I’m trying to set up Node Package Manager on my Dreamhost shared hosting account but running into issues. When I attempt to run the installation, I keep getting a fatal error that crashes the process.
The error message shows something like this:
# Fatal error in , line 0
# Check failed: reservation_.SetPermissions(protect_start, protect_size, permission).
#FailureMessage Object: 0x78686cd993b0
1: 0xa889e1 [node]
2: 0x1a37055 V8_Fatal(char const*, ...) [node]
3: 0xdc5b0f [node]
4: 0xdc882d v8::internal::PagedSpace::SetReadAndExecutable() [node]
5: 0xd0b473 v8::internal::Isolate::Init(v8::internal::ReadOnlyDeserializer*, v8::internal::StartupDeserializer*) [node]
6: 0x11033ce v8::internal::Snapshot::Initialize(v8::internal::Isolate*) [node]
7: 0xbbcedd v8::Isolate::Initialize(v8::Isolate*, v8::Isolate::CreateParams const&) [node]
8: 0xa5ce81 node::NodeMainInstance::NodeMainInstance(v8::Isolate::CreateParams*, uv_loop_s*, node::MultiIsolatePlatform*, std::vector<std::string, std::allocator<std::string> > const&, std::vector<std::string, std::allocator<std::string> > const&, std::vector<unsigned long, std::allocator<unsigned long> > const*) [node]
9: 0x9eab64 node::Start(int, char**) [node]
10: 0x6f8836e0ac87 __libc_start_main [/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6]
11: 0x982005 [node]
After this stack trace, I get an “Illegal instruction” message and the whole thing stops working. Has anyone successfully installed NPM on Dreamhost shared hosting? What could be causing this V8 engine error?
DreamHost shared hosting is notorious for this stuff. Try using shell access to compile from source instead of pre-built binaries - that usually fixes CPU compatibility issues. Also run ulimit -a to check if you’re hitting restrictions. V8 might be failing because memory or process limits are too low for initialization.
This V8 crash happens when your Node.js binary doesn’t match the host system architecture. Dreamhost shared hosting uses older hardware with specific CPU instruction sets that won’t support newer Node.js versions. I ran into the same thing trying to run Node 16+ on my shared hosting account. The fix was downloading an older Node.js version (14.x or 12.x) that works with their CPU architecture. Just grab the Linux x64 binary from the Node.js archive and extract it to your home directory. You can also try Dreamhost’s built-in Node.js installation if they have it - check your control panel under ‘Goodies’ or ‘Web Languages’ since it’s already configured for their system. If neither works, contact support to see which Node.js versions they actually support.
I’ve hit this exact problem on Dreamhost shared hosting. Shared hosting has strict memory and process limits that mess with Node.js startup. That SetPermissions error means V8 can’t grab the memory it needs because of the host’s security restrictions. Here’s what worked for me: skip installing npm directly and use Node Version Manager (nvm) instead. Curl nvm first, then install node 12.22.12 - it needs way less memory during startup. Don’t try system-level installs since shared hosting won’t give you the privileges Node wants. Install everything in your user directory and stay away from system paths. Still getting illegal instruction errors after switching versions? That’s a CPU architecture mismatch - you’ll probably need to upgrade to VPS hosting.