buffer length error in syslog

[Rob Donovan]

Binary package hint: acpi

This error occurs in /var/log/syslog on boot. I have no idea if it has any consequences. System is Dell T110 Poweredge running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS 64-bit.

Jul 16 10:57:42 ben kernel: [ 4.352252] ACPI Error: SMBus or IPMI write requires Buffer of length 42, found length 20 (20090903/exfield-286)
Jul 16 10:57:42 ben kernel: [ 4.352258] ACPI Error (psparse-0537): Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PMI0._GHL] (Node ffff88043fc2bde0), AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT
Jul 16 10:57:42 ben kernel: [ 4.352276] ACPI Error (psparse-0537): Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PMI0._PMC] (Node ffff88043fc2bd60), AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT
Jul 16 10:57:42 ben kernel: [ 4.352291] ACPI Exception: AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT, Evaluating _PMC (20090903/power_meter-772)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: acpi (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.36-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Jul 18 14:14:31 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100427.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: acpi

[Miguel Tadeu (mtadeunet)]

same here....

[flavin (fcolavin)]

I got the same, and I found this:

http://mjg59.livejournal.com/126270.html

but I still don't know how to fix it

[Rob Donovan (hikerman2005-ubuntu)]

Me neither. I gave up on Ubuntu eventually (due to another bug) and
installed Debian Lenny

best
/rob

flavin wrote:
> I got the same, and I found this:
>
> http://mjg59.livejournal.com/126270.html
>
> but I still don't know how to fix it
>
>

[flavin (fcolavin)]

I'm thinking the same a have a lot of bug in ubuntu's servers :(

[Alan Johnson (nilgiri)]

I have a 9 HP DL360 servers and they are all writing this to /var/log/messages every 5 minutes. It is making it difficult to look for other problems. A little grepping helps, but it it is a lot of unnecessary activity and I can't help but wonder if it is not related to any number of other problems I am having.

[julienf (julienferraro)]

Same problem here on HP DL360 G7 server :

# uname -r
2.6.38-12-generic

# cat /var/log/syslog
Dec 5 16:12:34 cdl69-02 kernel: [ 16.682250] ACPI Error: SMBus or
IPMI write requires Buffer of length 66, found length 32
(20110112/exfield-285)
Dec 5 16:12:34 cdl69-02 kernel: [ 16.682258] ACPI Error: Method
parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PMI0._PMM] (Node f34298e8),
AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT (20110112/psparse-536)
Dec 5 16:12:34 cdl69-02 kernel: [ 16.682274] ACPI Exception:
AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT, Evaluating _PMM (20110112/power_meter-348)

[Jan Harasym (jan-harasym)]

Same with Ubuntu 10.04

vmhost@holly:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS
Release: 10.04
Codename: lucid

[352933.678692] ACPI Exception: AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT, Evaluating _PMM (20090903/power_meter-347)
[353023.892627] ACPI Error: SMBus or IPMI write requires Buffer of length 42, found length 20 (20090903/exfield-286)
[353023.892636] ACPI Error (psparse-0537): Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PMI0._PMM] (Node ffff88048ac65a00), AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT
[353023.892668] ACPI Exception: AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT, Evaluating _PMM (20090903/power_meter-347)
[353023.941700] ACPI Error: SMBus or IPMI write requires Buffer of length 42, found length 20 (20090903/exfield-286)
[353023.941708] ACPI Error (psparse-0537): Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PMI0._PMM] (Node ffff88048ac65a00), AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT
[353023.941739] ACPI Exception: AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT, Evaluating _PMM (20090903/power_meter-347)
vmhost@holly:~$

I've made sure to update all packages... same error, and it's making my logs very-very large.

[Jan Harasym (jan-harasym)]

I'm also on HP DL360 G7 hardware.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[K1773R (k1773r)]

Still no updates on this?

[Jiří Valenta (fijosh)]

I have been googling hard for this one and eventually found this:
"It is just a warning. The messages are occuring since a script or an application is reading from certain kernel ACPI parts under /sys/devices/LNXSYSTEM:00/ which are not fully implemented yet."

source: http://www.novell.com/support/kb/doc.php?id=7010449

Looks similar enough to be the same "issue".

[Raul Morera (rmorera)]

The same problem with HP DL 380G7 with ubuntu 10.04 LTS 64 bit with kernel
2.6.32-45-server

[ 35.382958] ACPI Error: SMBus or IPMI write requires Buffer of length 42, found length 20 (20090903/exfield-286)
[ 35.382967] ACPI Error (psparse-0537): Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PMI0._PMM] (Node ffff88019903ed20), AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT
[ 35.383000] ACPI Exception: AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT, Evaluating _PMM (20090903/power_meter-347)

[Roiner Jimenez Arias (roiner)]

The same with HP DL 380, with:

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS
Release: 10.04
Codename: lucid

Kernel: 2.6.32-46-server

[Vandeir Eduardo (vanedu)]

Some problem here with HP DL 360 G7.

I found a work around:

#nano /etc/sensors3.conf

go to the bottom of the file and add:

    chip “power_meter-acpi-0″
    ignore power1

then reboot.

Source: http://www.nexusco.net/frequent-acpi-errors-starting-smbus-ipmi-write-requires-buffer-length-42/

[Tim (e-tim-6)]

Vandeir's work around is good.

In my case the messages were appearing every 5 minutes because of munin.

[Andrew (am-public-o)]

I am seeing the same on CentOS 6. I found one solution was to attempt a restart of lm_sensors

sudo service lm_sensors restart

It then prompted me to re-run sensors detect,

sudo sensors-detect

I did YES to all except the last one.

Run the service

sudo service lm_sensors start

Now I don't see /var/log/messages being filled.

[Marc Bihlmaier (78luphr0rnk2nuqimstywepozxn9kl19tqh0tx66b5dki1xxsh5mkz9gl21a5rlwfnr8jn6ln0m3jxne2k9x1ohg85w3jabxlrqbgszpjpwcmvkbcvq9-launchpad-a811i2i3ytqlsztthjth0svbccw8inm65tmkqp9sarr553jq53in4xm1m8wn3o4rlwaer06ogwvqwv9mrqoku2x334n7di44o65qze67n1wneepmidnu)]

same here with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

[Thomas D (t-mikael-d)]

Debian Buster no longer has this problem, seems to have been fixed.

Seems that 18.04 = debian buster, so should be possible to remove the "fix".

[Gustavo A. Díaz (gdiaz)]

I have his same problem on HP ProLiant DL320e Gen8 running Ubuntu 18.04.

Sep 11 10:11:56 albatros kernel: [899616.611496] ACPI Error: No handler for Region [POWR] (00000000949b848e) [IPMI] (20190816/evregion-132)
Sep 11 10:11:56 albatros kernel: [899616.611506] ACPI Error: Region IPMI (ID=7) has no handler (20190816/exfldio-265)
Sep 11 10:11:56 albatros kernel: [899616.611516] No Local Variables are initialized for Method [_PMM]
Sep 11 10:11:56 albatros kernel: [899616.611518] No Arguments are initialized for method [_PMM]
Sep 11 10:11:56 albatros kernel: [899616.611521] ACPI Error: Aborting method \_SB.PMI0._PMM due to previous error (AE_NOT_EXIST) (20190816/psparse-531)
Sep 11 10:11:56 albatros kernel: [899616.611538] ACPI Error: AE_NOT_EXIST, Evaluating _PMM (20190816/power_meter-325)

Workarounds posted here does not work. Any fix? Is very annoying because it makes difficult to debug another errors (and I can not upgrade to 20.04 yet if being fixed there).