Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 12:53 AM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote: I was looking to see how tall they were at the time. I was more worried about whether it was going to get in the way of my CPU cooler. Turns out, I should have been worried about the fan hitting them instead of the cooler itself. I do wish they would move the memory another inch away from the CPU. That would solve the problem pretty well then. I'm not holding my breath tho. I was worried about that, too, until I bought a Corsair H50 :)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
I've had mine for a while now, so I wouldn't be surprised if 1.5 was the correct voltage for your sticks. Double check the manufacturer's website to be sure. On Feb 28, 2011 2:06 AM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote: Jason Weisberger wrote: I actually have 4 gigs of gskill DDR 3 1600 and from experience I can tell you that the stock voltage on those chips is set too low. The company actually recommends that you use 1.9 volts while most motherboards will default to 1.5 or 1.6. Double check this however, because I know they were working on some JEDEC compliant DDR 3 (standard voltage of 1.5) a while back but I'm not certain if they just decided to throw in the towel on that effort. My system would crash using 1.5 but wouldn't produce any errors on memtest86+. This all just sounds too familiar. I updated my kernel so I had to reboot. I checked the voltages and it appears to be set to 1.5. It was set to auto, when I selected manual, it said 1.5v. I don't know for sure that is what it is when it is running tho. That could just be where it starts when in manual mode. Since it is working now, I set it back to auto. Don't want there to be anything, so I ain't going to start anything either. ;-) According to gkrellm, Vcore1 is 1.39. Vcore2 is 1.52. I assume that is Vcore2. I just bought my memory sticks in the past month or so for the last three. The first stick I got was about 2 months ago. Maybe the new ones are improved or something? How long you had yours? Is there some way to check on BIOS settings while booted into Linux? I'm talking about things like timings and such. I have gkrellm set up for some stuff. Just don't see timings and such in there. Just curious tho. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Jason Weisberger wrote: I've had mine for a while now, so I wouldn't be surprised if 1.5 was the correct voltage for your sticks. Double check the manufacturer's website to be sure. Yep, it appears they have made some changes. This is what the site says now. System Desktop System Type DDR3 M/B Chipset Intel P55 AMD 790 Series AMD 890 Series CAS Latency 9-9-9-24-2N Capacity 4GB (4GB x1) 8GB (4GB x2) Speed DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800) Test Voltage1.5 Volts PCB Registered/Unbuffered Unbuffered Error Checking Non-ECC Type240-pin DIMM WarrantyLifetime So, I guess it is set correctly. I looked at that page before I bought those, I didn't see the specs then. I may have just missed it. I was looking to see how tall they were at the time. I was more worried about whether it was going to get in the way of my CPU cooler. Turns out, I should have been worried about the fan hitting them instead of the cooler itself. I do wish they would move the memory another inch away from the CPU. That would solve the problem pretty well then. I'm not holding my breath tho. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On Friday 25 February 2011 18:24:50 Dale wrote: Volker Armin Hemmann wrote: let memtest86 run - for 12h. increase ram voltage - a bit. Like 0.01V. get a different psu. 12 hours? you are right. 24h is better.
