MySQL Unexpected Shutdown - temp fix?

[paul@orangecubed.ca]

XAMPP version 7.4.21
+ Apache 2.4.48
+ MariaDB 10.4.20
+ PHP 7.4.21 (VC15 X86 64bit thread safe) + PEAR

I have not changed xampp or apache config except for adding a local certificate and enabling ssl. I have modified php.ini slightly and added xdebug.

I had been experiencing the MySQL unexpected shutdown error on xampp v 7.4.5 and tried to resolve it by backing up my sites and databases and restoring them to xampp 7.4.21. This did not solve the problem. I tried some other methods to fix that I found online including
- executing some database repair commands from the command line
- checking and repairing databases from within phpmyadmin
- renaming mysql\data, copying files from mysql\backup to mysql\data, copying database folders from mysql\data_orig to mysql\data.

These sometimes seem to fix the problem temporarily but the problem does return. Here is what I see when the problem occurs:

1. Reboot machine
2. Start Apache
3. Start MySQL
4. Get the following error:

2:30:31 PM [main] Initializing Control Panel
2:30:31 PM [main] Windows Version: Enterprise 64-bit
2:30:31 PM [main] XAMPP Version: 7.4.21
2:30:31 PM [main] Control Panel Version: 3.3.0 [ Compiled: Apr 6th 2021 ]
2:30:31 PM [main] Running with Administrator rights - good!
2:30:31 PM [main] XAMPP Installation Directory: "c:\xampp7421\"
2:30:31 PM [main] Checking for prerequisites
2:30:31 PM [main] All prerequisites found
2:30:31 PM [main] Initializing Modules
2:30:31 PM [main] Starting Check-Timer
2:30:31 PM [main] Control Panel Ready
2:30:33 PM [Apache] Attempting to start Apache app...
2:30:33 PM [Apache] Status change detected: running
2:30:35 PM [mysql] Attempting to start MySQL app...
2:30:35 PM [mysql] Status change detected: running
2:30:42 PM [mysql] Status change detected: stopped
2:30:42 PM [mysql] Error: MySQL shutdown unexpectedly.
2:30:42 PM [mysql] This may be due to a blocked port, missing dependencies,
2:30:42 PM [mysql] improper privileges, a crash, or a shutdown by another method.
2:30:42 PM [mysql] Press the Logs button to view error logs and check
2:30:42 PM [mysql] the Windows Event Viewer for more clues
2:30:42 PM [mysql] If you need more help, copy and post this
2:30:42 PM [mysql] entire log window on the forums

See the following in mysql_error.log:

2021-09-04 14:30:36 0 [Note] InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use Windows interlocked functions
2021-09-04 14:30:36 0 [Note] InnoDB: Uses event mutexes
2021-09-04 14:30:36 0 [Note] InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.11
2021-09-04 14:30:36 0 [Note] InnoDB: Number of pools: 1
2021-09-04 14:30:36 0 [Note] InnoDB: Using SSE2 crc32 instructions
2021-09-04 14:30:36 0 [Note] InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, total size = 16M, instances = 1, chunk size = 16M
2021-09-04 14:30:36 0 [Note] InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
2021-09-04 14:30:36 0 [Note] InnoDB: Starting crash recovery from checkpoint LSN=326416538
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: 128 out of 128 rollback segments are active.
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: Removed temporary tablespace data file: "ibtmp1"
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: Creating shared tablespace for temporary tables
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: Setting file 'C:\xampp7421\mysql\data\ibtmp1' size to 12 MB. Physically writing the file full; Please wait ...
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: File 'C:\xampp7421\mysql\data\ibtmp1' size is now 12 MB.
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: Waiting for purge to start
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: 10.4.20 started; log sequence number 326416547; transaction id 81018
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: Loading buffer pool(s) from C:\xampp7421\mysql\data\ib_buffer_pool
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] Plugin 'FEEDBACK' is disabled.
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] InnoDB: Buffer pool(s) load completed at 210904 14:30:41
2021-09-04 14:30:41 0 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '::'.

From the Windows Event Viewer:

Faulting application name: mysqld.exe, version: 10.4.20.0, time stamp: 0x60c0c152
Faulting module name: mysqld.exe, version: 10.4.20.0, time stamp: 0x60c0c152
Exception code: 0x80000003
Fault offset: 0x000000000066b992
Faulting process ID: 0x4e7c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d7a1d4193aac44
Faulting application path: c:\xampp7421\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe
Faulting module path: c:\xampp7421\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe
Report ID: 4faa1a8b-8faf-4f71-860b-c2d592021498
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

The most reliable method I have found to fix the problem for the longest period of time is this:
1. Stop MySQL
2. Rename mysql\aria_log_control to mysql\aria_log_controlHIDEME
3. Start MySQL

With these steps, MySQL reliably keeps running until the next time the computer reboots. It does not matter whether I just reboot, or whether I shut down MySQL and Apache first.

My question is what can I do to properly troubleshoot this issue so that it stops occurring?

Cheers
Paul

[paul@orangecubed.ca]

This is taken from the aria faq at https://mariadb.com/kb/en/aria-faq/ talking about the aria_log_control file:

This is not a log file, but a file that contains information about the Aria setup (current transaction id, unique id, next log file number etc.).

If you do [delete the file], Aria will generate a new aria_log_control file at startup and will regard all old Aria files as files moved from another system. This means that they have to be 'zerofilled' before they can be used. This will happen automatically at next access of the Aria files, which can take some time if the files are big.

If this happens, you will see things like this in your mysqld.err file:

[Note] Zerofilling moved table: '.\database\xxxx'

As part of zerofilling no vital data is removed.