nordland@surf.rice.edu (peter nordlander) (02/03/91)
We have problems with the root filesystem on an IBM RS6000/320. We keep loosing files on /etc and /lib. The loss appears to be random. The problem does not appear immediately after system installation but when users begin to log in and use the computer. If we reboot after the problem has occurred, the automatic fsck discovers filesystem errors: Bad Inode Map(NOT SALVAGED), Filesystem integrity is not guaranteed. These errors occur for the root filesystem. After these messages, the fsck is aborted and the system comes up. A manual fsck on root now does not detect any problems. No files are placed in lost+found. ncheck however reveals big problems with the inode map. System engineers from IBM have run diagnostics on the disks and disc controller but no hardware errors have been detected. We have also installed the system on external discs but the problem always reappear. IBM software support have been working on this problem for more than a week but are at present unable to solve the problem. We have tried different versions of AIX (03.01.002 and 03.01.003) but the problem eventually reappears. We have a vague suspicion that the loss of files is larger during heavy load and frequent swapping. We have 32MB memory and 64Mb swap space( We have increased the swap space but this did not help). A couple of times we assigned swapping to a separate disk to make sure that it was not the paging that damaged the files. This did not help either. We would welcome information from anyone having similar experiences or any ideas about how to solve this problem. Peter Nordlander Assistant Professor Department of Physics Rice University Houston, TX 77251
gmoff@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Moffat) (02/05/91)
nordland@surf.rice.edu (peter nordlander) writes: >We have problems with the root filesystem on an IBM RS6000/320. >We keep loosing files on /etc and /lib. The loss appears to be >random. The problem does not appear immediately after system >installation but when users begin to log in and use the computer. I have a 320 with a damaged block map on /usr, also bad inodes on / fs. Aix is ver 3.1.0000.0000 I have been doing extensive experimenting with this and a 730 (it's the only way to learn *B^) and assumed *I* did something nasty. The problem is not evident on the 730 (but it's 3.1.0001.0003). There has been no system load, only me playing. RAM is 16Mb, (should be 24, but IBM replaced the 8 with a 16 instead of adding it) & 320Mb disk. -- Graeme Moffat, Phone : +64 9 737 999 x8384 Computer Aided Design Centre, Fax : +64 9 366 0702 School of Engineering, Mail : Private Bag, Auckland, NZ University of Auckland Email : g.moffat@aukuni.ac.nz
jet@karazm.math.uh.edu ("J. Eric Townsend") (02/06/91)
>nordland@surf.rice.edu (peter nordlander) writes: >We have problems with the root filesystem on an IBM RS6000/320. >We keep loosing files on /etc and /lib. The loss appears to be >random. The problem does not appear immediately after system >installation but when users begin to log in and use the computer. Hey, me too me too! We lost a couple of rc files rather mysteriously... -- J. Eric Townsend - jet@uh.edu - bitnet: jet@UHOU - vox: (713) 749-2120 "It is the cunning of form to veil itself continually in the evidence of content. It is the cunning of the code to veil itself and to produce itself in the obviousness of value." -- Baudrillard