Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Mick <michaelkintzios@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: memtest fails, but is it the RAM?
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:26:08
Message-Id: 200707111715.42709.michaelkintzios@gmail.com
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: memtest fails, but is it the RAM? by Iain Buchanan
1 On Wednesday 11 July 2007 00:29, Iain Buchanan wrote:
2 > On Fri, 2007-07-06 at 00:40 +0000, James wrote:
3 > > Not sure this is useful, but, if you can get the system to boot, you
4 > > and look more closely at the memory specifics with the 'lshw' command.
5 >
6 > hey, neat command. The system boots knoppix and windows fine, but I
7 > don't have gentoo on it (yet :) and I don't have lshw on any live cd I
8 > have... It can take PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200 though. I currently have
9 > 2x 512Mb PC3200 in it.
10
11 Use apt-get install to install the lshw package on Knoppix. It has a small
12 footprint and it should hopefully not exhaust your RAM.
13
14 > > If you can, swap the memory with another know good system for a few
15 > > days.... Something might show up as a problem
16 >
17 > I did that. The new RAM (another PC3200) works ok, but memtest still
18 > fails at the same point (test 3). This is confusing me. the same
19 > live-cd runs memtest on my other machine (DDR2) without fail...
20 >
21 > The other funny thing about memtest is this: The info it displays about
22 > the system is a bit strange. Sometimes it shows a CPU clock of 2999MHz,
23 > sometimes 3000MHz; sometimes the RAM shows DDR398, sometimes DDR400.
24 > It's always the same for one particular run of memtest, but sometimes
25 > changes between boots.
26
27 Hmm, is there a BIOS firmware upgrade you could perhaps flash it with?
28
29 Can you swap around the RAM modules or remove them one at a time until you
30 find the culprit? (not sure if you tried that already).
31
32 > > > (Ultimately, I'm trying to diagnose a random reboot problem, which
33 > > > makes me suspicious of the memory, but I'm not sure)
34 > >
35 > > I always look at the temperature as the mobo makes it available,
36 > > or checking the temperature of the hard drive with 'hddtemp /dev/<drive>'
37 >
38 > I plotted some GPU and CPU temperatures while running some games, and
39 > they all go to a reasonable maximum and stop there. I even turned the
40 > case fans off, and they don't go higher.
41 >
42 > The "random reboot" problem is now a "won't boot" problem! I put the
43 > original RAM back in the same slots, and now the HD's, CD's, and fans
44 > spin up, but no display appears. I hear a bios beep, and that's it.
45 > Maybe it's a MBoard issue? Maybe a video card issue? Hmmm, I don't
46 > want to replace the whole lot!
47
48 POST error. Could be due to dodgy memory. Have you tried removing the CMOS
49 battery and then reflashing the BIOS with the latest firmware?
50 --
51 Regards,
52 Mick