From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jun 14 18:24:11 2004 Return-Path: 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 86D7316A4CE for ; Mon, 14 Jun 2004 18:24:11 +0000 (GMT) Received: from wale.mainframe.ca (wale.mainframe.ca [209.17.131.74]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D2DCD43D45 for ; Mon, 14 Jun 2004 18:24:10 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from dmacpherson@mainframe.ca) Received: from saturn.mainframe.ca (saturn [10.0.0.254]) by wale.mainframe.ca (SGI-8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id LAA46961 for ; Mon, 14 Jun 2004 11:23:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: from park.mainframe.ca ([172.16.130.30]) by saturn.mainframe.ca (NAVGW 2.5.1.18) with SMTP id M2004061411252632594 ; Mon, 14 Jun 2004 11:25:26 -0700 Received: from Mandarin-04 (Mandarin-04 [172.16.139.102]) by park.mainframe.ca (SGI-8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA44712; Mon, 14 Jun 2004 11:23:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Derrick MacPherson To: Charles Swiger In-Reply-To: <6C183DA4-BE2F-11D8-BD27-003065ABFD92@mac.com> References: <1086992110.17427.117.camel@Mandarin> <6C183DA4-BE2F-11D8-BD27-003065ABFD92@mac.com> Content-Type: text/plain Organization: Mainframe Entertainment Inc Message-Id: <1087237433.17427.133.camel@Mandarin> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 11:23:53 -0700 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD 4-10 install, RAM parity errors that don't seem to happen inLinux. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 18:24:11 -0000 On Mon, 2004-06-14 at 11:19, Charles Swiger wrote: > On Jun 14, 2004, at 1:38 PM, Derrick MacPherson wrote: > > Derrick MacPherson mainframe.ca> writes: > >> I am trying to move as much of our servers as I can to FreeBSD, and > >> there's a few boxes that they have here that the RAM is a about 2 mm > >> high and requires the case (1U machines) to press on the RAM when > >> closed. These machines run RH Linux for months without a problem, yet > >> 3 > >> out of 4 I just pulled are giving RAM parity problems during FreeBSD > >> instalation. > >> > >> Does FreeBSD not allow/recover from those types of errors the same way > >> Linux does? Any solutions? > > > > I posted this last week and hadn't seen a repsonse to it, is there > > someone that > > cares to take a poke at this? > > Well, if you are using ECC, normally they will correct all single-bit > errors and notice but not correct larger multibit errors. This is done > at a fairly low level in the hardware (which is why the BIOS typically > controls the use of ECC), and is not something that is supposed to vary > depending on which OS you are using. > > That being said, Linux and FreeBSD might be using different portions of > memory which hit different RAM chips, and so you see the errors for one > and not the other, but if you've got failing RAM, your systems are not > going to be stable under heavy load regardless of what OS you use. I > would expect you to see signs of problems under Linux, too, but > consider running memtest86 for a day or so and see what you see: > > http://www.memtest86.com/ Thanks Chuck I will look into running those tests. The machines have had heavy loads for a couple years now, they have served as rendering machines for our animators. They are now being put to pasture, and I was hoping to run FreeBSD, :), and not Linux, :(