Pimatic suddenly isn't starting anymore

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Hi all. I’ve got a major issue with my setup lately…
Whenever I boot up the pi I’m unable to access the pimatic web interface, so I went searching for a solution in the logs.
When I start up the pimatic service the following error is thrown:

sudo node /home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/pimatic.js
10:17:52.658 2018-04-06 Friday
/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/knex/node_modules/lodash/isTypedArray.js:1
(function (exports, require, module, __filename, __dirname) { v`r baseIsTypedIrray = require('./_baseIsType`Array'(,
                                                                                                            ^^^^^

SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier
    at exports.runInThisContext (vm.js:53:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:373:25)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:416:10)
    at Module.load (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/register.js:45:36)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:353:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/knex/node_modules/lodash/_arrayLikeKeys.js:6:20)
    at Module._compile (module.js:409:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:416:10)
    at Module.load (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/register.js:45:36)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:353:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/knex/node_modules/lodash/keys.js:1:21)
    at Module._compile (module.js:409:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:416:10)
    at Module.load (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/register.js:45:36)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:353:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/knex/node_modules/lodash/assign.js:6:12)
    at Module._compile (module.js:409:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:416:10)
    at Module.load (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/register.js:45:36)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:353:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/knex/lib/index.js:9:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:409:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:416:10)
    at Module.load (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/register.js:45:36)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:353:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/knex/knex.js:8:18)
    at Module._compile (module.js:409:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:416:10)
    at Module.load (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/register.js:45:36)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:353:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/lib/database.coffee:11:8)
    at Module._compile (module.js:409:26)
    at Object.compile (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/coffee-cache.js:169:17)
    at Module.load (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/register.js:45:36)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:353:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/startup.coffee:22:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:409:26)
    at Object.compile (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/coffee-cache.js:169:17)
    at Module.load (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/node_modules/coffee-script/lib/coffee-script/register.js:45:36)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:353:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at run (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/pimatic.js:15:3)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/pimatic-app/node_modules/pimatic/pimatic.js:20:3)
    at Module._compile (module.js:409:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:416:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:343:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:441:10)
    at startup (node.js:139:18)
    at node.js:990:3

Does anyone have any ideas how to solve this?

EDIT: @marvandorth I have edited your post to improve the readability of the included log and command output.

As far as command output is concerned, please also note the following: If the normal HTML format is used, straight quotes will be replaced with curly quotes and, thus, pasting the snippet to a command shell will cause errors in most cases.

Please see the following topic on the matter for future posts. Thanks!
https://forum.pimatic.org/topic/1179/how-to-post-code-snippets-and-alike-on-the-forum

@marvandorth major issue indeed. I believe your sdcard has died. Did you update anything before this error happend?

@gleno0h nope didn’t do anything!
There was a power outage before… Could that be the reason? Is there any way to recover from this?

@marvandorth that could very well be the reason yes. Microsd cards are fragile, and break very fast. You have to keep in mind that the raspberry writes alot to the sdcard, and the sdcards dont like that. But i must say, i have it running for two years without any issues… Luck i guess. Anyway, you should atleast backup your config.json and maybe even the sqlite database, you can do a search on this forum for a how to.

It could also be another problem but to me it looks like a broken sdcard because it crashes at a core part of pimatic, “Lodash”.

Look into this website, maybe it is fixable(but first backup your config.json!!)

https://raymii.org/s/blog/Broken_Corrupted_Raspberry_Pi_SD_Card.html

@gleno0h Thanks a lot for your time and help
I did some backups of the config.json already.
The json file is emailed to me every morning at 01:00
I did manage to fix the problem myself. I’ve edited the vars.sh file in /lib/init/
In this file there’s an option to force FSCK the filesystem upon reboot.
I think it did the trick because I’m able to reach the frontend again!

@marvandorth great. No problem at all. Dont forget to swap the sdcard asap. There are tools around to clone the sd so you dont have to reinstall everything

Ughhh… after a normal reboot same issue again!
Anyone have another option?

@gleno0h said in Pimatic suddenly isn't starting anymore:

@marvandorth great. No problem at all. Dont forget to swap the sdcard asap. There are tools around to clone the sd so you dont have to reinstall everything

Or even better, switch to a SSD. Costs are around 35 EUR for 32GB SSD and adapter. Gives you more speed and much more lifetime of your installation.

Also please check your power supply!

I had the weirdest errors (including corrupt SD cards) with an powersupply which was not powerfull enough!

@saxnpaule do you have a link?

https://www.voelkner.de/products/910943/M.2-SATA-SSD-Erweiterungs-Platine-fuer-den-Raspberry-Pi.html?ref=43&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1cfVu4Cz2gIVRDobCh1KJQuGEAQYAiABEgIePPD_BwE

Or an extern housing like this
So you can easy take the M2 SSD from the Raspi to your computer.