From owner-freebsd-stable Tue Oct 5 6:24: 0 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from point.osg.gov.bc.ca (point.osg.gov.bc.ca [142.32.102.44]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 790B91573C for ; Tue, 5 Oct 1999 06:23:49 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from cy@cschuber.net.gov.bc.ca) Received: (from daemon@localhost) by point.osg.gov.bc.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) id GAA22200; Tue, 5 Oct 1999 06:23:39 -0700 Received: from cschuber.net.gov.bc.ca(142.31.240.113), claiming to be "cwsys.cwsent.com" via SMTP by point.osg.gov.bc.ca, id smtpda22198; Tue Oct 5 06:23:30 1999 Received: (from uucp@localhost) by cwsys.cwsent.com (8.9.3/8.9.1) id GAA17221; Tue, 5 Oct 1999 06:23:28 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199910051323.GAA17221@cwsys.cwsent.com> Received: from localhost.cwsent.com(127.0.0.1), claiming to be "cwsys" via SMTP by localhost.cwsent.com, id smtpdf17217; Tue Oct 5 06:22:49 1999 X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0.2 2/24/98 Reply-To: Cy Schubert - ITSD Open Systems Group From: Cy Schubert - ITSD Open Systems Group X-OS: FreeBSD 3.3-RELEASE X-Sender: cy To: David Gilbert Cc: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: More on the crashes already mentioned. In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 04 Oct 1999 16:42:45 EDT." <14329.4421.847994.918399@trooper.velocet.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 06:22:49 -0700 Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG In message <14329.4421.847994.918399@trooper.velocet.net>, David Gilbert writes : > In reference to the two crash dumps I've posted, the most interesting > thing about them is that a non-debug kernel seems to be stable on the > box. I can't really explain why, but we tried all kinds of things --- > changing hardware... even exchanging whole guts of machines and those > two examples of crashes persisted. > > Then in a fit of despairation, I recompiled the kernel w/o debug > symbols and so far (touch wood) the machine has been stable. > > Now... the machine has 256M of memory ... so I wouldn't expect that > kernel size *should* be an issue, but something is not right here. It sure sounds like memory. I can we assume you tried completely different memory chips? Even then that's no guarantee. Also try increasing the memory refresh rate. I had a panic with FreeBSD 2.0.5 was solved by increasing the refresh rate. If that doesn't help try reducing the memory. Some systems cannot refresh memory fast enough to be stable under certain memory access patterns. The quality of memory for PC's has always been scatological, however now that most memory is non-parity, you don't even get notified of single bit errors. It may even be worth it to purchase some ECC memory. IIRC ECC uses the Reed-Solomon algorithm (same as used by NASA for deep space probes), to detect and correct memory errors, so the rate of detection and correction of an error burst of 16 bits should should approach 99.99999%. Regards, Phone: (250)387-8437 Cy Schubert Fax: (250)387-5766 Sun/DEC Team, UNIX Group Internet: Cy.Schubert@uumail.gov.bc.ca ITSD Cy.Schubert@gems8.gov.bc.ca Province of BC "e**(i*pi)+1=0" To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message