The following bug has been logged online:
Bug reference: 2419
Logged by: Andy Male
Email address: andy@ubic.co.uk
PostgreSQL version: 8.1
Operating system: Windows 2003 Server (standard) SP1
Description: could not reattach to shared memory
Details:
FULL ERROR IN WINDOWS EVENT LOG -
The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( PostgreSQL ) cannot be found.
The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or
message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be
able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and
Support for details. The following information is part of the event: FATAL:
could not reattach to shared memory (key=5432001, addr=01960000): Invalid
argument
There is no correspondng error in pg_log.
Once the error happens the database become unreponsive, current connections
stop responding and you cannot make new connections. Stopping and starting
the database removes the error and normal operation can continue.
The error happens intermittently (three or four times a day) and doesn't
seem to have a specific cause. The database is not heavily used and is
processing around 100 transactions per minute.