[mythtv-users] Backend crash with malloc(): memory corruption (fast)

Allen Edwards allen.p.edwards at gmail.com
Wed Jan 21 08:06:43 UTC 2009


I got a backend crash and lost the last 7 minutes of American Idol.
My wife is pissed off.  She stated talking about myth out, Dish in,
and I started looking into the problem real fast.

The backend log has this message followed by some kind of dump and a
bunch of more errors.
*** glibc detected *** /usr/bin/mythbackend: malloc(): memory
corruption (fast): 0xa895a507 ***

I searched myth archives and find many people with this problem with
no definite solution.  Some suggestions were check overheating, check
for memory error, and a variety of other shot in the dark suggestions.
 Temp in my case is 35 deg C, which seems OK.  Memtext86+ passed.

I then searched general sources for "malloc(): memory corruption
(fast)" and get this:

"Probable causes:
* Writing beyond the end of a memory block obtained via malloc
or realloc.
* Writing/reading memory that has been released with free()."

So, from that it looks like a program error.

This doesn't happen often but I think it has happened before.  From a
user point of view, the program stops and when you try and get back in
the menu, you get an error message about the backend connection being
lost and being sure to set the IP address correctly.  Restarting X
doesn't help.  One of the problems is that we didn't notice the
backend was down until we hit the end of the recording at which point
the backend had been down for about 10 minutes and the show was over.

I am running mythbunty 8.04.1
branches/release-0-21-fixes  18704

Does anyone have insight into this problem?


Allen


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list