FreeBSD 4-10 install, RAM parity errors that don't seem to happen inLinux.

[Derrick MacPherson]

On Mon, 2004-06-14 at 11:19, Charles Swiger wrote:
> On Jun 14, 2004, at 1:38 PM, Derrick MacPherson wrote:
> > Derrick MacPherson <dmacpherson <at> mainframe.ca> writes:
> >> I am trying to move as much of our servers as I can to FreeBSD, and
> >> there's a few boxes that they have here that the RAM is a about 2 mm
> >> high and requires the case (1U machines) to press on the RAM when
> >> closed. These machines run RH Linux for months without a problem, yet 
> >> 3
> >> out of 4 I just pulled are giving RAM parity problems during FreeBSD
> >> instalation.
> >>
> >> Does FreeBSD not allow/recover from those types of errors the same way
> >> Linux does? Any solutions?
> >
> > I posted this last week and hadn't seen a repsonse to it, is there 
> > someone that
> > cares to take a poke at this?
> 
> Well, if you are using ECC, normally they will correct all single-bit 
> errors and notice but not correct larger multibit errors.  This is done 
> at a fairly low level in the hardware (which is why the BIOS typically 
> controls the use of ECC), and is not something that is supposed to vary 
> depending on which OS you are using.
> 
> That being said, Linux and FreeBSD might be using different portions of 
> memory which hit different RAM chips, and so you see the errors for one 
> and not the other, but if you've got failing RAM, your systems are not 
> going to be stable under heavy load regardless of what OS you use.  I 
> would expect you to see signs of problems under Linux, too, but 
> consider running memtest86 for a day or so and see what you see:
> 
> http://www.memtest86.com/

Thanks Chuck I will look into running those tests. The machines have had
heavy loads for a couple years now, they have served as rendering
machines for our animators. They are now being put to pasture, and I was
hoping to run FreeBSD, :), and not Linux, :(