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Error Types Reference

This page catalogs known pod error types observed across the runner pod lifecycle, with verified GitHub Actions run examples for each case. Use it for troubleshooting or to understand expected failure modes.

Expected pod state transitions for a successful run: Pending → Running → Succeeded (terminal — pod is then removed)

Phase Category Error
— — Normal Flow
Pending Image InvalidImageName
Pending Image ErrImagePull
Pending Container Creation CreateContainerConfigError
Pending Container Creation CreateContainerError
Pending Scheduling FailedScheduling (nodeSelector)
Pending Scheduling FailedBinding
Pending Scheduling FailedScheduling (resource limit)
Running Container Runtime Container crash
Running Container Runtime OOMKilled
Running Container Runtime FailedPostStartHook
Running Container Runtime user-script-error

Normal Flow

Manually trigger the correct workflow with a valid, pullable image. Pod transitions: Pending → Running → Succeeded.

Successful run showing pod transitions from Pending to Running to Succeeded

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@22e524c

Pending Phase

Image Errors

InvalidImageName

Invalid image name format.

Pod stuck in Pending with InvalidImageName reason in GitHub Actions log

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook_invalid-image-name · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@22e524c

ErrImagePull

Image does not exist.

Pod stuck in Pending with ErrImagePull and ImagePullBackOff in GitHub Actions log

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook_err-image-pull · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@22e524c

Container Creation Errors

CreateContainerConfigError

Referencing a non-existent Secret.

Pod stuck in Pending with CreateContainerConfigError due to missing Secret

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@22e524c

CreateContainerError

Invalid securityContext.

Pod stuck in Pending with CreateContainerError due to invalid securityContext

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@22e524c

Scheduling Errors

FailedScheduling (nodeSelector)

nodeSelector mismatch — no node satisfies the label constraints.

Pod stuck in Pending with FailedScheduling due to nodeSelector mismatch

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@b4b3d9d

FailedBinding

PVC does not exist.

Pod stuck in Pending with FailedBinding due to missing PVC

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@b4b3d9d

FailedScheduling (resource limit)

Resource request exceeds node limit (422 scenario).

Pod stuck in Pending with FailedScheduling due to resource request exceeding node limit

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@b4b3d9d

Running Phase

Container Runtime Errors

Container crash

Exit non-zero — container exits immediately after start.

GitHub Actions log showing container exiting with non-zero exit code immediately after start

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@b4b3d9d

OOMKilled

Out of memory — container killed by the kernel OOM killer.

GitHub Actions log showing container terminated with OOMKilled status

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@b4b3d9d

FailedPostStartHook

postStart hook failed.

GitHub Actions log showing container failing with FailedPostStartHook error

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@b4b3d9d

user-script-error

User script exited with non-zero code — workflow steps ran but the script itself failed.

GitHub Actions log showing user script failure with non-zero exit code

Ref: linux-aarch64-test-hook_user-script-error · ascend-gha-runners/add-node-check@3cd45c8