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
I actually have 4 gigs of gskill DDR 3 1600 and from experience I can tell you that the stock voltage on those chips is set too low. The company actually recommends that you use 1.9 volts while most motherboards will default to 1.5 or 1.6. Double check this however, because I know they were working on some JEDEC compliant DDR 3 (standard voltage of 1.5) a while back but I'm not certain if they just decided to throw in the towel on that effort. My system would crash using 1.5 but wouldn't produce any errors on memtest86+. This all just sounds too familiar. On Feb 26, 2011 11:15 AM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote: Yohan Pereira wrote: On Saturday 26 Feb 2011 04:36:32 AM Dale wrote: I booted a USB stick and it ran a long time with no problem. ok this may have nothing to do with it but was it a 32 bit OS on the usb stick? does it use all 8 gigs? dont know if this makes any diffrence though just guessing. -- - Yohan Pereira A man can do as he will, but not will as he will - Schopenhauer I booted a 64 bit. It did see all the ram and I'm up to 16Gbs now. I started with 4, then went to 8 and then went to 16Gbs. Newegg kept having sales. lol Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Jason Weisberger wrote: I actually have 4 gigs of gskill DDR 3 1600 and from experience I can tell you that the stock voltage on those chips is set too low. The company actually recommends that you use 1.9 volts while most motherboards will default to 1.5 or 1.6. Double check this however, because I know they were working on some JEDEC compliant DDR 3 (standard voltage of 1.5) a while back but I'm not certain if they just decided to throw in the towel on that effort. My system would crash using 1.5 but wouldn't produce any errors on memtest86+. This all just sounds too familiar. Well, I think recompiling everything fixed the issue. This is where I am now: root@fireball / # uptime 14:05:46 up 1 day, 5:29, 4 users, load average: 0.43, 0.24, 0.23 root@fireball / # So far, no problems. I'll check on the voltages when I reboot again. I know it was set to auto tho. I don't usually mess with those. I did overclock my old rig once, folding complained so I set it back and haven't messed with it since. Another thing, I tried putting portage on tmpfs, it isn't any faster. I recompiled a few packages and most of them only had a difference of seconds. Even a 20 minute compile only had a difference of like 20 seconds. Most were less than that tho. I got to find some good way to use all this ram. Maybe I need to start working with editing videos or something. I got some on VHS that need to be on DVD. ^_^ Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On Sunday 27 February 2011 20:12:29 Dale wrote: I did overclock my old rig once, folding complained so I set it back and haven't messed with it since. Just an aside, Dale, to satisfy my curiosity: is this the protein-folding BOINC application? What drew you to it? None of my business, I know, so tell me so if you like, but I'm curious. My BOINC projects are einstein.phys, setiathome, lhcathome, milkyway and cosmologyathome. They keep this i5 occupied. I got to find some good way to use all this ram. I was afraid you'd find that. As I said the other day, my 4GB are enough to prevent swapping almost all the time. Maybe I need to start working with editing videos or something. I got some on VHS that need to be on DVD. ^_^ Are you taking commissions? :-) -- Rgds Peter
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Peter Humphrey wrote: On Sunday 27 February 2011 20:12:29 Dale wrote: I did overclock my old rig once, folding complained so I set it back and haven't messed with it since. Just an aside, Dale, to satisfy my curiosity: is this the protein-folding BOINC application? What drew you to it? None of my business, I know, so tell me so if you like, but I'm curious. My BOINC projects are einstein.phys, setiathome, lhcathome, milkyway and cosmologyathome. They keep this i5 occupied. I do it because I have a genetic disorder. It may not help me but I hope the folding that I do will help someone. This is the home page: http://folding.stanford.edu/ I got to find some good way to use all this ram. I was afraid you'd find that. As I said the other day, my 4GB are enough to prevent swapping almost all the time. Yea, but this thing is caching a lot of data. It seems a little more responsive and some programs load a lot faster, the second time of course. The first time it needs to load anyway. Mem: 16466172k total, 12400648k used, 4065524k free, 642212k buffers Swap: 2851496k total,0k used, 2851496k free, 9796516k cached Maybe I need to start working with editing videos or something. I got some on VHS that need to be on DVD. ^_^ Are you taking commissions? :-) I got some old VHS tapes of movies. I would like to transfer them to DVD. Some of my VHS tapes are really old and they don't do real good any more. Also, my VCR is not feeling well either. It has two decks but one of them doesn't rewind much anymore. Still plays but figure that will go out next. