Can't open file: 'smf_messages.MYI'. (errno: 144)

[vistaway]

SMF Version: SMF 1.1 RC2
My forum normally lives at http://www.thefairground.com/smf/ [nofollow]

Starting yesterday around 4:50pm, all I got was this error:

Can't open file: 'smf_messages.MYI'. (errno: 144)

Based on what I have found by searching the forums here, this generally seems to be something my host needs to fix. To that end, I submitted a ticket, and they are (slowly) working on it.

In the meantime, I tried some of the helpful suggestions that worked for others:

- I tried to repair table smf_messages from within phpMyAdmin. I got:

Table Op Msg_type Msg_text
thefairg_smf.smf_messages repair error 28 when fixing table
thefairg_smf.smf_messages repair error Can't copy datafile-header to tempfile, error 9
thefairg_smf.smf_messages repair status Operation failed

There have never been any problems with these forums before...running solid since SMF first came out and through subsequent upgrades. So while I wait for my host to look at this, I was wondering, is there anything else I can try?

Thanks for your help!

Andy

[Oldiesmann]

Talk to your host about this.

Error 144 = Table has crashed and should be repaired
Error 28 = No space left on device (ie there isn't any more space on the partition that MySQL is installed on)
Error 9 = Bad file descriptor (most likely related to the other two)

Just for future reference, here's a handy shortcut for translating those error codes:

Code Select Expand

<?phpecho shell_exec('perror x');?>

Replace "x" with the error code. Note: This won't work if your host has disabled the shell_exec function, but should work regardless of whether you have shell access.

[Daniel15]

Hmmm... Error 144 is:

daniel@server1:~$ perror 144
MySQL error code 144: Table is crashed and last repair failed

Which suggests there's a problem with your MySQL tables. You're right in thinking this is something your host needs to fix.

- I tried to repair table smf_messages from within phpMyAdmin. I got:

Table Op Msg_type Msg_text
thefairg_smf.smf_messages repair error 28 when fixing table
thefairg_smf.smf_messages repair error Can't copy datafile-header to tempfile, error 9
thefairg_smf.smf_messages repair status Operation failed

Oh, this looks like a big host problem. Error 28 means that the host has run out of space on their hard drive! Do you have cPanel access? If so, log in, and click on the 'Server Status' link on the left. Under all the Disk entries, check the percentages there.

My suggestion: Find a new host!

EDIT: Heh, Oldiesmann beat me to it

[vistaway]

Thanks both of you for the fast replies...I am waiting to hear back from my host (Site5), who have generally been excellent. Although they did run out of disk space on the server I was on about a month ago (didn't impact SQL).

Will let you know how this turns out.

Andy

[vistaway]

Well, my host finally fixed it. They said they "forced a repair on this database" - not sure what that entailed, but it's running again.

Thanks for your help.

Andy

[vistaway]

So much for fixing it...it ran fine for an hour, now I appear to be getting the same error. Although this time, my forum loads (partially) and displays:

Can't open file: 'smf_messages.MYI'. (errno: 144)
File: /home/thefairg/public_html/smf/Sources/BoardIndex.php
Line: 83

I have already tried a repair. During the repair, I also got:

thefairg_smf.smf_members
info     : Wrong bytesec:   0-  0-  0 at 409284; Skipped
status   : OK

Again, I contacted my host...but these problems really concern me, especially having cropped up out of nowhere.

[Daniel15]

my host (Site5)

They're definately overselling, which is why you're receiving errors like the 'Out of space' one. It's just not possible to sell that much at the price they sell it at. To see what I mean by 'overseller', see http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=117303.0

[Oldiesmann]

Your host will have to fix the "wrong bytesec" error for you. That's a pretty serious issue as it means the data is corrupted. They might be able to fix it with myisamchk from the shell - point them to http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/myisamchk-repair-options.html (or http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/myisamchk-repair-options.html if you've got MySQL 5.x).

Either way I would suggest finding another host.

[vistaway]

Thanks everyone.

Your comments have really encouraged me to look for a new host. I am going to give skynet hosting a try. They seem well-reviewed.

My next question is, with my forums in such a sorry state, is it possible to move them over to this new host? Or will the same problems re-appear?

Thanks,

Andy

[Oldiesmann]

If/when Site5 fixes your messages table, you should be able to move things over to the new host without any problems.

[vistaway]

So I am currently working on moving the forums over to a new host. I am also trying to build a clone of the current forum on my site5 server. I have a pretty-recent backup that I hope works. I tried to upload it via phpMyAdmin but it was taking forever. So I tried bigdump and got it to work, somewhat. When importing my messages table, I get the following error:

Error at the line 27001: INSERT INTO `smf_messages` VALUES (contents of a post);
MySQL: Duplicate entry '27154' for key 1

Is this something that can be fixed? I tried two different backup files, each a month apart, using bigdump and had the same error (although on different lines).

As an aside, take a look at my site5 server's current status:

Load Averages   10.57  12.44  9.51 

Mount   Type   Partition   Percent Capacity   Free   Used   Size
/    ext3    /dev/hda6     91%    15.45 MB    337.54 MB    372.21 MB
/boot    ext3    /dev/hda1     80%    6.91 MB    36.28 MB    45.54 MB
/home    ext3    /dev/hda2     77%    8.02 GB    26.92 GB    34.93 GB
/dev/shm    tmpfs    none     0%    251.65 MB    0.00 KB    251.65 MB
/usr    ext3    /dev/hda5     55%    7.03 GB    9.60 GB    17.52 GB
/var    ext3    /dev/hda7     32%    157.12 MB    80.59 MB    250.65 MB
/backup    ext3    /dev/hdb1     100%    0.00 KB    36.68 GB    36.69 GB
/var/tmp       /tmp     91%    15.45 MB    337.54 MB    372.21 MB
Totals :       82%    15.49 GB   73.97 GB   90.41 GB

Looks pretty brutal to me, but I really don't know what to look for.

[青山 素子]

The load averages at the top are a quick indicator. Those are quite high, but you might just have looked during an abnormally busy time. If that is what they are on average over time, then there is quite a bit of cause for concern.

[Daniel15]

Error at the line 27001: INSERT INTO `smf_messages` VALUES (contents of a post);
MySQL: Duplicate entry '27154' for key 1

Try deleting that post from the backup, and then try again.
Out of curiosity, how large is the backup? If it's not too big, you may be able to split it manually, and upload the individual chunks via phpMyAdmin.

/home    ext3    /dev/hda2     77%    8.02 GB    26.92 GB    34.93 GB

Uhm... Their home partition (that's where all your files go) is 34 GB, yet they offer 55 GB per account... That's definately a bad sign!
Also, those load averages don't look too good...

[vistaway]

Thanks Daniel.

The backup was 20MB gzipped.

I was able to upload it to an html directory on a new host, who then installed it fine. I have now moved the entire forum and site over to the new host (who offer a more-reasonable amount of space and bandwidth). Lesson learned I suppose (although they used to be great).

Thanks for your help.

Andy