From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jun 22 15:20:42 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 28E5E16A41C for ; Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:20:42 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from chad@shire.net) Received: from hobbiton.shire.net (hobbiton.shire.net [166.70.252.250]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EFE0243D4C for ; Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:20:41 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from chad@shire.net) Received: from [67.161.222.227] (helo=[192.168.99.68]) by hobbiton.shire.net with esmtpa (Exim 4.51) id 1Dl71p-000790-FE; Wed, 22 Jun 2005 09:20:38 -0600 In-Reply-To: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v730) X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: <823B638C-830E-45E8-82D5-4E2EC5E00534@shire.net> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: "Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC" Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 09:20:36 -0600 To: Matt Juszczak X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.730) X-SA-Exim-Connect-IP: 67.161.222.227 X-SA-Exim-Mail-From: chad@shire.net X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.3 (2005-04-27) on hobbiton.shire.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.2 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_50, GREYLIST_ISWHITE autolearn=disabled version=3.0.3 X-SA-Exim-Version: 4.2 (built Mon May 30 00:43:02 MDT 2005) X-SA-Exim-Scanned: Yes (on hobbiton.shire.net) Cc: freebsd-questions questions Subject: Re: FreeBSD Machines dieing, we've tried so much.... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:20:42 -0000 On Jun 22, 2005, at 3:07 AM, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Matt Juszczak [mailto:matt@atopia.net] >> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 10:49 AM >> To: Ted Mittelstaedt >> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org >> Subject: RE: FreeBSD Machines dieing, we've tried so much.... >> >> >> >> >> On Mon, 20 Jun 2005, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: >> >> >> >> >>> Please post dmesg output from both systems. >>> >> >> The systems end up crashing so I can't do a dmesg.... or do you >> mean a >> general dmesg when they are stable? >> >> > > Yes. Matt, please slow down and quit panicing for just a second here > - you haven't even told us what processor these are on let alone > what the > hardware manufacturer is. It's like your calling to schedule a > doctors > appointment and you aren't even telling them if the patient is > a man, woman, child, or for that matter, family dog! > > The vast majority of panics are hardware-related. It is rare nowadays > for a usermode program to make the system panic. In particular you > said > the problem happens more under load. That really points even more > to a > hardware problem - bad CPU cache ram, bad ram, scsi termination, that > sort of thing. > > Ted Just as an example of what Ted is saying. About 3 or 4 years ago I had installed some new "server" main boards for AMD CPUs. The "chipset" was a split chipset that had a "northbridge" by one vendor and a "southbridge" by another vendor. One was an AMD chip and one was a VIA chip. (The AMD supported ECC etc unlike all the other brands of that same chip functionality). Under load (using Adaptec RAID controllers) the machine would freeze up. Finally, after much testing and ridiculous amounts of cooling (assuming it was a heat problem), I replaced the main boards with new ones that only used AMD chipsets for both the north and southbridge chips. Problem went away. These same boards work fine, including under load, with Windows, for example, and a test Linux install also did not have problems (though the Linux was not very well tested). My point is, that you can have some sort of HW problem that shows up under load and it may not be an pbvious one. Test you RAM first, using something like memtest86, and think about what other HW is in your machine(s) and whether you can swap it out for test purposes, etc. --- Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC Your Web App and Email hosting provider chad@shire.net