From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Feb 22 14:37:54 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id OAA25112 for questions-outgoing; Thu, 22 Feb 1996 14:37:54 -0800 (PST) Received: from rocky.sri.MT.net (rocky.sri.MT.net [204.182.243.10]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id OAA25106 Thu, 22 Feb 1996 14:37:48 -0800 (PST) Received: (from nate@localhost) by rocky.sri.MT.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) id PAA19584; Thu, 22 Feb 1996 15:39:57 -0700 Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996 15:39:57 -0700 From: Nate Williams Message-Id: <199602222239.PAA19584@rocky.sri.MT.net> To: Kevin Quinlan Cc: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu, gpalmer@FreeBSD.org, questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Kernel panic installing FreeBSD 2.1 In-Reply-To: <11739.9602222133@ferrari.isltd.insignia.com> References: <11739.9602222133@ferrari.isltd.insignia.com> Sender: owner-questions@FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > > > I will check the RAM in the machine, it passes its self-test, but I > > > will try and exercise it a bit more vigorously. > > > > That would be my guess. > > Well it has sailed through all of Norton Diagnostics so far, but I am > still awaiting the comprehensive test results. But my guess is that > the RAM is OK, and is set at 70ns in the BIOS so it is not being > overdriven. Don't be so sure. I've got memory that works great under DOS programs that fails miserably under any multi-tasking OS. A PC memory test company even asked for my advice on how to improve their software when it was proven that the memory was bogus but passed all of their diagnostics. The *only* sure fire way to check memory is with a really expensive machine, or to try swapping your memory with 'known good' memory and seeing if the problems persist. Unfortunately, both of the above options are beyond what the average user can do. :( > But the crash is always the same, a page fault, which suggests somehow > that the swap partition is not working too well, although does it ever > swap when using 32Mb - or can the default kernel see 32Mb? > > I have also tried disabling the caches in the BIOS, but the results > were similar in that the install failed, but it seemed to hang rather > than generate a page fault that panics the kernel. Are you sure it's hanging and not just taking an *incredibly* long period of time to do it's business? Nate