Hi friends
My server system running on CentOS 5.3 box automatically shutdown without me executing any command or cronjob. I asked my night assistant if someone accidentally power off the system, but the answer was negative. I tried to find out the reasons for the same but all in vain.

So do anyone have an idea why does the system behave that way. Here are the log files for your reference:

acpid(log):
[Wed Oct 14 00:57:54 2009] received event "button/power PWRF 00000080 00000001"

messages(log):
Oct 14 00:57:54 ns1 shutdown[13838]: shutting down for system halt
Oct 14 00:57:55 ns1 smartd[3004]: smartd received signal 15: Terminated

secure(log):
Oct 14 00:57:56 ns1 sshd[2689]: Received signal 15; terminating.

Thanks in advance

Sorry the above heading should be "Automatic System Shutdown".

This message --

-- has exactly one meaning. Someone had to press the power button to create this message. If someone was at the computer and claims no one turned off the machine, they are lying.

This should be enough to prove to them that someone on their end did it. Don't pay for the additional service, if they try to charge for it.

Thanks for the info... but are you guys absolutely sure (i.e 100%) that only pressing the power button off will generate such log message. I m sorry i have to be little skeptical but i have my reasons to be so. Can't there be any other reasons for the same? Thanks again.

It is very improbable for this message to be generated in any way apart from someone physically pressing the power button.

Obviously someone could hack the log file and deliberately make a bogus entry. What's the probability of that?

The probability of someone hacking the system is very less. I mean the system is quite secure. Besides, I can make out through the logs who logged in and who logged out. I am quite positive the system shutdown by itself but not sure what caused it because it happened once last time also. But that time i didn't bother much and didn't look at the logs also and just power on the system. This is the second time i must say, though i was not physically present there like last time. Could it be hardware failure or some fan problem?

The only other thing I can think of would be a weird hardware failure, possibly a short in the wires from the power button to the motherboard. Something shorted the power jumper on the motherboard, most likely by pressing the power switch, but I guess it's possible it could be bare spots on the wire and someone could have bumped the box and it just happened to short momentarily.... but then that's a long shot....

Hi Friends,
Sorry, i m back again with the same problem and the same logs messages, except that it happened on the same day of the month but a couple of hours later. Here are the logs:

messages(log):
Dec 14 03:17:26 ns1 shutdown[22178]: shutting down for system halt
Dec 14 03:17:27 ns1 smartd[2946]: smartd received signal 15: Terminated

acpid(log):
[Mon Dec 14 03:17:26 2009] received event "button/power PWRF 00000080 00000001"

secure(log):
Dec 14 03:17:28 ns1 sshd[2638]: Received signal 15; terminating.

I tried to find out the problem last time but to no avail and carried on thinking it will not happen again. But i was wrong. It happened again and still m trying to find out the problem or the cause of the problem. At least i m sure nobody switch off the power button. Do you have any ideas friends.

Thanks and Regards

You were told the cause of the problem before. The log is VERY clear. Someone is pushing the power button. That's the ONLY meaning that message has, period. Unless, as adm1329 pointed out, you're having a VERY strange hardware failure, SOMEONE IS POWERING THE SYSTEM OFF.

Not sure how much more clear the log message has to be...

Is there any possibility for a watchdog reset to be seen by the kernel as a power off action? I know that some hardware have BIOS implemented watchdog, especially for server MOBO, or embedded plateform...

I'd go with someone hitting the power button.
Another possibility might(!) be someone disconnected it/switched off at the wall.
Cleaning staff have been know to do that to plug in vacuum cleaners in an office env ie not in a dedicated data centre room.
It's happened to me....

homyangcha-

To the extent you might want/need to investigate further .. and you're willing to do a bit of homework and/or write a few scripts - this link might help:

http://linuxgazette.net/106/pramode.html