[Crash-utility] Problem opening core file.

[Dave Anderson]

Rohit Persai wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> I am trying to open a core file but getting following error. I am sure 
> that I am using right kernel + kernel-debuginfo package. As following 
> command on crash log shows version on kernel in use.
> # cat crash-log | grep -i 2.4.21
> EIP is at check_pgt_cache [kernel] 0x19 (2.4.21-47.ELsmp)
> 
> ----------------------------------------snip-from-system-on-which-i-am-opening-core-file----------------------------------------- 
> 
> # uname -r
> 2.4.21-47.ELsmp
> 
> # crash /usr/lib/debug/boot/vmlinux-2.4.21-47.ELsmp.debug 
> /boot/vmlinux-2.4.21-47.ELsmp case_1843132_vmcore
> 
> crash 4.0-6.3
> Copyright (C) 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008  Red Hat, Inc.
> Copyright (C) 2004, 2005, 2006  IBM Corporation
> Copyright (C) 1999-2006  Hewlett-Packard Co
> Copyright (C) 2005, 2006  Fujitsu Limited
> Copyright (C) 2006, 2007  VA Linux Systems Japan K.K.
> Copyright (C) 2005  NEC Corporation
> Copyright (C) 1999, 2002, 2007  Silicon Graphics, Inc.
> Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002  Mission Critical Linux, Inc.
> This program is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License,
> and you are welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under
> certain conditions.  Enter "help copying" to see the conditions.
> This program has absolutely no warranty.  Enter "help warranty" for 
> details.
> 
> GNU gdb 6.1
> Copyright 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you 
> are
> welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain 
> conditions.
> Type "show copying" to see the conditions.
> There is absolutely no warranty for GDB.  Type "show warranty" for details.
> This GDB was configured as "i686-pc-linux-gnu"...
> 
> WARNING: invalid value: smp_num_cpus: -1070037996
> crash: /usr/lib/debug/boot/vmlinux-2.4.21-47.ELsmp.debug and 
> case_1843132_vmcore do not match!
> 
> Usage:
>  crash [-h [opt]][-v][-s][-i file][-d num] [-S] [mapfile] [namelist] 
> [dumpfile]
> 
> Enter "crash -h" for details.
> ----------------------------------------snip-from-system-on-which-i-am-opening-core-file----------------------------------------- 
> 
> 
> Question: Why am I getting following message if I am using right set of 
> packages.
> crash: /usr/lib/debug/boot/vmlinux-2.4.21-47.ELsmp.debug and 
> case_1843132_vmcore do not match!
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> Rohit.

Sorry for the delay -- I'm back from a 2-week break...

Perhaps you've already resolved this issue, but if not, it does
appear that you're doing everything correctly.  But when the
value for "smp_num_cpus" was read from the vmcore, it's reading
an integer value of -1070037996 (c0388414).  Since that's
clearly nonsensical, it makes no sense continuing.

Since RHEL3 used that brain-dead split vmlinux/vmlinux.debug
format, you'd get a "CRC value does not match" error message
if those two files weren't in sync.  And if the host machine
and the vmlinux/vmlinux.debug/vmcore triplet weren't the same
architecture, you'd get a  "machine type mismatch" error message.

The only other thing I can suggest is to do this:

   # strings /boot/vmlinux-2.4.21-47.ELsmp | grep "Linux version"
   ...
   # strings case_1843132_vmcore | grep "Linux version"
   ...

and make sure the strings match exactly -- including the
build dates.

It would be easy to say "it must be a corrupt vmcore", so
I won't.  But's about as much help as I can come up with.

Dave