uwo.ca (Scott Feeney) writes: > >P.S. - An office-mate has pointed out that occasionally, non-X11 processes >will go into disk-wait states as well. Most notably cc and latex. (?!?!) >And, I have yet to hear of any problems reported from local Sunview users. We've been having exactly the same problem, with rn of all things.
martin@.UUCP (04/11/90)
> Setting: network of Sun 3/50s and 3/60s connected to 2 - 3/180 and 1 - 3/280 > servers; X11R4 (fixes 1-3,6-9; fixes 4 & 5 being non-Sun specific); > SunOS4.0.3 (with one notable exception) > > Symptoms: At seemingly random times, seemingly random X11 applications will > go into a disk wait state. This has even occurred when bringing X11 up We have had the same problems here. A patch is available from Sun, so contact your local Sun support person ... Martin. ----- Martin Elliot, martin@es2.co.uk European Silicon Structures
strauss@AEROSPACE.AERO.ORG (04/11/90)
In article <218@ria.ccs.uwo.ca>, zebulon@csd.uwo.ca (Scott Feeney) writes: |> I really wouldn't wish this problem on anyone, but... I hope someone _has_ |> experienced this and solved it. |> |> Setting: network of Sun 3/50s and 3/60s connected to 2 - 3/180 and 1 - 3/280 |> servers; X11R4 (fixes 1-3,6-9; fixes 4 & 5 being non-Sun specific); |> SunOS4.0.3 (with one notable exception) |> |> Symptoms: At seemingly random times, seemingly random X11 applications will |> go into a disk wait state. This has even occurred when bringing X11 up |> (via xinit -- :0 -a 4 -bs -su -t 5 -co /usr2/lib/X11R4/rgb). Remote logging |> in to the affected station (this state invariably freezes the screen) and |> running ps -aux shows a random sampling of X11 applications in disk wait |> states. This has happened to xterms, twm, the X server, xload, etc., and |> any combination of the afore mentioned. I have waited as long as my |> patience has allowed (which is admittedly getting extremely short) but the |> disk wait states persist. I have tried to delete the offending processes |> but they won't go away. (The local Unix/Sun guru has confirmed that it |> is impossible to delete processes which are in a disk wait state. sigh...) |> There is nothing left to do but reboot the work-station. 8^( |> |> Diagnosis: ?????? |> |> Cure: ?????? |> |> Is there anyone who has seen this problem and fixed it. |> |> Oh yes. The notable exception.... It just so happens that _my_ 3/60 has yet |> to have its kernel upgraded to SunOS4.0.3. I'm still at 4.0.1.... and I have |> yet to experience any of the above symptoms 8^>. I know there is a connection, |> but for the life of me I haven't been able to decipher it. |> |> Help. |> |> - scott |> |> P.S. - An office-mate has pointed out that occasionally, non-X11 processes |> will go into disk-wait states as well. Most notably cc and latex. (?!?!) |> And, I have yet to hear of any problems reported from local Sunview users. |> |> --- |> Scott Feeney, Research Associate, Department of Computer Science |> The University of Western Ontario, London Canada, N6A 5B7 |> zebulon@csd.uwo.ca, zebulon@uwocsd.UUCP |> --- I am afraid that this has nothing to do with X, it is a bug in SunOS 4.0. We have had a LOT of problems with it. We get individual processes going South on us, but we also see a state where almost all processes you start go into disk wait. (infrequently) That, of course, makes the machine unusable until you reboot. We have reported it to Sun and they are working on it. There is nothing you can do to kill the process. On the better side, it is worth noting that although the "load index" (that stange number you sys-system prints when do an xload) goes up by exactly one, the actual performance of the machine is not significantly affected. The load goes up because there is now one more process that is considered "active" and in the queue, but the machine never really restarts the process, so the actual cycles that it wates are minimal. - |Daryll ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daryll Strauss f The Aerospace Corp. strauss@aero.org n Mail Stop: M1-102 ...!uunet!aero.org!strauss o P.O. Box 92957 r Los Angeles, Ca. 90009 "MY opinions. You here me? They're mine!" d (213) 336-9358 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------