Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 20:48:56 +1000 From: Peter Jeremy <PeterJeremy@optushome.com.au> To: Guido van Rooij <guido@gvr.org> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 5.3-BETA7 install cd: kernel trap 12 with interrupts disabled Message-ID: <20041015104856.GB45863@cirb503493.alcatel.com.au> In-Reply-To: <20041015073118.GA19660@gvr.gvr.org> References: <20041013214911.GD986@green.homeunix.org> <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1041014045808.84384U-100000@fledge.watson.org> <20041015073118.GA19660@gvr.gvr.org>
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On Fri, 2004-Oct-15 09:31:18 +0200, Guido van Rooij wrote: >I am beginning to wonder if we should have a boot option that enables >a thorough memtest from within the kernel...(e.g. boot -m). What do you define as "thorough"? A thorough memory test requires intimate knowledge of the physical memory cell layout (to ensure that pattern tests make sense) as well as the ability to control temperature, the supply voltage, thresholds and timings (to detect marginal conditions). "make buildworld" is probably the best memory test we're likely to find. The speed is on a par with Memtest86 as well. Add/vary '-k' for additional coverage. If you really want a memory test that can run at boot-time, the best approach would seem to be to build a version of sysutils/memtest or sysutils/memtest86 that can be loaded by the bootloader. FWIW, I've have an Alpha/AXP CPU that (apparently) had a pattern- sensitive bug in its cache. It passed all SRM memory tests but consistently died during rc processing. -- Peter Jeremy
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