# Mongrel won't start

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-wont-start/127270>\
**Category:** Deployment\
**Created:** [January 27, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-wont-start/127270 "2008-01-27T16:04:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chrisolsen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@chrisolsen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisolsen)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-wont-start/127270/1 "2008-01-27T16:04:06Z")

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after doing some server updates I can no longer start mongrel or at  
least get it working. I get 404’s whenever I now try to access a  
dynamic page.

# This is what I get when I run cap deploy:restart

\*\* [out :: [li21-118.members.linode.com](http://li21-118.members.linode.com)] !!! PID file  
/var/rails/communitycms/current/tmp/pids/mongrel.8002.pid already  
exists. Mongrel could be running already. Check your  
/var/rails/communitycms/current/log/mongrel.8002.log for errors.  
\*\* [out :: [li21-118.members.linode.com](http://li21-118.members.linode.com)]  
\*\* [out :: [li21-118.members.linode.com](http://li21-118.members.linode.com)] \*\*  
\*\* [out :: [li21-118.members.linode.com](http://li21-118.members.linode.com)] !!! Exiting with error. You  
must stop mongrel and clear the .pid before I’ll attempt a start.  
\*\* [out :: [li21-118.members.linode.com](http://li21-118.members.linode.com)]

I get the same thing if I rub cap deploy:stop first.

There is no useful information in the mongrel.xxx.log files.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chrisolsen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@chrisolsen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisolsen)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-wont-start/127270/2 "2008-01-27T16:49:20Z")

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When reading the error messages it sounded like it said that it WAS  
already running, but in the end it was the just the pid files that  
remained. Deleting them from the RAILS/tmp/pids folder fixed things

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chrisolsen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@chrisolsen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisolsen)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-wont-start/127270/3 "2008-01-29T02:10:28Z")

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On Sun, 2008-01-27 at 16:49 +0100, Chris O. wrote:

> When reading the error messages it sounded like it said that it WAS  
> already running, but in the end it was the just the pid files that  
> remained. Deleting them from the RAILS/tmp/pids folder fixed things

Another option is to use mongrel\_cluster\_ctl with the --clean option;  
that’ll delete stale pids for you. I usually ensure that my mongrel  
init scripts include this option so’s to make sure that they’ll come up  
if the server crashes.

Yours,

Tom