[wplug] strange memory issue

[Andrew Fisk]

When I read your note, my thought was the same as George's -- If you  
are sure about the contacts between the chips and sockets, any chance  
that the motherboard under the sockets  could contract the case?


Andy
Spitfire Computer Services
Suite 19
2301 Duss Ave.
Ambridge, PA 15003
Phone (412) 749-0162
andy at spitcomp.com
www.spitcomp.com






On Nov 4, 2009, at Wednesday, November 4, 20096:39 PM, Rick Reynolds  
wrote:

> Ah yes, I should have mentioned: I did that also.  I had cleaned the
> contacts on the memory chips and the memory slots and reseated all the
> memory before running another memtest86 that then failed badly.
>
> Oh well.  It's definitely possible that - careful as I usually am
> about this stuff - that I didn't have the right pressure on the chips
> and they weren't making completely good contact, etc., etc.
>
> Thanks,
> Rick Reynolds
> -- 
> "It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with
> potatoes." -- Douglas Adams
>
>
> On Nov 4, 2009, at 6:24 PM, George Larson wrote:
>
>> I have certainly 'fixed' computers before by reseating modules --  
>> more
>> than once.
>>
>> On Wednesday, November 4, 2009, Rick Reynolds <rick at rickandviv.net>
>> wrote:
>>> 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
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> wplug mailing list
>>> wplug at wplug.org
>>> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>>>
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