Re: [gentoo-user] Re: memtest fails, but is it the RAM?

[Iain Buchanan]

On Fri, 2007-07-06 at 00:40 +0000, James wrote:

> Not sure this is useful, but, if you can get the system to boot, you
> and look more closely at the memory specifics with the 'lshw' command.

hey, neat command.  The system boots knoppix and windows fine, but I
don't have gentoo on it (yet :) and I don't have lshw on any live cd I
have...  It can take PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200 though.  I currently have
2x 512Mb PC3200 in it.

> Then if you can find the mobo book, look at the published memory
> requirements and go into the
> bios, and look at the bios settings for something out of the ordinary.

it is a "jumperfree" board, with overclocking options in the bios, but
they're all turned off.

> If you can, swap the memory with another know good system for a few days....
> Something might show up as a problem

I did that.  The new RAM (another PC3200) works ok, but memtest still
fails at the same point (test 3).  This is confusing me.  the same
live-cd runs memtest on my other machine (DDR2) without fail...

The other funny thing about memtest is this:  The info it displays about
the system is a bit strange.  Sometimes it shows a CPU clock of 2999MHz,
sometimes 3000MHz; sometimes the RAM shows DDR398, sometimes DDR400.
It's always the same for one particular run of memtest, but sometimes
changes between boots.

> > (Ultimately, I'm trying to diagnose a random reboot problem, which makes
> > me suspicious of the memory, but I'm not sure)
>
> I always look at the temperature as the mobo makes it available,
> or checking the temperature of the hard drive with 'hddtemp /dev/<drive>'

I plotted some GPU and CPU temperatures while running some games, and
they all go to a reasonable maximum and stop there.  I even turned the
case fans off, and they don't go higher.

The "random reboot" problem is now a "won't boot" problem!  I put the
original RAM back in the same slots, and now the HD's, CD's, and fans
spin up, but no display appears.  I hear a bios beep, and that's it.
Maybe it's a MBoard issue?  Maybe a video card issue?  Hmmm, I don't
want to replace the whole lot!

> Often power supplies will run ok can then glitch causing a
> reboot. It cannot hurt to swap the power supply to see if that
> fixes the random reboots....

not able to try that... I don't have a spare.

thanks,
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

The Heineken Uncertainty Principle:
	You can never be sure how many beers you had last night.

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