with my sysctls set like this...

net.inet.ip.forwarding=1 # 1=Permit forwarding (routing) of packets
net.inet.carp.preempt=1 # enable carp pre-emption
#net.inet.carp.arpbalance=1 # enable carp load balancing

I sometimes get my carp devices like this...

box A

carp0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
carp: BACKUP carpdev fxp0 vhid 1 advbase 1 advskew 0
groups: carp
inet 172.16.0.250 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 172.16.0.255
carp1: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
carp: MASTER carpdev fxp1 vhid 1 advbase 1 advskew 0
groups: carp
inet x.x.x.237 netmask 0xfffffff8 broadcast x.x.x.239

box B

carp0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
carp: MASTER carpdev fxp0 vhid 1 advbase 1 advskew 0
groups: carp
inet 172.16.0.250 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 172.16.0.255
carp1: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
carp: BACKUP carpdev fxp1 vhid 1 advbase 1 advskew 0
groups: carp
inet 88.96.14.237 netmask 0xfffffff8 broadcast 88.96.14.239


Which is a bit strange & prevents me from making new states on the firewalls.

Bouncing either box restores normal operation.

I am also using pfsync & sasyncd.

OpenBSD 3.8 (GENERIC) #138: Sat Sep 10 15:41:37 MDT 2005
deraadt@i386.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
cpu0: Intel Pentium (P54C) ("GenuineIntel" 586-class) 133 MHz
cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,MCE,CX8
cpu0: F00F bug workaround installed
real mem = 33136640 (32360K)
avail mem = 22245376 (21724K)
using 430 buffers containing 1761280 bytes (1720K) of memory
mainbus0 (root)
bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+(00) BIOS, date 10/10/94, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xf6f20
pcibios0 at bios0: rev 2.1 @ 0xf0000/0x10000
pcibios0: PCI BIOS has 5 Interrupt Routing table entries
pcibios0: PCI Interrupt Router at 000:07:0 ("Intel 82371FB ISA" rev 0x00)
pcibios0: PCI bus #0 is the last bus
WARNING: can't reserve area for I/O APIC.
WARNING: can't reserve area for Local APIC.
bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0x8000 0xc8000/0x1800 0xc9800/0x1000
cpu0 at mainbus0
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios)
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82437FX" rev 0x02
pcib0 at pci0 dev 7 function 0 "Intel 82371FB ISA" rev 0x02
pciide0 at pci0 dev 7 function 1 "Intel 82371FB IDE" rev 0x02: DMA, channel 0 wired to compatibility, channel 1 wired to compatibility
wd0 at pciide0 channel 0 drive 0: <QUANTUM FIREBALL CR3.2A>
wd0: 16-sector PIO, LBA, 3079MB, 6306048 sectors
wd0(pciide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2
pciide0: channel 1 disabled (no drives)
fxp0 at pci0 dev 17 function 0 "Intel 82557" rev 0x08, i82559: irq 9, address 00:90:27:a7:b3:03
inphy0 at fxp0 phy 1: i82555 10/100 PHY, rev. 4
fxp1 at pci0 dev 18 function 0 "Intel 82557" rev 0x0c, i82550: irq 11, address 00:02:b3:c8:9a:4a
inphy1 at fxp1 phy 1: i82555 10/100 PHY, rev. 4
vga1 at pci0 dev 20 function 0 "Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446" rev 0x00
wsdisplay0 at vga1 mux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
isa0 at pcib0
isadma0 at isa0
pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
midi0 at pcppi0: <PC speaker>
spkr0 at pcppi0
sysbeep0 at pcppi0
lpt0 at isa0 port 0x378/4 irq 7
npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: using exception 16
pccom0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
pccom1 at isa0 port 0x2f8/8 irq 3: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
fdc0 at isa0 port 0x3f0/6 irq 6 drq 2
biomask f565 netmask ff65 ttymask ffe7
pctr: 586-class performance counters and user-level cycle counter enabled
dkcsum: wd0 matches BIOS drive 0x80
root on wd0a
rootdev=0x0 rrootdev=0x300 rawdev=0x302

OpenBSD 3.8 (GENERIC) #138: Sat Sep 10 15:41:37 MDT 2005
deraadt@i386.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
cpu0: Intel Pentium/MMX ("GenuineIntel" 586-class) 166 MHz
cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,MCE,CX8,MMX
cpu0: F00F bug workaround installed
real mem = 66691072 (65128K)
avail mem = 53325824 (52076K)
using 839 buffers containing 3436544 bytes (3356K) of memory
mainbus0 (root)
bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+(0d) BIOS, date 02/11/99, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xfb4c0
apm0 at bios0: Power Management spec V1.2
apm0: APM engage (device 1): power management disabled (1)
apm0: AC on, battery charge unknown
apm0: flags 70102 dobusy 1 doidle 1
pcibios0 at bios0: rev 2.1 @ 0xf0000/0xb998
pcibios0: PCI BIOS has 5 Interrupt Routing table entries
pcibios0: PCI Interrupt Router at 000:07:0 ("VIA VT82C586 ISA" rev 0x00)
pcibios0: PCI bus #0 is the last bus
bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0x8000 0xc8000/0x1800 0xca000/0x1800
cpu0 at mainbus0
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios)
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "VIA VT82C585 ISA" rev 0x10
pcib0 at pci0 dev 7 function 0 "VIA VT82C586 ISA" rev 0x27
pciide0 at pci0 dev 7 function 1 "VIA VT82C571 IDE" rev 0x06: ATA33, channel 0 configured to compatibility, channel 1 configured to compatibility
wd0 at pciide0 channel 0 drive 0: <ST34342A>
wd0: 16-sector PIO, LBA, 4103MB, 8404830 sectors
wd0(pciide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 2
pciide0: channel 1 disabled (no drives)
fxp0 at pci0 dev 8 function 0 "Intel 82557" rev 0x08, i82559: irq 11, address 00:02:b3:4c:4e:fb
inphy0 at fxp0 phy 1: i82555 10/100 PHY, rev. 4
fxp1 at pci0 dev 9 function 0 "Intel 82557" rev 0x08, i82559: irq 10, address 00:02:b3:3e:34:58
inphy1 at fxp1 phy 1: i82555 10/100 PHY, rev. 4
vga1 at pci0 dev 18 function 0 "Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446" rev 0x00
wsdisplay0 at vga1 mux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
isa0 at pcib0
isadma0 at isa0
pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
midi0 at pcppi0: <PC speaker>
spkr0 at pcppi0
sysbeep0 at pcppi0
lpt0 at isa0 port 0x378/4 irq 7
npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: using exception 16
pccom0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
fdc0 at isa0 port 0x3f0/6 irq 6 drq 2
fd0 at fdc0 drive 0: 1.44MB 80 cyl, 2 head, 18 sec
biomask f36d netmask ff6d ttymask ffef
pctr: 586-class performance counters and user-level cycle counter enabled
dkcsum: wd0 matches BIOS drive 0x80
root on wd0a
rootdev=0x0 rrootdev=0x300 rawdev=0x302