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Jason Weisberger wrote: I actually have 4 gigs of gskill DDR 3 1600 and from experience I can tell you that the stock voltage on those chips is set too low. The company actually recommends that you use 1.9 volts while most motherboards will default to 1.5 or 1.6. Double check this however, because I know they were working on some JEDEC compliant DDR 3 (standard voltage of 1.5) a while back but I'm not certain if they just decided to throw in the towel on that effort. My system would crash using 1.5 but wouldn't produce any errors on memtest86+. This all just sounds too familiar. I updated my kernel so I had to reboot. I checked the voltages and it appears to be set to 1.5. It was set to auto, when I selected manual, it said 1.5v. I don't know for sure that is what it is when it is running tho. That could just be where it starts when in manual mode. Since it is working now, I set it back to auto. Don't want there to be anything, so I ain't going to start anything either. ;-) According to gkrellm, Vcore1 is 1.39. Vcore2 is 1.52. I assume that is Vcore2. I just bought my memory sticks in the past month or so for the last three. The first stick I got was about 2 months ago. Maybe the new ones are improved or something? How long you had yours? Is there some way to check on BIOS settings while booted into Linux? I'm talking about things like timings and such. I have gkrellm set up for some stuff. Just don't see timings and such in there. Just curious tho. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On Saturday 26 February 2011 00:24:50 Dale wrote: Volker Armin Hemmann wrote: let memtest86 run - for 12h. increase ram voltage - a bit. Like 0.01V. get a different psu. 12 hours? By that time, I would be in a rubber room. I would go nuts. lol I did let it run for almost 5 hours tho. No errors. O, I hate changing voltages. Always afraid I will let the smoke out. We all know what happens when the smoke gets out. No more worky. lol May have to, don't want to tho. I think my P/S in my old rig will work in here. If I get to the point of knowing it is hardware, that will be my first test. It doesn't cost anything to test either. I'm still hoping it will be a OS problem tho, bad file or something. This reminds me. I did have to do the sysrq key thing the other day. I was at a console but I was logged into KDE too. Maybe that messed up something. Some file got corrupted or something. Before you start tweaking voltages and replacing PSUs you better test your *new* memory modules thoroughly, even if that means that you will be using your old machine for a day or so. Personally I usually remove all memory modules and then test one at a time overnight with memtest 86+. If it gives any errors at all I would send it back to the shop. If they all pass, then voltage and PSU issues will need to be looked at. Good luck. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Mick wrote: Before you start tweaking voltages and replacing PSUs you better test your *new* memory modules thoroughly, even if that means that you will be using your old machine for a day or so. Personally I usually remove all memory modules and then test one at a time overnight with memtest 86+. If it gives any errors at all I would send it back to the shop. If they all pass, then voltage and PSU issues will need to be looked at. Good luck. This appears to be a corrupt file somewhere. This is the current uptime: root@fireball / # uptime 08:22:57 up 16:02, 4 users, load average: 0.12, 0.11, 0.13 root@fireball / # It was rebooting after a couple hours or so before. All I have done so far is basically the same as a emerge -e world. I used the script thing tho. I did the first few hundred packages from a USB stick. Anyway, it appears to be working fine. I'm hoping it stays that way too. I don't want to be chasing down flakey hardware. I like having hair. That said, I'm going to reboot, by choice, just to make sure everything loaded is new. If it lasts until tomorrow, maybe this is fixed. I hope. Thanks to all for the help. Will post results tomorrow. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On Saturday 26 Feb 2011 04:36:32 AM Dale wrote: I booted a USB stick and it ran a long time with no problem. ok this may have nothing to do with it but was it a 32 bit OS on the usb stick? does it use all 8 gigs? dont know if this makes any diffrence though just guessing. -- - Yohan Pereira A man can do as he will, but not will as he will - Schopenhauer
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Yohan Pereira wrote: On Saturday 26 Feb 2011 04:36:32 AM Dale wrote: I booted a USB stick and it ran a long time with no problem. ok this may have nothing to do with it but was it a 32 bit OS on the usb stick? does it use all 8 gigs? dont know if this makes any diffrence though just guessing. -- - Yohan Pereira A man can do as he will, but not will as he will - Schopenhauer I booted a 64 bit. It did see all the ram and I'm up to 16Gbs now. I started with 4, then went to 8 and then went to 16Gbs. Newegg kept having sales. lol Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On Friday 25 February 2011 18:24:50 Dale wrote: Volker Armin Hemmann wrote: let memtest86 run - for 12h. increase ram voltage - a bit. Like 0.01V. get a different psu. 12 hours? you are right. 24h is better.
[gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Well, I think my machine is possessed or something. I'm getting random reboots here. When it does this, it is like hitting the reset button. It is sitting on the grub screen when it does this. I noticed the first time the other day and this was before adding the extra memory. I seemed to be stable at 4Gbs but I seem to be rebooting at random. I ran memtest yesterday, it checked fine. It didn't find a error but it looked like it was only testing part of it. Memtest recognizes all 16Gbs on the last run but it didn't seem to be testing it all. Is there a trick to getting it to test the whole thing? This is the last few lines from messages before the reboot: Feb 25 05:10:01 localhost cron[5697]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:14:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdb [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 113 to 112 Feb 25 05:14:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdc [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel changed from 80 to 78 Feb 25 05:14:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdc [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 75 to 74 Feb 25 05:20:01 localhost cron[5850]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:30:01 localhost cron[5994]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:40:01 localhost cron[6136]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:41:49 localhost uptimed: moving up to position 20: 0 days, 01:27:23 Feb 25 05:44:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdc [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel changed from 78 to 77 Feb 25 05:50:01 localhost cron[6284]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:59:01 localhost cron[6413]: (root) CMD (rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.hourly) Feb 25 06:00:01 localhost cron[6429]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:10:01 localhost cron[6573]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:14:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdc [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel changed from 77 to 76 Feb 25 06:20:01 localhost cron[6722]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:30:01 localhost cron[6865]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:40:01 localhost cron[7008]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:50:01 localhost cron[7156]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:59:01 localhost cron[7286]: (root) CMD (rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.hourly) Feb 25 07:00:01 localhost cron[7301]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:10:01 localhost cron[7444]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:20:01 localhost cron[7592]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:30:01 localhost cron[7741]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:40:01 localhost cron[7884]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:42:49 localhost uptimed: moving up to position 19: 0 days, 03:28:23 Feb 25 07:50:01 localhost cron[8032]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) I don't see anything out of the norm, do you? What else should I check? I have a Gigabyte mobo, anything in the BIOS I should check? After I added the last two sticks of ram, I loaded the optimized settings. No overclocking or anything here. It does this while logged into KDE and after running a while. I have shut down folding and the CPU is running below 85F and all the fans are running fine. I don't think this could be a heat issue. It's a Cooler Master HAF 932 case with lots of cooling. I'm going to reboot and let memtest run a while and see exactly what it was that makes me think it is not testing ALL the memory. Thanks. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On 02/25/2011 04:33:20 PM, Dale wrote: Well, I think my machine is possessed or something. I'm getting random reboots here. When it does this, it is like hitting the reset button. It is sitting on the grub screen when it does this. I noticed the first time the other day and this was before adding the extra memory. I seemed to be stable at 4Gbs but I seem to be rebooting at random. I ran memtest yesterday, it checked fine. It didn't find a error but it looked like it was only testing part of it. Memtest recognizes all 16Gbs on the last run but it didn't seem to be testing it all. Is there a trick to getting it to test the whole thing? Dale, I have better experience with sys-apps/memtester for catching memory errors - though running it over night. You can tell it what to test. Furthermore I had one machine (an AMD Phenom II) where I got random errors though all memory tests went through without a problem. I suspected a cache coherence bug since this was quad core processor. Once, I have replaced this CPU only, i.e. with the same memory, the spook was over. Therefore, if you have a multi-core CPU, run memtester simultaneously (on different parts of the memory) as many times as you have cores. I hope, this helps, Helmut.
