Below is the description of common errors and problems in InterBase/Firebird databases and their recovery chances.
To get exact recovery price and time please contact us by form or via email.
For approximate pricing please see "InterBase and Firebird Recovery" service description.
There is no 100% warranty that described errors exactly correspond to the described reasons.
Internal gds software consistency check (cannot find tip page (165))
Database cannot be opened using Firebird or InterBase engine, and the following message appears:
Internal gds software consistency check (cannot find tip page (165))
Abnormal shutdown or physical database file corruption.
Transaction inventory page has been lost (TIP).
Corruption area can vary from several pages to the whole database, so additional investigation needed.
The most probable reasons are abnormal server shutdown (using Reset button), wrong backup approach or backup tools.
On Windows XP such corruption can be caused by "System Restore" feature for "gdb" files.
First, database should be scanned with FirstAID Diagnostician.
If FirstAID does not warn about serious corruption, corruption can be fixed with full version of FirstAID.
In case of serious corruption the custom recovery needed.
99%
Database file appears corrupt. Wrong page type. Page NNN is of wrong type (expected X, found Y)
Error message appeared in standard output or in firebird.log or interbase.log:
Database file appears corrupt. Wrong page type. Page NNN is of wrong type (expected X, found Y)
Due to the physical corruption or another reason the sequence of database file pages has been changed, or wrong values appeared on pointer pages or index root pages, etc.
The most probable reasons are abnormal server shutdown (using Reset button), wrong backup procedure or wrong backup tools/approach.
First, database should be scanned with FirstAID Diagnostician.
If FirstAID does not warn about serious corruption, corruption can be fixed with full version of FirstAID.
Otherwise custom recovery process needed.
95%.
Unknown database I/O error for file "*.gdb". Error while trying to read from file
Database cannot be open, and the following error message appears:
Unknown database I/O error for file "*.gdb". Error while trying to read from file.
Due to the abnormal server shutdown the most recent database pages were not written to the disk.
Custom recovery process. Database check by gfix and backup/restore.
95%
Decompression overran buffer
Error message appears:
Internal gds software consistency check (decompression overran buffer (179))
It is a serious database corruption: system tables could be damaged. Sometimes this error occurs after database transfer to the new server/computer. Investigation needed.
Database structure analysis, generation of new pages, several iterations needed.
95%
Wrong record length
Error message appears:
Internal gds software consistency check. Wrong record length
Most often "Wrong record length" error are caused by bad RAM. We strongly recommend to check RAM at server.
Locate and delete wrong records using IBSurgeon's low-level tools. Several iterations needed.
97%
Database file appears corrupt. Bad checksum
Database file appears corrupt. Bad checksum. Checksum error on database page XX.
Bad RAM. We strongly recommend to check RAM at server.
Custom recovery process. Several iteration needed.
99%
Cannot find record back version
Database seems to be working, but gbak cannot complete backup.
Error text:
Internal gds software consistency check (cannot find record back version (291))
gds_$receive failed. Exiting before completion due to errors. internal gds software consistency check (can't continue after bug check).
Most probable reason is wrong transaction management. Transactions' performance investigation.
The database requires detailed analysis, and usually the solution is to find and delete problem database objects and then recreate them.
Sometimes it is necessary to transfer data to the new database.
99%
Next transaction older than oldest active transaction
Internal gds software consistency check (next transaction older than oldest active transaction (266))
This seldom error occurs in InterBase 4.x-5.x, it's a bug.
Custom recovery process
99%
Corrupted header
Database cannot be opened and Firebird/InterBase does not consider it as a valid database.
Physical corruption, HDD crash.
Custom recovery process
80%
Database file size exceed implementation limit
It happens on InterBase 4.x-5.x servers and early Firebird (0.9.x) betas. The database cannot be opened, database file size is 4Gb.
Implementation limit of InterBase 4.x-5.x-6.0.x, and early Firebird 0.9.x.
Custom recovery process.
Usually we can save all data (i.e., 100%), but sometimes it can be less than 70%.
Conversion error from string
Error text: Conversion error from string "XXX".
Preliminary diagnosis is impossible, on-site investigation needed.
Custom recovery process.
99%
INET/inet_error: read errno = 10054 or 10038 or 10093
Multiple entries in firebird.log or interbase.log with errors 10054, 10038, 10093, etc.
These errors are caused by network problems - check your hubs, network adapters, etc. It is not an Firebird/InterBase error itself, but it may impact Firebird/InterBase.
We offer FBScanner tool to solve "10054 errors" problem (among other issues). See details here.
Not applicable.
Partner index description not found (175))
Error messages text:
internal gds software consistency check (partner index description not found (175))
Missed index for primary or foreign key.
It may be caused by physical corruption or internal server bugs.
Custom recovery process.
100%
Other errors
Below there is a list of seldom Firebird/InterBase errors, which can be caused by different reasons. Do not hesitate to send us description of your problem - we can help you.
Wrong UDF may cause the following errors in interbase.log:
SCH_validate -- not entered
SCH_validate -- wrong thread
Index corruption may cause the following message in interbase.log:
Page 34672 is an orphan
And this error can occur during intensive inserts/update/delete during the single transaction:
internal gds software consistency check (Too many savepoints (287))
It is hard to recognize the reason without investigation of database in case of the following errors:
internal gds software consistency check (error during savepoint backout (290))
internal gds Software consistency check (size of opt block exceeded (286))
internal gds software consistency check (invalid SEND request (167))
Different reasons. We need to investigate corrupted database.
Custom recovery process.
Various
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