RMA: 301 - Error: A counter with a negative denominator

timn · Post by **timn** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 11:15 am

The following Perf Counter test for CPU Utilization % (CPU 1 of 2) works fine sometimes, an at other times, in seems to get stuck in a condition where the RMA always returns "RMA: 301 - Error: A counter with a negative denominator was detected."

I've read through:

http://www.ks-soft.net/hostmon.eng/mframe.htm#tests.htm#perfnotes

But since the RMA is running the test, trying to change HM's PerfWorkMode does not sound right. The odd thing is that same test on CPU(0) of the RMA always returns a valid value. (There are 2 processors on the RMA box)

Any thoughts?

HM: v4.16 on Win2K SP4 ---- RMA: v1.11 on Win2K SP4

Method = PerfCounter
;--- Common properties ---
RMAgent = BSS
Title = Processor (1) Utilization % - BSS
Comment = BSS^MWarning: CPU 1 extremely busy on BSS^M10.30.40.22^MCPU (1)
RelatedURL =
ScheduleMode= Regular
Schedule =
Interval = 180
Alerts = Busy CPU Watch
ReverseAlert= No
UnknownIsBad= No
UseCommonLog= Yes
PrivLogMode = Default
CommLogMode = Default
SyncCounters= Yes
SyncAlerts = No
DependsOn = list
MasterTest-Alive = 10.30.40.22 Master Connectivity - BSS
;--- Test specific properties ---
PerfCounter = \Processor(1)\% Processor Time
Condition = MoreThan
Value = 99.00
DisplayMode = AsIs

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KS-Soft · Post by **KS-Soft** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 3:30 pm

"A counter with a negative denominator was detected"?

Its not a RMA message, this message was returned by some performance DLL.
Why? I don't have any idea

Microsoft.com and Google.com did not find any information about this message. What's more interesting our Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP systems do not contain this message at all. Probably 2 processors system has some other DLLs related to Performance Counters...

Regards
Alex

timn · Post by **timn** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 9:26 am

Yes, I also googled for information on this (both web and newsgroup) and was surprised by the total lack of references.

Must be a very uncommon eror.

Question: If I use CPU test instead of Perf counter and RMA machine has multiple CPUs, am I looking at CPU(0) or CPU(Total)?

KS-Soft · Post by **KS-Soft** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 1:08 pm

CPU Total

timn · Post by **timn** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 1:37 pm

Oh dear, I just changed it from Perf Counter test to CPU Usage test and the RMA machine is now reporting CPU Usuage at 218%

I'd sure like to know how to get that much performance out of all my processors

To be fair, this is an older machine - one of the few we have left running NT - but it's SP6a with the latest patches.

KS-Soft · Post by **KS-Soft** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 3:20 pm

H'm, truth to say we never was able to test HostMonitor on NT 4.0 SP 6a. We have system with NT 4.0 SP3, and NT 4.0 SP4. But every time I installed SP 6a, system crashes when user login to the system

Regards
Alex

timn · Post by **timn** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 2:21 pm

No big deal. I have alternate means/tests to determine if this particular host is in distress.

We've just about phased out all of our NT boxes and I am pushing to kill this one as well.

RMA is installed on ~97 host machines so far and this is the only one that seems to be giving me any real trouble. Most other issues have been traced back to me choosing the wrong test type/etc.