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 7:33 AM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote: Well, I think my machine is possessed or something. I'm getting random reboots here. When it does this, it is like hitting the reset button. It is sitting on the grub screen when it does this. I noticed the first time the other day and this was before adding the extra memory. I seemed to be stable at 4Gbs but I seem to be rebooting at random. I ran memtest yesterday, it checked fine. It didn't find a error but it looked like it was only testing part of it. Memtest recognizes all 16Gbs on the last run but it didn't seem to be testing it all. Is there a trick to getting it to test the whole thing? This is the last few lines from messages before the reboot: Feb 25 05:10:01 localhost cron[5697]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:14:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdb [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 113 to 112 Feb 25 05:14:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdc [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel changed from 80 to 78 Feb 25 05:14:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdc [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 75 to 74 Feb 25 05:20:01 localhost cron[5850]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:30:01 localhost cron[5994]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:40:01 localhost cron[6136]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:41:49 localhost uptimed: moving up to position 20: 0 days, 01:27:23 Feb 25 05:44:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdc [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel changed from 78 to 77 Feb 25 05:50:01 localhost cron[6284]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 05:59:01 localhost cron[6413]: (root) CMD (rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.hourly) Feb 25 06:00:01 localhost cron[6429]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:10:01 localhost cron[6573]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:14:47 localhost smartd[3902]: Device: /dev/sdc [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel changed from 77 to 76 Feb 25 06:20:01 localhost cron[6722]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:30:01 localhost cron[6865]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:40:01 localhost cron[7008]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:50:01 localhost cron[7156]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 06:59:01 localhost cron[7286]: (root) CMD (rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.hourly) Feb 25 07:00:01 localhost cron[7301]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:10:01 localhost cron[7444]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:20:01 localhost cron[7592]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:30:01 localhost cron[7741]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:40:01 localhost cron[7884]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) Feb 25 07:42:49 localhost uptimed: moving up to position 19: 0 days, 03:28:23 Feb 25 07:50:01 localhost cron[8032]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons /usr/sbin/run-crons ) I don't see anything out of the norm, do you? What else should I check? I have a Gigabyte mobo, anything in the BIOS I should check? After I added the last two sticks of ram, I loaded the optimized settings. No overclocking or anything here. It does this while logged into KDE and after running a while. I have shut down folding and the CPU is running below 85F and all the fans are running fine. I don't think this could be a heat issue. It's a Cooler Master HAF 932 case with lots of cooling. I'm going to reboot and let memtest run a while and see exactly what it was that makes me think it is not testing ALL the memory. Thanks. Dale :-) :-) Is folding pretty CPU intensive? If it is then possibly shut that off completely until you find the root cause. Additional CPU heating can cause higher temps all through the machine. If you have a broken trace somewhere that only comes apart when the motherboard heats up, etc. The order I walk through this sort of problem is: 1) Google, Google, Google for your exact hardware looking for similar problems. (and hopefully solutions...) The main culprits are generally: - Motherboard - Power supply - VGA 2) Unlikely if this is your new machine but use some canned air and blow out all heat sinks if they have collected dust. 3) Remove _ALL_ adapter cards and any external devices that you don't absolutely need for testing. Run for a number of hours or days. If you are still
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 9:33 AM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote: Well, I think my machine is possessed or something. I'm getting random reboots here. When it does this, it is like hitting the reset button. It is sitting on the grub screen when it does this. I noticed the first time the other day and this was before adding the extra memory. I seemed to be stable at 4Gbs but I seem to be rebooting at random. I ran memtest yesterday, it checked fine. It didn't find a error but it looked like it was only testing part of it. Memtest recognizes all 16Gbs on the last run but it didn't seem to be testing it all. Is there a trick to getting it to test the whole thing? When you say memtest what memtest are you using, exactly? The one from the kernel? I prefer memtest86+ as it is updated and has support for the latest CPUs and memory configurations. You can install it from portage and add an entry to your Grub menu and don't need to mess with bootable CD or USB or anything like that. You can test specific ranges, if you suspect the new RAM is causing trouble. Full memory testing of all patterns with 16 gigs of RAM can take forever, but in my experience tests 5 and 8 in memtest86+ are typically the only tests that actually produce errors on modern systems. If you're in a hurry you can just run test 5 and that'll give you many more passes in a shorter time. I would at least want to run this kind of test for 12 hours with no errors before trusting the machine. 