RT-N66U - kernel: Argh. No free space left for GC

[flavouski]

Every minute I see this message 2x in the logs.

Feb 27 20:46:30 kernel: Argh. No free space left for GC. nr_erasing_blocks is 0. nr_free_blocks is 0. (erasableempty: yes, erasingempty: yes, erasependingempty: yes)
Feb 27 20:46:30 kernel: Argh. No free space left for GC. nr_erasing_blocks is 0. nr_free_blocks is 0. (erasableempty: yes, erasingempty: yes, erasependingempty: yes)
Feb 27 20:47:30 kernel: Argh. No free space left for GC. nr_erasing_blocks is 0. nr_free_blocks is 0. (erasableempty: yes, erasingempty: yes, erasependingempty: yes)
Feb 27 20:47:30 kernel: Argh. No free space left for GC. nr_erasing_blocks is 0. nr_free_blocks is 0. (erasableempty: yes, erasingempty: yes, erasependingempty: yes)

The router should have the latest firmware: 3.0.0.4.382_52272-g73d3ea2
I do use the 3g/4g USB application for my internet (tethered cell phone (5-20Mbps up)) and have 2.4GHz and 5GHz enabled.

I don't actually know if the cause of the error is affecting my connection (which is pretty shoddy anyway), but would you know a way to clear up space or prevent it from happening?
Thanks

 

[ColinTaylor]

You need to factory reset the router to free up some space and then manually configure it, i.e. don't reload settings from a backup file.

 

[flavouski]

Thanks for the idea, I hadn't tried that yet. Initially I did the factory reset through the router's physical button and after resetting saw the same bad message. So then I found the factory reset through the software and used that, same result. I set it up manually each time.

Not sure if any of the logs below really help.
I did enjoy one line: Disabling erase-suspend-program due to code brokenness. Shrug, someday I'll get a new router I suppose.
Thanks

May  5 01:04:56 syslogd started: BusyBox v1.17.4
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: klogd started: BusyBox v1.17.4 (2020-06-09 09:41:02 CST)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: start_kernel
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Linux version 2.6.22.19 (root@asus) (gcc version 4.2.3) #1 Tue Jun 9 09:42:50 CST 2020
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: CPU revision is: 00019749
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Determined physical RAM map:
May  5 01:04:56 kernel:  memory: 07fff000 @ 00000000 (usable)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel:  memory: 08000000 @ 87fff000 (usable)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Built 1 zonelists.  Total pages: 585216
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Kernel command line: root=/dev/mtdblock2 noinitrd console=ttyS0,115200
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Primary instruction cache 32kB, physically tagged, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PID hash table entries: 2048 (order: 11, 8192 bytes)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: CPU: BCM5300 rev 1 pkg 0 at 600 MHz
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Using 300.000 MHz high precision timer.
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Inode-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Initializing host
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Reset RC
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Initializing host
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Reset RC
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bus 0
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI/PCIe coreunit 0 is set to bus 1.
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bridge
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bridge
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Enabling device 0000:01:00.1 (0004 -> 0006)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bus 1
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI/PCIe coreunit 1 is set to bus 2.
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bridge
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bridge
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Enabling device 0000:02:00.1 (0004 -> 0006)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bus 2
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: IP route cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: TCP established hash table entries: 16384 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: TCP bind hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: highmem bounce pool size: 64 pages
May  5 01:04:56 kernel:  Amd/Fujitsu Extended Query Table at 0x0040
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Physically mapped flash: CFI does not contain boot bank location. Assuming top.
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: number of CFI chips: 1
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: cfi_cmdset_0002: Disabling erase-suspend-program due to code brokenness.
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Flash device: 0x2000000 at 0x1c000000
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Creating 5 MTD partitions on "Physically mapped flash":
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: 0x00000000-0x00040000 : "pmon"
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: 0x00040000-0x01fe0000 : "linux"
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: 0x0016eae4-0x01e20000 : "rootfs"
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: 0x01fe0000-0x02000000 : "nvram"
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: 0x01ee0000-0x01fe0000 : "jffs2"
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Found an  serial flash with 0 0KB blocks; total size 0MB
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: sflash: found no supported devices
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: dev_nvram_init: _nvram_init
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: u32 classifier
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: Netfilter messages via NETLINK v0.30.
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (2048 buckets, 16384 max)
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
May  5 01:04:56 kernel: net/ipv4/netfilter/tomato_ct.c [Jun  9 2020 09:42:28]
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly.
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: Warning: unable to open an initial console.
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: ctf: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: et_module_init: passivemode set to 0x0
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: et_module_init: et_txq_thresh set to 0xce4
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: bcm_robo_enable_switch: EEE is disabled
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: eth0: Broadcom BCM47XX 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet Controller 6.30.163.2002 (r382208)
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: wl_module_init: passivemode set to 0x0
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: PCI: Enabling device 0000:01:01.0 (0000 -> 0002)
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: eth1: Broadcom BCM4331 802.11 Wireless Controller 6.30.163.2002 (r382208)
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: PCI: Enabling device 0000:02:01.0 (0000 -> 0002)
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: eth2: Broadcom BCM4331 802.11 Wireless Controller 6.30.163.2002 (r382208)
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: Algorithmics/MIPS FPU Emulator v1.5
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: Argh. No free space left for GC. nr_erasing_blocks is 0. nr_free_blocks is 0. (erasableempty: yes, erasingempty: yes, erasependingempty: yes)
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: No space for garbage collection. Aborting GC thread
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: Argh. No free space left for GC. nr_erasing_blocks is 0. nr_free_blocks is 0. (erasableempty: yes, erasingempty: yes, erasependingempty: yes)
May  5 01:04:57 kernel: Argh. No free space left for GC. nr_erasing_blocks is 0. nr_free_blocks is 0. (erasableempty: yes, erasingempty: yes, erasependingempty: yes)

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thanks for the idea, I hadn't tried that yet. Initially I did the factory reset through the router's physical button and after resetting saw the same bad message. So then I found the factory reset through the software and used that, same result. I set it up manually each time.

Hmm. Try a hard reset and see if that's any better:

[Wireless Router] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset - Method 1 | Official Support | ASUS Global

P.S. When you did the reset through the GUI did you try it with the "Initialize" option checked?

 

[Zetto]

Could it be caused by failing flash memory? n66u is a very old router, I have one myself and it's not in a very good shape after a decade of uninterrupted use.

 

[flavouski]

I hadn't tried the Initialize option check, but I did the hard reset same result. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on some new routers, figured it was about time. @Zetto yeah that router gets pretty hot too so it shouldn't be surprising. Thanks for the advice.