[wplug] strange memory issue

[Rick Reynolds]

Hi wpluggers,

I'm more of a lurker than a really consistent member, so greetings.   
I'm seeing a somewhat strange memory issue with an older system of  
mine and I wondered if anyone on the list has any insights about it.   
The system is a Tyan Tiger MPX S2466N motherboard with 2 1600 MHz  
Athlon processors.  It has been a nice Linux server for me for years.   
I recently decided to upgrade the memory to its max of 4GB (4 x 1GB  
sticks) and use it as a vmware platform for smaller virtual servers.   
My plans are to use either ESXi or vmware server 2 on it.

I've had nothing but problems with it after the memory upgrade -  
mainly segfaults of user space apps, starting with vmware server.   
After chasing the problem from a software point of view, I decided to  
check the memory with memtest86.  Problems detected all over!  After  
reporting lots of errors, memtest86 itself would halt after a few  
minutes due to an "unexpected interrupt."

So I decided to test each stick separately to find the culprit(s).   
Since the original memory errors had been found within a couple of  
minutes, I only gave each stick around 5 minutes of testing before  
moving on to the next one in an effort to find the problem as quickly  
as possible.  All four sticks passed this quick test.

I am now rerunning the original test with all four sticks in place and  
it has been chugging along for the past 35 minutes with no found  
issues.  Things that are different with the later tests: (1) each  
single stick test was done with the stick in the first slot; and (2)  
the four sticks in there now are almost certainly in a different order  
than they were earlier.

I'll be thrilled if the memory passes memtest86's tests, but I'd  
really love to get a nice, warm-fuzzy about the state of this server  
before I start counting on it. Anyone got an explanation for why the  
memory might be behaving better now?

Thanks,
Rick Reynolds
-- 
"Hey, this is the government. You just can't expect five 9s" -- Chief  
Justice, on the Gore/Bush election's narrow margin