From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jul 9 14:29:38 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2DE1B106566B for ; Sat, 9 Jul 2011 14:29:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from asmtpout023.mac.com (asmtpout023.mac.com [17.148.16.98]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 078FE8FC08 for ; Sat, 9 Jul 2011 14:29:37 +0000 (UTC) MIME-version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Received: from [17.153.27.94] by asmtp023.mac.com (Oracle Communications Messaging Exchange Server 7u4-20.01 64bit (built Nov 21 2010)) with ESMTPSA id <0LO2004IQLLDVZ80@asmtp023.mac.com> for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Sat, 09 Jul 2011 07:29:37 -0700 (PDT) X-Proofpoint-Virus-Version: vendor=fsecure engine=2.50.10432:5.4.6813,1.0.211,0.0.0000 definitions=2011-07-08_09:2011-07-08, 2011-07-08, 1970-01-01 signatures=0 X-Proofpoint-Spam-Details: rule=notspam policy=default score=0 spamscore=0 ipscore=0 suspectscore=0 phishscore=0 bulkscore=0 adultscore=0 classifier=spam adjust=0 reason=mlx engine=6.0.2-1012030000 definitions=main-1107090099 From: Chuck Swiger In-reply-to: <4E18332F.1040805@gmail.com> Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2011 07:29:37 -0700 Message-id: <0C3600E5-1324-4852-894A-D29F3445660C@mac.com> References: <20110709053404.B1FC910656AE@hub.freebsd.org> <4E18332F.1040805@gmail.com> To: Manish Jain X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1084) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: disk spinning continuously + cpu possibly overheating = sudden death X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2011 14:29:38 -0000 On Jul 9, 2011, at 3:53 AM, Manish Jain wrote: > I am running FreeBSD-8.2-amd64 on a Western Digital 320 GD disk and a > quad-core AMD Phenom processor. After booting, the disk keeps > continuously (meaning continuous I/O) and after a couple of hours (on > the console with the X server not running), suddenly the whole system > dies, powering off in a flash. I suspect the continuous I/O is causing > is a CPU overheat which results in this behaviour. While you probably do have flaky hardware causing problems, even under the worst case situation, a modern hard drive doesn't use more than about 10W even under full load (ie, continuous writes). Compare that with the 125W thermal design rating of a 4-core Phenom. If your system is overheating, it's not because of what a hard drive is doing. It should be easy to tell if thermals are an issue-- is the CPU heat sink getting too hot to touch just before this shutdown? If so, it's likely to be a problem with a cooling fan or heatsink attachment. Also, what is it that makes you think your disk is doing continuous I/O? What does "iostat 5" or similar show? Regards, -- -Chuck