vb.org Archive - table crashed and how to sort it

Couple of days ago the forum was unusable for a while. Every request to search for new messages, to show the thread etc resulted in a message similar to this:

Warning: mysqli_query() [function.mysqli-query]: (HY000/145): Table './dbname_vbulletin/vb_autosave' is marked as crashed and should be repaired in [path]/includes/class_core.php on line 1396

with different tables crashing. When it was happening we could repair tables from the first attempts as they were unresponsive. We had to close the forum and reboot the server. We'd open the forum and a different table would crash half an hour later and we had to do the same again.

What was it? What do we do with it if it happens again? How do we ensure that it doesn't happen again?

Thank you.

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Template Usage: (1)ad_footer_end (1)ad_footer_start (1)ad_header_end (1)ad_header_logo (1)ad_navbar_below (1)footer (1)gobutton (1)header (1)headinclude (6)option (1)post_thanks_navbar_search (1)printthread (1)printthreadbit (1)spacer_close (1)spacer_open Phrase Groups Available: global postbit showthread	Included Files: ./printthread.php ./global.php ./includes/init.php ./includes/class_core.php ./includes/config.php ./includes/functions.php ./includes/class_hook.php ./includes/modsystem_functions.php ./includes/class_bbcode_alt.php ./includes/class_bbcode.php ./includes/functions_bigthree.php Hooks Called: init_startup init_startup_session_setup_start init_startup_session_setup_complete cache_permissions fetch_threadinfo_query fetch_threadinfo fetch_foruminfo style_fetch cache_templates global_start parse_templates global_setup_complete printthread_start bbcode_fetch_tags bbcode_create bbcode_parse_start bbcode_parse_complete_precache bbcode_parse_complete printthread_post printthread_complete
Messages:

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information

Page Generation 0.01614 seconds
Memory Usage 1,699KB
Queries Executed 10 (?)

More Information

Template Usage:

(1)ad_footer_end
(1)ad_footer_start
(1)ad_header_end
(1)ad_header_logo
(1)ad_navbar_below
(1)footer
(1)gobutton
(1)header
(1)headinclude
(6)option
(1)post_thanks_navbar_search
(1)printthread
(1)printthreadbit
(1)spacer_close
(1)spacer_open

Phrase Groups Available:

global
postbit
showthread

Included Files:

./printthread.php
./global.php
./includes/init.php
./includes/class_core.php
./includes/config.php
./includes/functions.php
./includes/class_hook.php
./includes/modsystem_functions.php
./includes/class_bbcode_alt.php
./includes/class_bbcode.php
./includes/functions_bigthree.php

Hooks Called:

init_startup
init_startup_session_setup_start
init_startup_session_setup_complete
cache_permissions
fetch_threadinfo_query
fetch_threadinfo
fetch_foruminfo
style_fetch
cache_templates
global_start
parse_templates
global_setup_complete
printthread_start
bbcode_fetch_tags
bbcode_create
bbcode_parse_start
bbcode_parse_complete_precache
bbcode_parse_complete
printthread_post
printthread_complete

Messages:

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Page Generation 0.01614 seconds Memory Usage 1,699KB Queries Executed 10 (?)
More Information
Template Usage: (1)ad_footer_end (1)ad_footer_start (1)ad_header_end (1)ad_header_logo (1)ad_navbar_below (1)footer (1)gobutton (1)header (1)headinclude (6)option (1)post_thanks_navbar_search (1)printthread (1)printthreadbit (1)spacer_close (1)spacer_open Phrase Groups Available: global postbit showthread	Included Files: ./printthread.php ./global.php ./includes/init.php ./includes/class_core.php ./includes/config.php ./includes/functions.php ./includes/class_hook.php ./includes/modsystem_functions.php ./includes/class_bbcode_alt.php ./includes/class_bbcode.php ./includes/functions_bigthree.php Hooks Called: init_startup init_startup_session_setup_start init_startup_session_setup_complete cache_permissions fetch_threadinfo_query fetch_threadinfo fetch_foruminfo style_fetch cache_templates global_start parse_templates global_setup_complete printthread_start bbcode_fetch_tags bbcode_create bbcode_parse_start bbcode_parse_complete_precache bbcode_parse_complete printthread_post printthread_complete
Messages: