RE: Mersenne: SUMOUT errors
I also opened up the machine this past weekend and cleaned out some dust, in addition to removing and reinserting the memory, which had become slightly loose at one end. I also fixed the plastic air-directing device over the CPU, which was a little loose and causing some annoying noises. I'm always surprised (well, not really) at how incredibly dusty some people's machines can get. Maybe I'm just obsessive/compulsive, but I regularly clean all my systems at least every 2 months or so. :) Shut it down, take the can of compressed air and give it a good dusting. It wouldn't surprise me at all if a layer of dust sitting on your CPU or memory were causing overheating problems in some way or another. In humid areas, the dust will tend to absorb moisture and make a sticky residue which I'm sure could even cause shorting. Matter of fact, I had an old monitor I used to tote around with me... when I moved from Denver to Raleigh, I noticed the monitor would, every now and then, just short itself out in a brilliant display. Then it'd start working again. Finally I opened it up and saw that it had been arcing across some traces on the board where the humid air obviously was just too good a conductor to pass up. Why this monitor maker (some generic Korean company or another) chose to put higher voltage traces so near to lower potential traces, I have no idea. But more interesting was that in the dry Colorado air, I never had a problem. Only the muggy atmosphere of North Carolina set it off. Once I moved back to Colorado, it worked great again. My little bro and I could tell stories from when we both worked at a computer store. In one case, guy having problems brought his machine in and there were actually spiders living inside the thing. Dunno if he used this thing in a barn or what, but that was interesting. Usually the bugs we saw were already dead, but not always. Sort of gives new life to the term debugging. SUMOUT errors could also be the result of improperly seated CPU or memory, so I'm glad you reseated all that... may have made more of a difference than merely cleaning it out. During my USWEST escapade (just celebrated the 3 year anniversary of being caught, by the way), I was keeping track of which machines were having problems. I think I saw about 4 or 5 machines of the 3500 or so. I was going to send that list to the techs in those areas to have them reseat things to see if that was the problem, but of course I never had the chance. Somewhere, US WEST (now Qwest) and the FBI have a list of machines with flaky hardware... hopefully they checked them out and fixed them. :) _ Unsubscribe list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Re: Mersenne: SUMOUT errors
Thanks to all who helped me with the SUMOUT issue. For a variety of reasons, I bit the bullet and bought a hardware, external modem. Since doing so, I haven't had any problems (in fact, I had no problems after posting my first message, so it may have been something transitory involving the power supply). I also opened up the machine this past weekend and cleaned out some dust, in addition to removing and reinserting the memory, which had become slightly loose at one end. I also fixed the plastic air-directing device over the CPU, which was a little loose and causing some annoying noises. I don't know which issues, if any, were the problem, but I ran the machine through a 24-hour test after cleaning out the case and it passed. Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice, and also to those who gave me advice on modems several months ago; having a hardware modem makes a BIG difference for a lot of things. I did have some problems with dropping connections to start out, but I then realized that turning the modem off when offline to allow it to clear itself helped. Also, on noticing that the bottom of the modem was hot after half an hour of use, I simply elevated it astride two CD jewel cases, which has eliminated that problem from consideration. Nathan _ Unsubscribe list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Re: Mersenne: SUMOUT errors
For what it's worth, I have had the exact same problem getting illegal sumouts when using the modem on this 475Mhz K6 PC. Hasn't happened since january but had been happening about once a fortnight for months, and _only_ when the modem was heavily in use (Rockwell HCF 56K Data Fax PCI Modem). I had forgotten all about it until I read Jeramy's message. It has never happened on any of my other PCs. Oddly enough, I have noticed on Athlons that the iterations run about 2% faster when the modem is connected! Steve Harris -Original Message- From: Jeramy Ross Date: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 9:24 PM Subject: Re: Mersenne: SUMOUT errors I don't really know how much help this will be since I don't know your exact situation and am not a expert by any means, but here goes! First, the software modem may be a culprit. I have had problems with ones of the HSP variety. Most show up as 'HSP Micromodem56' or something very similar on your system. Most of these modems also use a chipset manufactured by PCTel. Fairly stable, but