Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 09:28:06 +0100 From: Uwe Doering <gemini@geminix.org> To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: kern/59719 Re: 4.9 Stable Crashes on SuperMicro with SMP Message-ID: <3FC85896.1080508@geminix.org> In-Reply-To: <003301c3b617$3d0581e0$62c4033e@clarity> References: <01b401c3b46d$a4ed5cc0$62c4033e@clarity> <20031127140905.GA95486@walton.maths.tcd.ie> <003301c3b617$3d0581e0$62c4033e@clarity>
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Jonathan Gilpin wrote:
> I've run memtest (memtest86.com) kindly provided by Don and it passed all
> the tests. I've installed installed a kernel module to test for memory
> errors and found that again no memory errors are found... So this means it's
> either a problem with the CPU's or a geniune bug in the kernel. (bugger!)
No, that's unfortunately not what it means. If a memory test fails you
can draw the conclusion that you have bad memory, but this doesn't work
the other way round. If a memory test passes there is still a
possibility that a memory chip is the culprit since memory test software
cannot find all errors.
Also, there is the chip set on the mainboard that coordinates bus access
etc. for the two CPUs. Mainboard and chip set developers are known to
make errors, too. In this case you would have to swap the entire
mainboard, possible with one from a different manufacturer. I can tell
you from my own experience that it is really hard to find reliable PC
hardware these days, in light of ever shorter and faster product release
cycles.
Uwe
--
Uwe Doering | EscapeBox - Managed On-Demand UNIX Servers
gemini@geminix.org | http://www.escapebox.net
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