From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Apr 7 20:43:02 2009 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 A09C4106564A for ; Tue, 7 Apr 2009 20:43:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: from smtp-vbr16.xs4all.nl (smtp-vbr16.xs4all.nl [194.109.24.36]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 19DF98FC18 for ; Tue, 7 Apr 2009 20:43:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: from slackbox.xs4all.nl (slackbox.xs4all.nl [213.84.242.160]) by smtp-vbr16.xs4all.nl (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n37Kgg87080396; Tue, 7 Apr 2009 22:42:42 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: by slackbox.xs4all.nl (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 7E4ABBA8A; Tue, 7 Apr 2009 22:42:42 +0200 (CEST) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 22:42:42 +0200 From: Roland Smith To: John Almberg Message-ID: <20090407204242.GD62574@slackbox.xs4all.nl> References: <13D52068-D184-42D9-AE6C-F095C1283975@identry.com> <3A934D4A-1864-401C-8CD8-86B37EB2B183@identry.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="1sNVjLsmu1MXqwQ/" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <3A934D4A-1864-401C-8CD8-86B37EB2B183@identry.com> X-GPG-Fingerprint: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 X-GPG-Key: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/pubkey.txt X-GPG-Notice: If this message is not signed, don't assume I sent it! User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.19 (2009-01-05) X-Virus-Scanned: by XS4ALL Virus Scanner Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: low-level format before install? 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: Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:43:02 -0000 --1sNVjLsmu1MXqwQ/ Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Tue, Apr 07, 2009 at 03:44:20PM -0400, John Almberg wrote: > Apparently, power was fluctuating drastically before they decided to =20 > cut power, so a hardware problem is a definite possibility. A PSU =20 > failure would not surprise me in the circumstances. >=20 > Assuming I can ever ssh in again, what log would hardware failures be =20 > reported to? Often hardware problems can lock up or reboot the machine without any warning in the logs. :-( It is next to impossible for PC class hardware to catch hardware failures. But sysutils/healthd or sysutils/mbmon might help in that they monitor vital motherboard parameters, which can then be logged.=20 Some systems log thermal events through the ACPI system or via the coretemp driver, in which case devd(8) should get them. See devd.conf(5) in a recent 7-STABLE, this manpage was recently enhanced by yours truly. Big programs like compilers randomly dying with a signal 11 (SIGSEGV, segmentation violation) can be a sign of memory problems. If someone has access to the machine, have them make sure there are no loose connectors and that any expansion cards are properly seated. Roland --=20 R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) --1sNVjLsmu1MXqwQ/ Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.11 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAknbusIACgkQEnfvsMMhpyXRgACeJl5NtDKuHkNkea+L2AqjR1Wi yUIAnRWHJOPTjkWptMvoJ1wX/CcjX2S8 =+739 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --1sNVjLsmu1MXqwQ/--