> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 02 March 2006 15:54 > To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org > Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] mysterious segfaults > > > On Thu, Mar 02, 2006 at 02:23:17PM -0000, Michael Kintzios wrote: > > If the application of a domestic cooling fan does not relieve the > > problem, then it could well be faulty memory module(s), or a > > faulty power supply. > > I'm afraid it's a random hardware failure. I've been running > cpuburn for the last couple hours. According to sensors, my cpu has > reached a max temp of 57 degress C. No segfaults thus far. > > It's been several months ago, but I did run about eight hours of > memtest86 on the memory. Is it unusual for memory to work fine for > a while and *then* go bad? > > I might try a new power supply anyway. > > For what it's worth, mysterious problems on this box have come and > gone for probably a year now. Every time something comes up, it's > so random that I don't even know where to start looking. I'm this > -> <- close to building a whole new PC :)
No two PC's/MoBos are the same, but FWIW here's a bed time story: I had three incompatible memory sticks on mine which kept failing at random. MEMTEST86+ did not show any errors. Occasionally, a simple emerge --sync was enough to crash the machine and needless to say all these repeated crashes had started to corrupt my fs. Running out of ideas I decided to start removing memory sticks until I discovered that the best result (in terms of stability) could only be arrived at if I left only one 256M stick of branded memory in the box. That was despite the fact that the MoBo manual said you could mix 'n match memory modules without any adverse effect on performance... :p In case you're suffering from the same problem, check whether a crash is more likely if them machine is about to switch to the next bank of memory/swap. Mine invariably crashed most times it was getting ready to swap data to the hard drive, or in any case as soon as it had used all the memory on the first stick. What drove me insane with this fault was that it would only crash once and thereafter it was often good until the next reboot. Also, if the transition from the first memory stick to the second or swap space, was caused by an application engaging in aggressive resource usage (e.g. Opera loading font files when it hits a website with Chinese characters) a crash was guaranteed. Slowly building up to it during a large emerge session would not cause any crashes. I hope this helps. -- Regards, Mick -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
