From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Thu May 6 17:10:35 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 38ECD1065670 for ; Thu, 6 May 2010 17:10:35 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from scf@FreeBSD.org) Received: from mail.farley.org (farley.org [67.64.95.201]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DF39B8FC13 for ; Thu, 6 May 2010 17:10:34 +0000 (UTC) Received: from thor.farley.org (HPooka@thor.farley.org [IPv6:2001:470:1f0f:20:1::5]) by mail.farley.org (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id o46GoHwX090471; Thu, 6 May 2010 11:50:17 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from scf@FreeBSD.org) Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 11:50:17 -0500 (CDT) From: "Sean C. Farley" To: Atom Smasher In-Reply-To: <1005062053260.2629@smasher> Message-ID: References: <1005062053260.2629@smasher> User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.5 required=4.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,SPF_SOFTFAIL autolearn=no version=3.3.0 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.0 (2010-01-18) on mail.farley.org Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: bad RAM? prove it with a crash dump? X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 06 May 2010 17:10:35 -0000 On Thu, 6 May 2010, Atom Smasher wrote: > i suspect i've got bad RAM but memtest has run through several dozen > iterations without a problem. my (3 year old) laptop will run for a > few days or weeks and then crash/freeze/hang. i've enabled crash dumps > and i'm wondering if/how the dump might be able to (dis)prove that the > RAM is bad. any ideas? > > thanks... Do not discount other hardware problems: video cards, bad capacitors and power supplies. Sadly, I mention these as a subset of my experience. :( I have even had a faulty left mouse button that would lock my X server (many years ago). While holding the button down (scrolling through a menu), the mouse would release and acquire too quickly for the server. Unfortunately, it is harder to find the problem in a laptop where you cannot easily (if at all) switch out pieces of hardware to find the problem. Have you investigated whether or not the laptop is overheating? Sean -- scf@FreeBSD.org