Could you please specify the exact kernel you are using? Have you tried making the hardware test for memory ? Did you notice anything responding slow ? Try taking out 3 GB and let it work with 2 GB does it still give the same errors ? -- ########################################3 Zaharioudakis Nikos, RHCT mob: +30 6947204063 If speed kills, then Windows Users may live forever On 5/31/05, Maciej Żenczykowski <maze at cela.pl> wrote: > Hello, > > I've just run out of memory on a dual xeon with 5GB ram, > considering there should have been around 4GB free (not counting > buffers and cache)... this is unusual. > > Now after it OOM'ed I tried running top and memory usage was fine > (around 1GB of 5, no swap usage of 12GB). > > So I thought it was a temporary thing, but processes kept on > OOM'ing for no understandable reason... > while swap was empty and memory continued to show 3GB free > (and look at the weird log messages...) > > A reboot helped though, but still... :) > > [this is the normal CentOS4 i686 SMP kernel 2.6.9-5.0.5.ELsmp] > > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: oom-killer: gfp_mask=0xd0 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: DMA per-cpu: > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 0 hot: low 2, high 6, batch 1 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 0 cold: low 0, high 2, batch 1 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 1 hot: low 2, high 6, batch 1 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 1 cold: low 0, high 2, batch 1 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 2 hot: low 2, high 6, batch 1 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 2 cold: low 0, high 2, batch 1 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 3 hot: low 2, high 6, batch 1 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 3 cold: low 0, high 2, batch 1 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: Normal per-cpu: > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 0 hot: low 32, high 96, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:25 tcs kernel: cpu 0 cold: low 0, high 32, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs postfix: Process did not exit cleanly, returned 0 with > signal 9 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 1 hot: low 32, high 96, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 1 cold: low 0, high 32, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 2 hot: low 32, high 96, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 2 cold: low 0, high 32, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 3 hot: low 32, high 96, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 3 cold: low 0, high 32, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: HighMem per-cpu: > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 0 hot: low 32, high 96, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 0 cold: low 0, high 32, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 1 hot: low 32, high 96, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 1 cold: low 0, high 32, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 2 hot: low 32, high 96, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 2 cold: low 0, high 32, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 3 hot: low 32, high 96, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: cpu 3 cold: low 0, high 32, batch 16 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: Free pages: 3579344kB (3578432kB HighMem) > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: Active:96900 inactive:20481 dirty:0 > writeback:0 unstable:0 free:894836 slab:212200 mapped:86012 pagetabl > es:1438 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: DMA free:16kB min:16kB low:32kB high:48kB > active:16kB inactive:0kB present:16384kB > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: protections[]: 0 0 0 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: Normal free:896kB min:936kB low:1872kB > high:2808kB active:240kB inactive:416kB present:901120kB > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: protections[]: 0 0 0 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: HighMem free:3578432kB min:512kB low:1024kB > high:1536kB active:387344kB inactive:81508kB present:4325372 > kB > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: protections[]: 0 0 0 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: DMA: 0*4kB 0*8kB 1*16kB 0*32kB 0*64kB 0*128kB > 0*256kB 0*512kB 0*1024kB 0*2048kB 0*4096kB = 16kB > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: Normal: 0*4kB 0*8kB 2*16kB 1*32kB 1*64kB > 0*128kB 1*256kB 1*512kB 0*1024kB 0*2048kB 0*4096kB = 896kB > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: HighMem: 1560*4kB 5190*8kB 4683*16kB 1632*32kB > 2304*64kB 1512*128kB 781*256kB 349*512kB 157*1024kB 66*20 > 48kB 583*4096kB = 3578432kB > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: Swap cache: add 0, delete 0, find 0/0, race > 0+0 > May 31 22:31:26 tcs kernel: Out of Memory: Killed process 11250 > (MailScanner). > > and again moments later... > > May 31 22:31:30 tcs kernel: oom-killer: gfp_mask=0xd0 > ... > > and repeat two dozen or more times for different processes. > > Cheers, > MaZe.