From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 Description of problem: The 2.4.18-10SMP kernel seems to be the last stable 7.3 kernel that runs on a Del PowerEdge 2550 (dual CPU) or Del PowerEdge 6450 (quad CPU). The 2.4.18-17.7.xsmp and 2.4.18-18.7.xsmp kernels both crash on both models after running for only 3-15 hours. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Boot with 2.4.18-17.7.xsmp or 2.4.18-18.7.xsmp kernel 2. Run for 3-15 hours 3. System locks up and stops running with no error log written into anything in /var/log that I can find Additional info:
I am experiencing this exact problem on a Dell PowerEdge 2550. 7.3 with all applicable latest packages and the 2.4.18-17.7.x-smp and 2.4.18- 18.7.x-smp both lock up the machine. My timeframes are 2-12 hours. I have yet to maintain a system beyond about 12 hours. This machine uses ext3 and the tg3 gigabit ethernet card. System locks hard, no oops / log messages. I would be delighted to provide more troubleshooting/testing as required. Untill then I will be attempting to use the 2.4.18-10smp kernel as mentioned by wimple.edu
I would look into tg3 driver as possible problem. I have a Dell 2650 with tg3 card with 2.4.18-17.7.x-smp modified by me to use the old 0.99 tg3 driver and it has been stable so far (knock on wood) - 13 days so far, and with the normal 2.4.18-17.7.x-smp I was getting frequent kernel opses in tg3 driver. Though I do have to say that even with 0.99 I had serious NFS problems when tg3 was operating at gigabit (can't talk to nfs server...), at 100Mb with rather heavy traffic it is rock stable.
Please test the patch attached in bug 69920. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 69920 ***