From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 21 01:49:23 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2639416A4B3 for ; Tue, 21 Oct 2003 01:49:23 -0700 (PDT) Received: from gw.catspoiler.org (217-ip-163.nccn.net [209.79.217.163]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E5E8643FCB for ; Tue, 21 Oct 2003 01:49:21 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from truckman@FreeBSD.org) Received: from FreeBSD.org (mousie.catspoiler.org [192.168.101.2]) by gw.catspoiler.org (8.12.9p2/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h9L8nCeF005528; Tue, 21 Oct 2003 01:49:16 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from truckman@FreeBSD.org) Message-Id: <200310210849.h9L8nCeF005528@gw.catspoiler.org> Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 01:49:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Don Lewis To: peterjeremy@optushome.com.au In-Reply-To: <20031021080625.GA14585@server.c211-28-27-130.belrs2.nsw.optusnet.com.au> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/plain; charset=us-ascii cc: freebsd-current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Random signals in {build,install}world recently? X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 08:49:23 -0000 On 21 Oct, Peter Jeremy wrote: > On Mon, Oct 20, 2003 at 11:45:21PM -0700, Terry Lambert wrote: >>I've noticed a lot of bad problems with Hynix memory lately; your >>mileage may vary. At Whistle we had a problem with memory with Gold >>contacts, and didn't have any problems with the ones with Tin. > > A good rule of thumb is to make sure that the finish on the DIMM > contacts are the same as the ones on the DIMM socket - both gold or > both tin. Note that whilst gold doesn't oxidise, it's fairly easy > to make a gold coating so thin that it's gas permeable allowing the > underlying metal to oxidise. Mixing tin and gold can cause galvanic corrosion. You can also have connection problems due to the buildup of tin oxide on the gold surface. I had memory corruption problems on my Athlon UP system that I tracked down to a memory timing misconfiguration. My memory was rated for a CAS Latency of 2.5, but the motherboard BIOS in "auto" memory configuration mode set the timing to 2.0. When I manually configured the memory timing, the errors went away. The memory errors would show up as random file corruption in "make buildworld", and I also saw errors on one of the last tests that memtest86 performs.