Re: [gentoo-user] Suspend to RAM caused crashes

[meino.cramer@gmx.de]

Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> [11-08-21 12:32]:
> Here's a strange one:
> 
> Suspending a Pentium4 32bit machine used to work a treat.  For years.  Then 
> around 9 months ago or so, I can't recall exactly, it started causing crashes.  
> What happens is that the monitor will go to sleep and the disk will stop 
> immediately, but the machine continues to run and run and run ...
> 
> At that point I have lost access to the keyboard and the monitor does not wake 
> up if I move the mouse.  Using ssh to connect shows that the machine is off 
> the network, so I assume that the NIC is also suspended.  The only way to 
> recover is to pull the plug.  :-(
> 
> Unfortunately, mysql has left a lock file behind, so it won't start at reboot 
> until I remove the lockfile.
> 
> Now, here's the strange thing about all this.  I have 4 RAM modules, 2x1G and 
> 2x500M.  Following the manual I have installed them in this order:  
> 
> slot 1 - 1G,
> slot 2 - 0.5G,
> slot 3 - 1G,
> slot 4 - 0.5G
> 
> If I try to suspend the machine soon after boot, when it is still using low 
> amounts of memory, the machine will suspend each time without fail (just like 
> it used to do in the past).
> 
> If I wait until the machine is using more than 1G or so, then it will always 
> crash.
> 
> I'm running memtest86+ just in case, but 3 passes and no errors are shown so 
> far.  Suspend to RAM is really a time saver on this machine and was being used 
> at least 4-5 times a day.  Now the box is running non-stop 16 hours a day or 
> more, which is wasteful (although with the Pentium4 I'm saving on central 
> heating bills!)  Any ideas what I can look into to resolve this?
> -- 
> Regards,
> Mick


Hi Mick,

one thing, which is able to produce any kind of error except those, which one
would exspect in a certain context, is a bad capicitor on the mobo (or
sometimes in the power supply).

If I understand your posting correctly, your PC is not the youngest
one...?

I had a motherboard, which completly fails to boot the very first
stages of the kernel boot process, but perfectly runs memtest86....
Bad capacitors...

More RAM means more power.

What happens, if you change the RAMS in such a manner:

slot 1 - 0.5G,
slot 2 - 1G,
slot 3 - 0.5G
slot 4 - 1G,

?

Does teh computer have problems after accessing slot 2 or after access
more than 1G?

Best regards,
mcc