# Watchdog on DietPi / RaspberryPi Zero **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Tags:** raspberry-pi-4\ **Created:** [8 January 2025 20:24 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472 "2025-01-08T20:24:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/psychoquaker)\ **Post date:** [8 January 2025 20:24 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/1 "2025-01-08T20:24:08Z")
Hello I tried to activate the watchdog on my system like shown here: > **[Watchdog: reboot Raspberry Pi if network is down](https://defgw.wordpress.com/2017/10/24/watchdog-reboot-raspberry-pi-if-network-is-down/)** > > Network down! Help! I have an issue with one of my Raspberry Pis. It will not survive if Wi-Fi network is down for an extended period of time. I have not been able to figure out the root cause, or … When I start the watchdog service I get the following errors ```auto Jan 08 21:13:14 DietPi systemd[1]: Starting watchdog daemon... Jan 08 21:13:15 DietPi watchdog[857]: unknown protocol icmp Jan 08 21:13:15 DietPi sh[857]: watchdog: unknown protocol icmp Jan 08 21:13:15 DietPi systemd[1]: watchdog.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=2/INVALIDARGUMENT Jan 08 21:13:15 DietPi systemd[1]: watchdog.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE Jan 08 21:13:15 DietPi systemd[1]: watchdog.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. Jan 08 21:13:15 DietPi systemd[1]: Failed to start watchdog daemon. Jan 08 21:13:15 DietPi systemd[1]: watchdog.service: Triggering OnFailure= dependencies. ``` Can you help me? ---
**Author:** ![Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/joulinar/32/57_2.png) [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)\ **Post date:** [8 January 2025 23:23 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/2 "2025-01-08T23:23:05Z")
> [@psychoquaker](#): > > ```auto > watchdog: unknown protocol icmp > > ``` Can you share the service configuration. And maybe you would need to install packages like `iputils-ping` ---
**Author:** ![psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/psychoquaker)\ **Post date:** [9 January 2025 20:58 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/3 "2025-01-09T20:58:36Z")
here’s my configuration: [watchdog.conf.txt](https://dietpi.com/forum/uploads/short-url/acQb05eZGNeUe9FvwBe3FUTUAfx.txt) (5.9 KB) iputils-ping was already installed… ---
**Author:** ![MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/michaing/32/7_2.png) [@MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/MichaIng)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 04:42 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/4 "2025-01-10T04:42:54Z")
`ping` and `ping-count` are commented in your config 🤔. Does this work? ```sh ping 192.168.178.1 ``` ---
**Author:** ![psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/psychoquaker)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 08:34 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/5 "2025-01-10T08:34:23Z")
You are right. The configuration which lead to the errors was this one. The ping count I did not change (but I tested it also with and without - same result). [watchdog.conf.txt](https://dietpi.com/forum/uploads/short-url/86bcTXdqIcUrj86MsCLbTGI7DbW.txt) (5.9 KB) ---
**Author:** ![trendy](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/trendy/32/61_2.png) [@trendy](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/trendy)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 11:21 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/6 "2025-01-10T11:21:09Z")
Run this and restart watchdog ```auto cat << EOF >> /etc/default/watchdog watchdog_options="ping" EOF systemctl restart watchdog.service ``` ---
**Author:** ![psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/psychoquaker)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 18:47 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/7 "2025-01-10T18:47:15Z")
This did not change anything. The error message stays the same. BTW: why are there two configuration files for the watchdog? ---
**Author:** ![psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/psychoquaker)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 18:48 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/8 "2025-01-10T18:48:59Z")
just executing ping like this: ping 192.168.178.1 works fine… so very strange why the watchdog cannot execute it… ---
**Author:** ![Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/joulinar/32/57_2.png) [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 19:35 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/9 "2025-01-10T19:35:13Z")
Pls can you share watchdog `systemd` definition ---
**Author:** ![psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/psychoquaker)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 19:58 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/10 "2025-01-10T19:58:06Z")
can you tell me how to do this? ---
**Author:** ![Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/joulinar/32/57_2.png) [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 20:19 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/11 "2025-01-10T20:19:52Z")
```auto systemctl cat watchdog.service ``` ---
