FMServer 7.0v3 crashing frequently

[Jay Sullivan]

Our FM7 Server runs our point of sale (POS) system (very important for our business). The FMServer is at our main corporate site with 3 FileMaker 7.0v3 clients connecting from our LAN and we have one FM 7.0v3 user accessing the FM server from off site through our server's pretty slow upload bandwidth. All machines are running Mac OS X v10.3 (client).

We are finding that our FileMaker server is crashing at least every few days, sometimes more frequently. More specifically, the fmserverd process dies. The computer/OS keeps running just fine.

We have tried a bunch of stuff so far:

1) exported all data and reimported into a brand new database

2) clean reinstall of operating system and FMServer several times

3) tried swapping out memory multiple times

4) we even replaced the logic board on our G5 server grasping at straws

The crashes have happened overnight when nobody is connected or when people are actively accessing the DB. Below is some neat stuff from the fmserverd crash log:

########################

**********

Host Name: G5s-Computer.local

Date/Time: 2005-03-29 11:17:16 -0500

OS Version: 10.3.5 (Build 7P134)

Report Version: 2

Command: fmserverd

Path: /Library/FileMaker Server 7/Tools/fmserverd

Version: : (

PID: 331

Thread: 38

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)

Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x0000da52

...*snip*...

Thread 38 Crashed:

0 MSLRuntime 0x019d36a0 __copy_longs_unaligned + 0x20

1 MSLRuntime 0x019d321c memcpy + 0x2c

2 FMEngine 0x02765ef4 _ZN5Draco13HBAbstractKeyaSEPKh + 0x38

3 FMEngine 0x02774a94 _ZN5Draco4HBAM10SlotUnpackEPhssRNS_13HBAbstractKeyEm + 0x230

4 FMEngine 0x0278fe0c _ZN5Draco16RCUploadDownload7PerformEv + 0x1cc

5 FMEngine 0x02796604 _ZN5Draco14RCNetworkStack19DispatchTransactionEPNS_12RCConnectionEmPvm + 0xfc

6 FMEngine 0x02791bf8 _ZN5RPO_i7PerformEmmR8OctetSeq12OctetSeq_out + 0xe8

7 FMEngine 0x0279a94c _Z35_0RL_lcfn_e7f0bdfd3d523dde_70000000P18omniCallDescriptorP11omniServant + 0xa8

8 OmniORB4 0x01bd2a40 _ZN14omniCallHandle6upcallEP11omniServantR18omniCallDescriptor + 0x16c

9 FMEngine 0x0279b75c _ZN9_impl_RPO9_dispatchER14omniCallHandle + 0x410

10 OmniORB4 0x01c47980 _ZN4omni10omniOrbPOA8dispatchER14omniCallHandleP17omniLocalIdentity + 0x2cc

11 OmniORB4 0x01c23c0c _ZN17omniLocalIdentity8dispatchER14omniCallHandle + 0xa8

12 OmniORB4 0x01bfd228 _ZN4omni6GIOP_S13handleRequestEv + 0x15c

13 OmniORB4 0x01bfcec4 _ZN4omni6GIOP_S10dispatcherEv + 0x120

14 OmniORB4 0x01c18328 _ZN4omni10giopWorker12real_executeEv + 0x41c

15 OmniORB4 0x01c17efc _ZN4omni10giopWorker7executeEv + 0x60

16 OmniORB4 0x01c1d3b8 _ZN19omniAsyncWorkerInfo3runEv + 0x1f0

17 FMEngine 0x02793bf0 _ZN5Draco23threadCreateInterceptorERN4omni16omniInterceptors14createThread_T6info_TE + 0x2c

18 OmniORB4 0x01cadda0 0x1b00000 + 0x1adda0

19 OmniORB4 0x01c62e64 omni_thread_wrapper + 0xb0

20 libSystem.B.dylib 0x900246e8 _pthread_body + 0x28

######################

Any ideas? Any stuff that I forgot to mention? We have been totally stumped for about 2 months now. Help please?

[dkemme]

Will fmserverd die if the files are not served (testing for computer/fmserverd problems), when served but no client accessing (testing for corrupted database), when serving but disconnected from the network (testing for bad wiring)?

[Vaughan]

It appears that OmniORB is also running on the server. What other services does it have? Could it be one of these giving the problems?

[Claus Lavendt]

Hi Vaughan

Often, when I have had problems with software/servers that was very strange, it turned out that it was either RAM or the harddrive, that was the problem.

Even if I tested the hardware with e.g. Apple Hardware Test, no errors could be found. But when I finally tried to replace the harddrive, everything worked great.

As you have tried many things, I'd say that you should try to replace harddrive.

;-) Claus

[Vaughan]

Claus: it's not me with the problem, it's Jay Sullivan. But it's a good suggestion.

[Ron F]

I had a similar problem, it turned out that a file that was converted from FM6 was causing the problem. I reconverted that problematic file and the problem was solved. You may want to try that if in fact you have converted these files from an earlier version.