From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1Pt28E-0002ke-Tl for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:11:15 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 29922E0851 for ; Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:11:08 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-qw0-f53.google.com (mail-qw0-f53.google.com [209.85.216.53]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 355A5E0638 for ; Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:03:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: by qwc9 with SMTP id 9so1913906qwc.40 for ; Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:03:48 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:date :x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=5fNCldJeYxaneYLnMRHepXYOrmyPtw6InK6LOUIPXrg=; b=Sr4FUQ25CLNvlD1QZ84Cu5Ni4NOr8efqorhAEYAH2FLNZemVt7QHOlNhxXkdLCn82T lRyuzdIYT9IiQllflcy4mSF+zYdj3k8Lz+1qqg3aJX1AB99IDsU7uL0FgbdwNpUfp71t XWUblmBGpRzsKmDBM0kUzk24VSryJe5x/cnq8= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:date :x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; b=EN2y7YYPTCeS5nt8JTWc2SEm2JFEOj/dfGGQ2ovCn7jcayo5AWWV5k9Vu9QEEV3GkO zba8tdswJd5vRQWh65vLUe1I8xO4XP4EgKlQFXJzHyTbYwMlqExgZGFK4qQB37GsTnnG WdOIIZfbojS1qCxafHROoewSBfjYwNbQj3gCM= Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.229.231.9 with SMTP id jo9mr2106539qcb.201.1298657028572; Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:03:48 -0800 (PST) Sender: paul.hartman@gmail.com Received: by 10.229.217.145 with HTTP; Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:03:48 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <4D67CBC0.4000604@gmail.com> References: <4D67CBC0.4000604@gmail.com> Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:03:48 -0600 X-Google-Sender-Auth: 7Yjz8lOqKQ6bl51XutPUPi7L3bo Message-ID: Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Random reboots. Where to start? From: Paul Hartman To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: X-Archives-Hash: 92885bc33471d2841ba7bdbd0f73250e On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 9:33 AM, Dale wrote: > Well, I think my machine is possessed or something. =A0I'm getting random > reboots here. =A0When it does this, it is like hitting the reset button. = =A0It > is sitting on the grub screen when it does this. =A0I noticed the first t= ime > the other day and this was before adding the extra memory. =A0I seemed to= be > stable at 4Gbs but I seem to be rebooting at random. =A0I ran memtest > yesterday, it checked fine. =A0It didn't find a error but it looked like = it > was only testing part of it. =A0Memtest recognizes all 16Gbs on the last = run > but it didn't seem to be testing it all. =A0Is there a trick to getting i= t 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. :)