[CentOS] Re: segfaults with 8 gig of ram

[Scott Silva]

tblader spake the following on 3/24/2007 6:46 AM:
> Feizhou wrote:
> <snip>
> 
>>> Right now, it's been running for about 40 minutes (the Java install
>>> loop mentioned previously) with the dram clocked down to ddr-533.
>>> All four sticks are in and I ssh'd in and started another java install
>>> loop over the wire just to aggravate things.  If this continues to
>>> run for a few hours I'll call it good enough.
>>
>> So all four sticks, clocked down and kernel parameters = A-OKAY
>> (assuming it is stable)
>>
> 
> Almost. Much to my dismay, the 4 stick testing went well but the
> BIOS screens occasionally hung during reboot through the course
> of the day.  I finally just pulled the 4th stick and went home.
> 
> I've modified the rc3.d/S99local* script to just reboot every 10
> minutes and compile a kernel and modules in between.  I thought
> I'd heat things up a bit piping urandom into /dev/null as well.
> 
> I've got other fx-62 boxes running the same mainboard with all 4
> ram slots full, but those are Corsair ram @1G each - the ram timings
> are different as well; 5-5-5-12 for the Corsair and 6-6-6-18
> for the GSkill.  Maybe the GSkill ram just isn't up to the task
> running Dual channel.  I have the weekend to play with it so maybe
> I'll try two sticks in Dual Channel for a while and see what happens.
> 
> I'll post kernel compile times between the 3 sticks in single channel
> and 2 in dual channel :)
> 
I bet the bios of the board is either not honoring the SPD settings of the
memory, or the memory just isn't a good match for the board. I have had this
problem before, and now I usually only buy memory that is on the recommended
list of the manufacturer, especially on critical systems. It just isn't worth
the extra trouble to maybe save a few bucks. Your time tracking down the
problem probably has already gone over the difference in memory cost.

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