faulty memory (was Re: Gcc 3.2.2 vs gcc 3.2.3)

[Stijn Hoop]

On Mon, Sep 22, 2003 at 07:11:15PM +0200, Wilko Bulte wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 22, 2003 at 02:25:27PM +0000, Holger Kipp wrote:
> > Justin Smith (jsmith at drexel.edu) wrote: 
> > >I'm running a P4 2.4 Ghz processor with 512meg of ram.
> > >
> > >I've had the problem of getting signal 11 and signal 4 when I make
> > >buildworld and buildkernel.
> > >
> > >I tested my system with memtest86 (for several hours) and it says
> > >everything is OK.
> > 
> > We had similar problems once. It turned out to be a 'lucky' combination of
> > good mainboard and good memory that were slightly incompatible.
> > 
> > memtest86 might not detect this, but make buildworld will. If you don't
> > get the errors at the same location every time, it might be the same
> > issue. We found out after contacting both the mainboard and the memory
> > chip vendors.
> 
> Same experience here, also on P4, with DDR400 memory. Asus mainboard,
> with memory from the Asus qualified memory list. Did not work worth sh*,
> at least not with memory at DDR400 speeds. Other memory fixed is perfectly.
> 
> Go figure..

I just had this problem, P4 on Gigabyte mainboard, DDR400 memory, 2 DIMMs
of 512 MB each. With a single DIMM (both DIMMs tested) memtest didn't
find anything and the machine was rock stable, but in any combo of the
2 DIMMs, dual channel or not, the machine would lock up / throw
gcc ICE everytime.

When I ran memtest on the machine with both DIMMs in, it would consistently
show errors in one 512 half though, and so I returned the one 'faulty' DIMM
and all was well.

Talk about strange...

--Stijn

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