**Author:** ![trendy](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/trendy/32/61_2.png) [@trendy](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/trendy)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 20:26 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/12 "2025-01-10T20:26:53Z")
That’s strange. I tried to run it on my raspberry and I had the same issue with you. But it was fixed by enabling the ping in the watchdog options. > [@psychoquaker](#): > > BTW: why are there two configuration files for the watchdog? The `defaults` is not exactly a configuration file. ---
**Author:** ![psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@psychoquaker](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/psychoquaker)\ **Post date:** [12 January 2025 18:42 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/13 "2025-01-12T18:42:01Z")
Here’s the output: ```auto # /lib/systemd/system/watchdog.service [Unit] Description=watchdog daemon Conflicts=wd_keepalive.service After=multi-user.target OnFailure=wd_keepalive.service [Service] Type=forking EnvironmentFile=/etc/default/watchdog ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c '[-z "${watchdog_module}"] || ["${watchdog_module}" = "none"] || /sbin/modprobe $watchdog_module' ExecStart=/bin/sh -c '[$run_watchdog != 1] || exec /usr/sbin/watchdog $watchdog_options' ExecStopPost=/bin/sh -c '[$run_wd_keepalive != 1] || false' [Install] WantedBy=default.target ``` ---
**Author:** ![Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/joulinar/32/57_2.png) [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)\ **Post date:** [16 January 2025 13:23 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/14 "2025-01-16T13:23:07Z")
did a test on RP4B facing the same issue, while it was working fine on a x64 VM. interesting 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/michaing/32/7_2.png) [@MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/MichaIng)\ **Post date:** [16 January 2025 13:38 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/15 "2025-01-16T13:38:21Z")
Does it probably require logind? ```sh systemctl unmask systemd-logind apt install dbus systemctl start systemd-logind ``` Such a dependency for a watchdog would not be exactly helpful, when e.g. logind hangs (as well), but who knows. systemd added it as dependency for quite a bunch of features with Bookworm (the related systemd version). ---
**Author:** ![Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/joulinar/32/57_2.png) [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)\ **Post date:** [16 January 2025 13:51 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/16 "2025-01-16T13:51:48Z")
> [@MichaIng](#): > > Does it probably require logind? nope, doesn’t change anything ---
**Author:** ![MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/michaing/32/7_2.png) [@MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/MichaIng)\ **Post date:** [16 January 2025 14:15 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/17 "2025-01-16T14:15:59Z")
To rule out the systemd unit: when stipping the service, and running `watchdog` from console with the arguments/options from `/etc/default/watchdog, does it work? Ah hence just `watchdog ping`. Ahh wait a second, this cannot work. The `watchdog_options` are added as arguments just like that according to the systemd unit, and `ping` is no valid argument @trendy. There is no command-line argument to define the ping method. Instead one can set it e.g. to `-c /etc/watchdog.conf` to define the config file. That however is the default. So best to keep the `watchdog_options` variable commented in `/etc/default/watchdog`. The command to test one console is hence reallt just `watchdog`, which then uses mentioned config file, just like the systemd service should do by default. ---
**Author:** ![Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/joulinar/32/57_2.png) [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)\ **Post date:** [16 January 2025 14:20 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/18 "2025-01-16T14:20:54Z")
> [@MichaIng](#): > > The command to test one console is hence reallt just `watchdog` ```auto root@DietPiM6:~# watchdog watchdog: unknown protocol icmp root@DietPiM6:~# ``` ---
**Author:** ![MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/user_avatar/dietpi.com/michaing/32/7_2.png) [@MichaIng](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/MichaIng)\ **Post date:** [16 January 2025 14:26 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/19 "2025-01-16T14:26:34Z")
Okay very weird. I will run some tests when I am back home in a day. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://dietpi.com/forum/uploads/default/original/1X/7e1021de2213860bce185915ce2c1786e56490ec.png) [@system](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/system)\ **Post date:** [15 July 2025 14:26 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/watchdog-on-dietpi-raspberrypi-zero/22472/20 "2025-07-15T14:26:55Z")
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