[wplug] Another OT buggy-hardware post

[Richard Farina]

I ran into some nasty errors myself like this, I was able to trace it 
down to memory, but, not like you would think.  Check the vendor specs 
on the memory and set them ALL as appropriate, my specific problem 
turned out that the memory (OCZ) required 2.6 volts as opposed to the 
default of 2.5.  I highly recommend memtest to verify that it is working 
properly once you have verified memory setting.

IMHO the temperatures don't seem that high, you can check the specs of 
the processor to insure this, but it sounds okay to me.

If it's not the memory, it may be the CPU, that would be my next guess.

Just my .02

-Rick Farina

Poyner, Brandon wrote:
> I had a similar problem on a home built Athlon 1.3Ghz.  Specifically
> memtest86+ would throw memory errors if I clocked it appropriately in
> the BIOS, leading to system lockups and reboots.  If I under clocked to
> 1.25Ghz the memory errors went away in memtest86+ and the system was
> perfectly stable.  At first I suspected the memory was bad, and Mushkin
> replaced the memory with hardly any questions asked.  It wasn't the
> memory.  I removed everything but memory, pci video card, floppy drive,
> motherboard, cpu, and keyboard and it exhibited the same behavior.
> Later on I replaced the motherboard and that didn't help.  Even later on
> I replaced the CPU and I was able to clock it appropriately.  I never
> did exactly nail it down, but I suspect the CPU was faulty.
>
> So I would suggest running memtest86+ at the proper clock speed and
> under clocked and see what happens.
>
> Brandon Poyner
> Network Engineer III
> CCAC - College Office
> 412-237-3086
>  
>  
>
>   
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: wplug-bounces+bpoyner=ccac.edu at wplug.org 
>> [mailto:wplug-bounces+bpoyner=ccac.edu at wplug.org] On Behalf 
>> Of Brandon Kuczenski
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 1:56 PM
>> To: WPLUG
>> Subject: [wplug] Another OT buggy-hardware post
>>
>> I'm looking to tap into the wisdom of WPLUG for advice in 
>> minimizing the
>> financial cost of fixing my desktop computer, which crashes 
>> frequently 
>> (MTBF ~36 hours) under heavy CPU load.  I'm running Debian testing, 
>> 2.6.11-k7 on an Athlon XP 2000+ and an Asus A7N-266 mb.
>>
>> There are three types of crashes.
>>
>> One, if I set my motherboard's jumpers properly (i.e. my 
>> 2000+ runs at 
>> 1667 MHz) then the computer is guaranteed to crash within 
>> five minutes of 
>> boot.  The computer only runs at its reduced clockspeed of 1250MHz.
>>
>> Two, if I run 'lame' on about 30 minutes of audio, there's a 
>> 90% chance 
>> that the computer will crash (behavior: spontaneously powers 
>> down).  This 
>> also happens in certain other situations with high CPU load.
>>
>> Three, sometimes the computer will randomly lock up -- screen 
>> freezes, 
>> mouse / keyboard unresponsive, sshd doesn't answer connection 
>> requests.
>>
>> After considering the situation, there are four different 
>> possibilities 
>> that I think are likely.  Any one will cost about $80-100 to 
>> fix, so I'd 
>> like to get it right.
>>    a. Temperature.  I have lm-sensors installed; mobo temperature is 
>> 40-43C and CPU temperature is 49-51C in the steady state.  
>> These don't 
>> seem to be abnormally high... fix is to buy a better case+heat sink.
>>    b. Faulty processor needs replaced (because of the 'type 1 crash')
>>    c. Faulty motherboard needs replaced (alternative diagnosis of 'b')
>>    d. It's possible that the 'type 3 crashes' are caused by a 
>> bad video 
>> card.
>>
>> I haven't really considered the memory because the problem 
>> has not always 
>> occurred (though I can't remember when it started occurring). 
>> But I'll 
>> install and run memtest86+ while I wait for list responses to 
>> trickle in.
>>
>> I built the box myself with parts (presumed new) from a 
>> discount on-line 
>> parts house.  The Video Card is from eBay.
>>
>> The case has really awful cooling, which is why I thought temperature 
>> might be the culprit.  I'm also running a cheap aluminum 
>> heat-sink instead 
>> of a copper one.  It's seated so tight that I couldn't get it off the 
>> processor to check the conductive paste (which I applied when 
>> I installed 
>> the heatsink).  I would have to probably take the whole thing 
>> apart in 
>> order to be able to get at the heatsink to remove it.
>>
>> If i were better off, I'd just buy a new Asus board, new 
>> processor, new 
>> case, and new heat sink, but I won't be able to swing that.  
>> As it is, I 
>> am in a constant state of panic that my computer will shut down.
>>
>> Any advice?
>>
>> -Brandon
>>
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>>     
>
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