unable to handle kernel null pointer dereference...

[Oky]

After being powered on 5-10 minutes I get the following error on the console:

unable to handle kernel null pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000



This is a Brand new RPi Model A, with a Rosewill RNWD-N1502UBE ( Ralink RT5370 Chipset) USB Wifi Dongle.

How can I find the cause of these crashes?

[pudchuck]

I don't have an answer but I am having the same problem. The addresses in my dump are a little different.

[Oky]

So far I have had success with using a Powered Usb Hub to power the Wifi Dongle.

Still leaving it powered on for a while more - but so far so good.

[pudchuck]

Do you believe this is related to a USB power issue? I too have a USB hub and I continue to have issues. I have powered hard drives attached to the hub. I wouldn't think they take much power from the USB port, but I often find I'm often wrong.

[UWTech]

A null pointer dereference returns an error because you are trying to access memory which is reserved for system critical operations. Information such as the interrupt vector table, initial stack and program counters, and other information.

The system won't let you dereference these low memory addresses because changing the values stored there could cause your system to become inoperable.

It is unlikely to be a power issue. There is probably some kind of an issue with your OS installation. Possibly the OS installation was corrupted, or there is some kind of defect in the SD card.

I would carefully create a new OS image and try reinstalling.

[Mosmas]

I know this error message, too.

I'm playing with a Model B for a couple of months, and I'm testing a brandnew new Model A, too. I have two WiFi dongles: BIGtec 150Mbit nano (Ralink) and EDIMAX EW-7811UN. With Model B both dongles are working fine. (Although the BIGtec seems to have less performance, when accessing the RPi via WLAN and SSH. Typing at the console is somewhat sluggish.)

Model A with BIGtec crashes after a while (2 min to few hours), and somtimes I see the error message mentioned above. With EDIMAX the Model A runs for days without any problem.

[fernando_cl]

I'm having the same issue with a brand new installation of an Archlinux image archlinux-hf-2013-07-22.img. I tried with 2 different rpi cards and 2 different SD cards and still have this issue ...

[Aefan]

i have the same issue with my RPI model B and raspbian when i run cgminer for bitcoin mining.
yesterday it runs for about 1 hour and then i got a kernel page error. after updating the RPi and the cgminer, today after about 8 hours i got a "unable to handle kernel null pointer dereference at address ..." error and the RPi freezed.

don't know whats wrong

[fernando_cl]

I have one RPi with no problems and its running a 3.6 kernel while all the ones that I've tried and got this issue had the 3.10 kernel ... is there a way to downgrade or download an older archlinux image?

[fernando_cl]

I solved the issue ... finally it seemed to be only a power trouble, since the plug cord I was using was a repaired one and it seemed to deliver less current than that required but the Raspberry. This make sense since other issues with the same symptoms were related with usb-hubs.

Hope this helps.

[mascondante]

Add me to the list of resolved via lowering power consumption. Seems to only affect the RPi when all four USB slots are used unpowered + Pi overvolted. Not sure how a power issue relates to the error but somehow it does. Go figure...