David Christensen <dpchr...@holgerdanske.com> writes: >On 4/16/19 11:25 PM, Mark Fletcher wrote: >> (Apologies if this mail comes through poorly formatted for the list; my >> main machine is unavailable due to this problem and I’m writing on an >> iPad...) >> >> Running Stretch on a circa-2009 self-built machine which has run happily >> without serious issues since it was built, apart from the odd annoyance >> with Bluetooth audio which the list has already had the pleasure of hearing >> about. >> >> This morning I unlocked it before leaving home, and noticed that load was >> fairly constant at about 1.0 when it should have been at 0 as the machine >> should have been idle. I listed processes with top and noticed that upowerd >> was taking up a whole CPU to itself. Normally I wouldn’t notice this daemon >> doing its thing. >> >> Google turned up nothing relevant. >> >> I decided to try a reboot, which cleared the upowerd problem and returned >> load to 0 or close to it. But now, network activity is not working. Any >> attempt to ping an IP address (eg my router) results in “Operation not >> permitted” even when run as root. Attempt to access any web page results in >> failing to find the site. Attempting to ping a text domain (eg >> www.google.com) results in an error message (instantly) saying could not >> resolve... >> >> It seems like networking is bejiggered suddenly on this machine. I did not >> install updates before rebooting, last time updates were installed was >> Sunday, and all has been well since then until this morning, although I did >> not reboot during that period until this morning. The machine is attached >> to my network via an Ethernet cable running to a WiFi+wired router. That is >> obviously working as the machine was able to get an IP address by DHCP >> after the reboot (ip route after reboot showed IP address correctly >> assigned) but unable to resolve any address and unable to ping an IP >> address of the form 192.168.xx.yy with the “Operation not permitted” error. >> >> All the pinging I’ve been trying worked without issues before this problem >> occurred, both as root and as an unprivileged user. >> >> Looking through the journalctl since my reboot, I do not see anything that >> obviously points to the problem. Network Manager seems to start OK, as far >> as I can tell. I don’t see any significant errors except postgreSQL failing >> to start, which is normal and I don’t use it. The first sign of trouble (to >> my eye, anyway) in the boot log is when services that want the network eg >> ntp start trying to interact with it, and failing. >> >> A second reboot produced exactly the same result. Other devices on my >> network are working fine. >> >> Putting the upowerd behavior together with the suddenness of this problem, >> I’m very afraid that this isn’t really permissions and is in fact some sort >> of hardware issue — the machine is 10 years old, was built by me, and has >> been in continuous use since it was built... Any suggestions for what I can >> do to diagnose? >> >> Thanks in advance >> >> Mark > >If you updated/ upgraded but did not reboot, then there could be a >problem with one or more upgrades. (I try to reboot immediately after >upgrading to avoid delayed surprises.) > > >I would pull the system drive, put it into a second machine, boot it, >and see if the problems persist. I would also run the system drive >manufacturer's diagnostic tool and test the system drive. > > >While testing the system drive in another machine, I would test the >first machine -- e.g. verify all cables fully seated, test the power >supply with a hardware tester, run any motherboard firmware >diagnostics, run software memory diagnostics, etc.. > > >David
Wouldn't it make more sense to boot a rescue CD and see if the hardware works - specifically the networking?