use a nice chunk of CPU time when online, and I have received errors when I am checking email and/or surfing the web while using this type of modem. I have no hard evidence to tie this modem to the errors, but all errors happened when I was using that modem or soon after (I hooked up a external modem just to see if the same would happen with it and I did not receive errors when using it). I have no idea if you have a modem similar to that one or not, but it may be the problem. Also, the electrical environment may be vastly different. I am assuming that where you had your computer was at school, and it is now at home. At my home, I have problems with various utility problems, and have been told by others that utility problems could cause such errors. I invested in a UPS with line conditioning to hopefully control some of those problems. Maybe one of these two things could be your problem.. I wish you the best of luck in finding and fixing the problem! - Jeramy _ Unsubscribe list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Re: Mersenne: SUMOUT errors
A interesting note, and I forgot to include this in my original post, but the computer that I encountered the illegal sumouts on was a 500MHz K6 PC. Perhaps this is a problem when running those software modems on a K6 based machine?? - Jeramy Original Message - From: Steve [EMAIL PROTECTED] For what it's worth, I have had the exact same problem getting illegal sumouts when using the modem on this 475Mhz K6 PC. _ Unsubscribe list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Mersenne: SUMOUT errors
In the course of a single P-1 run, I've gotten 3 SUMOUT errors: [Tue May 15 08:20:24 2001] SUMOUT error occurred. [Tue May 15 12:04:41 2001] SUMOUT error occurred. [Tue May 15 20:05:15 2001] SUMOUT error occurred. In the past fifteen months with GIMPS, I had gotten only two errors. I can't help wondering if this could have something to do with a corrupt Win98 swapfile, since all of the errors occured during Stage 2; however, I would think that that would have caused far more errors. Additionally, I've only had one system I'll run a thorough Scandisk tonight. I don't know if CPU overheating might be a problem, since I just moved the machine home and it's about 70-75 Farenheit here during the day. The machine 'sounds' exactly the same, and since I have Asperger's Syndrome (a mild form of autism) I tend to trust my sense of hearing implicitely. That said, if there's a hardware problem of some sort, I'd want to have it checked out very promptly! The major changes in the past several days: 1. I am now using my modem rather than my ethernet card. 2. As said above, i'm home, and it's warmer (though the machine has operated in an environment that was warmer still this past August). Also, when I put my hand at the vent, it barely feels luke-warm - and it felt hot to the point of being uncomfortable before. 3. The machine was transported about 70 miles, and might have been somehow jolted - but appears to work fine. 4. All three errors occured during P-1 Stage 2, and I specifically remember that the machine was swapping fairly heavily at the time of the first and second errors (I had stopped back to check email). I'll reduce the allowed memory by 10 megs or so when this run is over. 5. I was using my software modem at those times - but not at the time of the third error, and I'd used it without trouble earlier this weekend, but not during heavy swapping. Any insight would be appreciated. I've never had stability problems before. I'll be more concerned if they continue when this P-1 run is over, at about midnight. Regards, Nathan _ Unsubscribe list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
Re: Mersenne: SUMOUT errors
I don't really know how much help this will be since I don't know your exact situation and am not a expert by any means, but here goes! First, the software modem may be a culprit. I have had problems with ones of the HSP variety. Most show up as 'HSP Micromodem56' or something very similar on your system. Most of these modems also use a chipset manufactured by PCTel. Fairly stable, but use a nice chunk of CPU time when online, and I have received errors when I am checking email and/or surfing the web while using this type of modem. I have no hard evidence to tie this modem to the errors, but all errors happened when I was using that modem or soon after (I hooked up a external modem just to see if the same would happen with it and I did not receive errors when using it). I have no idea if you have a modem similar to that one or not, but it may be the problem. Also, the electrical environment may be vastly different. I am assuming that where you had your computer was at school, and it is now at home. At my home, I have problems with various utility problems, and have been told by others that utility problems could cause such errors. I invested in a UPS with line conditioning to hopefully control some of those problems. Maybe one of these two things could be your problem.. I wish you the best of luck in finding and fixing the problem! - Jeramy _ Unsubscribe list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