24 or 48 hours if you can afford the wait. :) If it does not always recognize the full 16GB i would suspect you need to increase the voltage to your RAM. You may also (or instead) need to reduce the memory speed. On my previous motherboard, an Abit, with Patriot DDR2 RAM, it could handle 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) no problems, running at recommended voltage and full speed. When I doubled that to 8GB (4x2GB) it crashed often, but not constantly. It could not pass an overnight memory test. I ultimately had to raise the voltage by 0.3 and reduce the speed from 800MHz to 667MHz. I ran memtest86+ for 3 days and it had no errors. After that it worked like a champ for 2 years, no problems. Also, if you're using DDR3 which contains XMP data (timing and voltage presets, basically) beware that it can sometimes be wrong. I have used 2 different brands of RAM whose XMP data did not match the values printed on the packaging. The manufacturers both times suggested I use what's printed on the packaging and ignore what the chip itself tells me. And of course on my recent Core i7 920 build, I spent a month trying to get OCZ Gold RAM to work properly with my Gigabyte motherboard. After 2 DOA sticks exchanged and a month of trying everything I could possibly think of it still failed memory tests (sometimes it would only fail after 5 or 6 hours of testing) and I gave up and returned it to the store for a refund. I ordered some Corsair XMS3 RAM online instead, it worked right away with the recommended settings, no messing around, and I've been running happily ever after. :)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Helmut Jarausch wrote: Dale, I have better experience with sys-apps/memtester for catching memory errors - though running it over night. You can tell it what to test. Furthermore I had one machine (an AMD Phenom II) where I got random errors though all memory tests went through without a problem. I suspected a cache coherence bug since this was quad core processor. Once, I have replaced this CPU only, i.e. with the same memory, the spook was over. Therefore, if you have a multi-core CPU, run memtester simultaneously (on different parts of the memory) as many times as you have cores. I hope, this helps, Helmut. I'm going to keep this in mind and I'll run memtester here in a bit. I booted a USB stick and it ran a long time with no problem. I took a nap and when I got back up, it was still running. It may still be hardware but this is a good sign. I would rather it be a bad version of gcc, bad kernel or something than bad hardware. I can update those easily enough. I have had 30 days of uptime on this specific kernel tho so I sort of doubt it is that. Still, it could be anything. I kind of suspect the ram tho. When I added that, I had it to reboot itself. Before that, solid as a rock. I may just disconnect and reconnect everything later on too. Just in case I pulled something slightly off when installing the ram. Thanks. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Paul Hartman wrote: When you say memtest what memtest are you using, exactly? The one from the kernel? I prefer memtest86+ as it is updated and has support for the latest CPUs and memory configurations. You can install it from portage and add an entry to your Grub menu and don't need to mess with bootable CD or USB or anything like that. You can test specific ranges, if you suspect the new RAM is causing trouble. Full memory testing of all patterns with 16 gigs of RAM can take forever, but in my experience tests 5 and 8 in memtest86+ are typically the only tests that actually produce errors on modern systems. If you're in a hurry you can just run test 5 and that'll give you many more passes in a shorter time. I would at least want to run this kind of test for 12 hours with no errors before trusting the machine. 24 or 48 hours if you can afford the wait. :) If it does not always recognize the full 16GB i would suspect you need to increase the voltage to your RAM. You may also (or instead) need to reduce the memory speed. On my previous motherboard, an Abit, with Patriot DDR2 RAM, it could handle 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) no problems, running at recommended voltage and full speed. When I doubled that to 8GB (4x2GB) it crashed often, but not constantly. It could not pass an overnight memory test. I ultimately had to raise the voltage by 0.3 and reduce the speed from 800MHz to 667MHz. I ran memtest86+ for 3 days and it had no errors. After that it worked like a champ for 2 years, no problems. Also, if you're using DDR3 which contains XMP data (timing and voltage presets, basically) beware that it can sometimes be wrong. I have used 2 different brands of RAM whose XMP data did not match the values printed on the packaging. The manufacturers both times suggested I use what's printed on the packaging and ignore what the chip itself tells me. And of course on my recent Core i7 920 build, I spent a month trying to get OCZ Gold RAM to work properly with my Gigabyte motherboard. After 2 DOA sticks exchanged and a month of trying everything I could possibly think of it still failed memory tests (sometimes it would only fail after 5 or 6 hours of testing) and I gave up and returned it to the store for a refund. I ordered some Corsair XMS3 RAM online instead, it worked right away with the recommended settings, no messing around, and I've been running happily ever after. :) I figured out why it appeared not to be testing it all. I was just checking it as I walked by and such and I guess it just happened to be testing the first 2Gbs or so each time I walked by. I did another test and just sat and watched a lot of it. It appears to be testing in 2Gb chunks or something. It would test something to 2Gbs, then test 2Gbs to 4Gbs and so on. So, it was testing it all, I was just not there to see it do it. The something in the first 2Gbs is what it needs to load the test I guess. It was just a small amount tho. Mine is G Skill ram. It calls for at least 1333 but I got 1600. I usually get a little faster, in case I want to overclock a little but it also allows for a ram that may not be quite up to speed. Plus, it was on sale and was actually cheaper than 1333. lol That made the sale. ;-) It is DDR3 tho. It is also in ganged mode too. It is faster that way. I hope I don't have to swap my ram. I bought it at newegg and the shipping would be fun I'm sure. At least I got plenty to run off of while swapping tho. Thanks. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start?
