low-level format before install?

[John Almberg]

On Apr 7, 2009, at 3:37 PM, Chuck Swiger wrote:

> On Apr 7, 2009, at 12:15 PM, John Almberg wrote:
>> Well, I've got real problems with that database server that lost  
>> power over the weekend. We reloaded FreeBSD from scratch and then  
>> reinstalled mysql, and pf. I loaded up my database and switched  
>> over all my customer's websites. The database server ran fine for  
>> about 2 minutes, and then died. At the moment, I can't even ssh  
>> into the machine, although they can get into it using a keyboard/ 
>> monitor at the data center. In other words, sshd is not working.
>
> That sounds like either a hardware problem (ie CPU overheating or  
> marginal PSU failing under production load), or less likely, some  
> kind of software misconfiguration.  System logs would be useful to  
> see whether any signs of trouble are being mentioned.

Apparently, power was fluctuating drastically before they decided to  
cut power, so a hardware problem is a definite possibility. A PSU  
failure would not surprise me in the circumstances.

Assuming I can ever ssh in again, what log would hardware failures be  
reported to?

-- John