Hello,
Does it repeat on every run?
If it is possible, try to gracefully stop postgresql.
Not working? Try stop immediate and last resort stop abort.
If postgrres service does not stop, try to kill pgbench process.
First try kill -15 <pgbench PID> and if it does not work, kill -9
Nothing works, reboot the vm.
Open two terminals, start pgbench process in one. In the other ps -ef | grep pgbench
Find the parent process ID and do a strace -f -p <PID> (maybe your kernel has a different syntax, but it is to trace a process and its forks)
It can show which set of instructions is waiting. You will know because usually you are not able to read due to its speed, but when it stops, it is waiting for something.
Hope it helps.
ALW
From: Scott Ribe <scott_ribe@elevated-dev.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2026 11:55 AM
To: Pgsql-admin <pgsql-admin@lists.postgresql.org>
Subject: debug a lockup
PostgreSQL appears locked up. pgbench run that should have completed in a few seconds has been running 14 hours. psql invocation locks up. No CPU usage showing in top.
I personally suspect infra issues. (k8s pod, Pure block storage) But I'm getting pushback pointing the finger at PG. It's 18.1, and pgbench is the only client FWIW.
Any way to introspect the current non-debug build to get a clue what's going on in there?
--
Scott Ribe
scott_ribe@elevated-dev.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottribe/