Volker Armin Hemmann wrote: let memtest86 run - for 12h. increase ram voltage - a bit. Like 0.01V. get a different psu. 12 hours? By that time, I would be in a rubber room. I would go nuts. lol I did let it run for almost 5 hours tho. No errors. O, I hate changing voltages. Always afraid I will let the smoke out. We all know what happens when the smoke gets out. No more worky. lol May have to, don't want to tho. I think my P/S in my old rig will work in here. If I get to the point of knowing it is hardware, that will be my first test. It doesn't cost anything to test either. I'm still hoping it will be a OS problem tho, bad file or something. This reminds me. I did have to do the sysrq key thing the other day. I was at a console but I was logged into KDE too. Maybe that messed up something. Some file got corrupted or something. Thanks. Dale :-) :-)
[gentoo-user] random reboots
Thank you to members of this list who have gotten me through a couple of serious issues. I have another one. My system reboots at seemingly random times. Usually, this happens during keyboard or mouse input. I have been using kernel 2.6.30-r2. Often this happens when using firefox, but not exclusively. When I checked my machine, it had an uptime of nearly 4 hours after the last reboot, when I had not logged in. However, after logging in, I experienced two reboots in rapid succession. Interestingly, after I recompiled the kernel, enabling more modules of I2C stuff, to enable hardware monitoring for my Motherboard, the system has seemed to become less stable, and reboots readily. I usually use nvidia non-freedom drivers. I am now typing with the x11 drivers, and the system has not rebooted. I am now also using 2.6.29-r5. Once such things happened to me because I had a file with a filename starting with _ in my filesystem. Everytime I started nautilus, firefox, or epiphany, the system would crash. This was some long time ago. I have three SATA drives installed, with a plethora of partitions. I am not sure where to look in logs to look for evidence of problems. May I set up the system to trap for such useful information? Alan Davis ...can the human soul be glimpsed through a microscope? Maybe, but you'd definitely need one of those very good ones with two eyepieces. -- Woody Allen, quoted by B. A. Palevitz
Re: [gentoo-user] random reboots
On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:50 PM, Alan E. Davislngn...@gmail.com wrote: My system reboots at seemingly random times. Usually, this happens during keyboard or mouse input. I have been using kernel 2.6.30-r2. Often this happens when using firefox, but not exclusively. If you can identify when it started, and identify what may have changed around then, go back to whatever you used before then :) Otherwise I would suspect hardware, and would start with testing RAM and things like that. Pull the plug on the hard drive(s) and boot off a LiveCD and see if it still reboots. Try pulling some of the RAM modules and see it the problem gets better or worse... things like that. Firefox uses a lot of RAM, and would cause network activity, so it's possible if there's a problem with the network driver or port (or wireless?), or a RAM issue, maybe its' triggering it because it is a heavy resource user. I had some weird issues with one particular buggy build of madwifi a long time ago that would cause weird things to happen only during heavy network utilization.
Re: [gentoo-user] random reboots
On Freitag 10 Juli 2009, Alan E. Davis wrote: Thank you to members of this list who have gotten me through a couple of serious issues. I have another one. My system reboots at seemingly random times. Usually, this happens during keyboard or mouse input. I have been using kernel 2.6.30-r2. Often this happens when using firefox, but not exclusively. When I checked my machine, it had an uptime of nearly 4 hours after the last reboot, when I had not logged in. However, after logging in, I experienced two reboots in rapid succession. Interestingly, after I recompiled the kernel, enabling more modules of I2C stuff, to enable hardware monitoring for my Motherboard, the system has seemed to become less stable, and reboots readily. I usually use nvidia non-freedom drivers. I am now typing with the x11 drivers, and the system has not rebooted. I am now also using 2.6.29-r5. Once such things happened to me because I had a file with a filename starting with _ in my filesystem. Everytime I started nautilus, firefox, or epiphany, the system would crash. This was some long time ago. I have three SATA drives installed, with a plethora of partitions. I am not sure where to look in logs to look for evidence of problems. May I set up the system to trap for such useful information? Alan Davis ...can the human soul be glimpsed through a microscope? Maybe, but you'd definitely need one of those very good ones with two eyepieces. -- Woody Allen, quoted by B. A. Palevitz sounds like a) heat or b) psu problems or c) triple faults. c) is a lot of time caused by memory problems. One thing causing memory problems is a bad psu. so - in your case - just try a different psu. Ask a friend for one for a couple of days. If your problem stays, you have to look elsewhere.
Re: [gentoo-user] random reboots
On Jul 10, 2009, at 2:07 PM, Volker Armin Hemmann wrote: On Freitag 10 Juli 2009, Alan E. Davis wrote: My system reboots at seemingly random times. Usually, this happens during keyboard or mouse input. I have been using kernel 2.6.30-r2. Often this happens when using firefox, but not exclusively. sounds like a) heat or b) psu problems or c) triple faults. c) is a lot of time caused by memory problems. One thing causing memory problems is a bad psu. so - in your case - just try a different psu. Ask a friend for one for a couple of days. If your problem stays, you have to look elsewhere. I had to RMA my power supply a few weeks ago, it had the same symptoms. Let's just say I'm very satisfied with Thermaltake's RMA policy. Here's a simple test. Boot into BIOS and leave it there. If the power supply cycles, you'll find the machine booted into your OS. This eliminates the OS as a source of the problem. HTH, Roy
