From owner-aic7xxx Thu Dec 17 08:35:34 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id IAA16716 for aic7xxx-outgoing; Thu, 17 Dec 1998 08:35:34 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-aic7xxx@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from intrex.net (ns2.intrex.net [209.42.192.252]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id IAA16711 for ; Thu, 17 Dec 1998 08:35:32 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dledford@redhat.com) Received: from redhat.com [209.42.199.214] by intrex.net with ESMTP (SMTPD32-4.07) id A37924602A6; Thu, 17 Dec 1998 11:38:17 EST Message-ID: <36793279.14A9D4CB@redhat.com> Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 16:34:01 +0000 From: Doug Ledford Organization: Red Hat Software X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.0.36 i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Neil Conway CC: Stephane Bortzmeyer , aic7xxx@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: File corruption: how to find the guilty? References: <199812161347.OAA02367@ludwigV.sources.org> <3677BCBE.46D77E3B@redhat.com> <98Dec17.083132gmt.66308@gateway.ukaea.org.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-aic7xxx@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Neil Conway wrote: > > Doug Ledford wrote: > > > > Stephane Bortzmeyer wrote: > > > > > > I have a Linux box which shows random corruption of files. Example: all Perl > > > scripts suddenly die with "segmentation fault". Reinstalling the same Perl > > > package cures it. Two days ago, /etc/resolv.conf became corrupted : strange > > > characters were in it. > > > > > > I wonder what to do? Change the disk? The SCSI controller? The kernel? > > > > > > I run Linux 2.0.35 (Debian distribution 2.0), patched for the Adaptec driver > > > 5.1.2. Here is the configuration: > > > > It's memory corruption. I've seen this float through this list or that about > > 30 different times in the past. Not once has it ever been a kernel or driver > > issue. In *every* case it has been either RAM, cache, or CPU. Check the CPU > > fan, check the cache (if it isn't part of the CPU) and check your RAM. > > Well perhaps with a stable kernel this is the most likely culprit. > However, it's dangerous to make blanket assertions - they come back to > haunt you. Alan Cox was telling me last month about how 2.1.129 was > causing him random memory corruption leading to disk corruption, and > this turned out to be a kernel bug (nfs-related I think). Even in the devel kernels, 2.1.44 is the only one that was likely to do this on a *local* filesystem. There is a difference when running NFS. Not the least of that difference is that NFS is currently getting it's last fixes after having been re-done for the most part, where as ext2fs hasn't hardly been touched during the entire 2.1 kernel series. -- Doug Ledford Opinions expressed are my own, but they should be everybody's. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe aic7xxx" in the body of the message