System Freezes

[tippo88]

I have been running ubuntu 10.10 with Sabnzbd, Couchpotato and Sickbeard as a media downloading machine. About 6 weeks ago the system started to regularly freeze.  Its difficult to identify exactly when it freezes every single time but it definitley freezes almost every time Sabnzbd has finished downloading a large file.
I have run memtest, tried alternatley removing  each stick of ram, done a fresh install of ubuntu 11.04 on both the original hard drive and an alternative drive but each time the freezes persists.

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on how to analyise this problem . I'm at the point of buying a new motherboard and processor but would hate to do that only to find that this is not the problem.

Any help much appreciated.

[sander]

I think posting this question in http://ubuntuforums.org/ will give you a wider audience.

[shypike]

Do you use SSL for downloading?
Did you try without?
We depend on the quality of the installed OpenSSL libraries
and this quality varies over the releases.

[tippo88]

I ran cpuburn for 30 mins with cpu at 100% and the system didnt freeze. Restarted Sabnzbd disabled ssl and system froze whilst verifying files on the first download.
Thanks

[shypike]

whilst verifying files on the first download.

That would make the par2 program the suspect.
Which one are you using? The "classic" one or one of the multi-threading ones?
Can you test it separately?
par2 is not part of SABnzbd, but the installed version is used.

[tippo88]

Originally on the 10.10 system I made no changes to the par2 program that came as part of Sabnzbd, on the two 11.04 installations I have used the mutli threaded par 2 program as suggested in the Sabnzbd guide at ainer.org. I try reverting to the " classic" one tonight. I guess that removing and reinstalling Sabnzbd is the easiest way to do this?
Thanks

[sander]

Did you try downloading without unrarring, like Shypike suggest? You can set that in the Plush Add NZB menu: via the drop down menu. See screendump. I would select "Download" only, and then see if a freeze occurs.

[shypike]

I guess that removing and reinstalling Sabnzbd is the easiest way to do this?

par2 is in a separate package, that SABnzbd lists as "required".
It's best to remove & add that package (probably par2cmdline).
Check what you have by typing "ar2" on the command line,
the signon will tell you which one it is.

[tippo88]

I tried downloading a couple of big files set at " Download" only and no freezes. I removed the multithread Par2 and reverted to the par 2 from the ubuntu repositary and then downloaded a third file set to download repair, unpack and delete and file downloaded fine but then the computer froze 71% through the repair process.
Dumb question but how do I unpack the first 2 files I downloaded??

Thanks!

[tippo88]

Tried another download and this time it froze half way through the download. Aaagghh! Maybe time for a new system!

[shypike]

... but how do I unpack the first 2 files I downloaded??

unrar x filename.rar

[totalawe]

Did you ever find out if the Par2 was what was causing your system to freeze? I'm experiencing a similar issue.

[shypike]

Have you tried par2 without multi-core?

[totalawe]

I've purged the par2 installation, then installed it back using the default par2 package from Ubuntu. After about an hour of extracting rar files, the kernel panics and the whole system locks up. This only seems to happen when SABnzbd is running.

[shypike]

After about an hour of extracting rar files, the kernel panics and the whole system locks up. This only seems to happen when SABnzbd is running.

Shouldn't you look at unrar instead?
Which one do you use?