prometheus/node_exporter · error

Could not derive a monitoring name for

Error message

Could not derive a monitoring name for 

What it means

hwmonName could not build a readable chip name for the hwmon device at the given sysfs directory: neither the device's name file nor the device name yielded a usable metric name, and even the fallback hwmonX directory name cleaned to an empty string. This happens for hwmon entries with missing or empty name attributes under /sys/class/hwmon.

Solutions

1. Check the directory: `cat /sys/class/hwmon/hwmonX/name` and `readlink /sys/class/hwmon/hwmonX/device`; a missing/empty name indicates a driver or hardware issue.
2. Update the kernel/driver so the hwmon device exposes a proper name attribute.
3. Disable the hwmon collector (--collector.hwmon) if the broken device cannot be fixed and its metrics are not needed.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at collector/hwmon_linux.go:414 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of prometheus/node_exporter@17ddd77c59 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/93d7dbd83d646645. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at collector/hwmon_linux.go:414

			return cleanName, nil
		}
	}

	// it looks bad, name and device don't provide enough information
	// return a hwmon[0-9]* name

	realDir, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(dir)
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}

	// take the last path element, this will be hwmonX
	_, name := filepath.Split(realDir)
	cleanName := cleanMetricName(name)
	if cleanName != "" {
		return cleanName, nil
	}
	return "", errors.New("Could not derive a monitoring name for " + dir)
}

// hwmonHumanReadableChipName is similar to the methods in hwmonName, but with
// different precedences -- we can allow duplicates here.
func (c *hwMonCollector) hwmonHumanReadableChipName(dir string) (string, error) {
	sysnameRaw, nameErr := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "name"))
	if nameErr != nil {
		return "", nameErr
	}

	if string(sysnameRaw) != "" {
		cleanName := cleanMetricName(string(sysnameRaw))
		if cleanName != "" {
			return cleanName, nil
		}
	}

	return "", errors.New("Could not derive a human-readable chip type for " + dir)

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