From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 15019 invoked from network); 12 May 2004 16:22:45 +0000 Received: from smtp.gentoo.org (128.193.0.39) by eagle.gentoo.oregonstate.edu with DES-CBC3-SHA encrypted SMTP; 12 May 2004 16:22:45 +0000 Received: from lists.gentoo.org ([128.193.0.34] helo=eagle.gentoo.org) by smtp.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1BNwVJ-0001LW-24 for arch-gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org; Wed, 12 May 2004 16:22:45 +0000 Received: (qmail 17995 invoked by uid 50004); 12 May 2004 16:22:23 +0000 Mailing-List: contact gentoo-dev-help@gentoo.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org Received: (qmail 31439 invoked from network); 12 May 2004 16:22:22 +0000 From: Kevin To: Gentoo Dev Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 12:22:15 -0400 User-Agent: KMail/1.5.94 References: <200405111407.58909.gentoo-dev@gnosys.biz> <200405120958.45686.gentoo-dev@gnosys.biz> <40A23987.9080104@gentoo.org> In-Reply-To: <40A23987.9080104@gentoo.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <200405121222.15491.gentoo-dev@gnosys.biz> Subject: [gentoo-dev] memtest86 fails? (was Re: [gentoo-dev] Major MCE problem with SMP on Gentoo kernels) X-Archives-Salt: c8173e13-fb6b-4f0c-8e8f-7292610ed567 X-Archives-Hash: 03fa1605ac77e977f3d0210897f15984 Thank you Chris, Bret, and Heiko for your replies, both on- and off-list. Your replies all look like good suggestions and I'm going to try them, but first, I have to ask one other thing. As I said earlier in this thread, I found zero errors in an 8 hour exhaustive memory test (using the Dell-provided Utility Partition tests) running 15-16 loops, 4 different tests, and found zero errors from a complete hardware test (also from the Utility Partition). But just on a lark, I decided to try memtest86 3.0 and 3.1a as well, and both are turning up errors all over the place. I'm skeptical that memtest86 is giving me accurate information because (a) it's finding so many, (b) I can't seem to get it to turn on ECC mode (yet the Dell utilities did test this, and the CMOS reports that it is ECC memory), (c) it runs for only 10 seconds or so and begins finding errors, and (d) it locks up after about 2-5 minutes. Last time I ran it, the error count was up to 109 after 5 minutes and then it locked up. Any thoughts on this? Is this bad memory (in spite of the Dell tests all turning up flawless) or is memtest86 getting something wrong (like amount of installed memory to test)? Any way to tell for sure? I've looked at the docs for memtest86 and they talk about the possibility of memtest86 incorrectly determining the amount of memory to test and that seems likely in my case. The first 10 or so errors are all at the same address (0003fffdc80) 1023.8MB, then there are 4 or so at 64.0MB, then 1 or 2 at 0.6MB, then it locks up. The Dell utilities report testing only up to 1022MB of memory. Is this a case of memtest86 getting the installed memory count wrong? When I look at the CMOS/BIOS settings, the System memory is 1024MB, and that's what the Dell utilities also report initially, but the tests themselves are only being run on the first 1022MB, according to the test reports. Thanks. -Kevin -- gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list