Is this a sign of memory going bad?

[Chuck Robey]

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004, Matt Emmerton wrote:

> > Chuck Robey wrote:
> > > On Thu, 25 Nov 2004, Haulmark, Chris wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >>Someone broke the silence:
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>>On Thu, Nov 25, 2004 at 04:05:53PM -0500, Lowell Gilbert wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>>>Jonathon McKitrick <jcm at FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> writes:
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>>This is what I get from make buildworld.  I've gotten signal 10,
> > >>>>>11, and now 5.
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>>Is this bad memory?
> > >>>>
> > >>>>That's a reasonable guess, but the only way to tell for sure is to
> > >>>>test it.
> > >>>
> > >>>Is there a port to do this, or do I have to take it out and take it
> > >>>somewhere else to get it tested?
> > >>>
> > >>>jm
> > >>
> > >>sysutils/memtest in the ports.
> > >
> > >
> > > I don't want to embarrass anyone here, but something needs to be said.
> > > Note this next sentence carefully: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A WORKING
> > > MEMORY TEST PROGRAM!!!
> >
> > What about the BIOS RAM test? I mean the counter that you can interrupt
> with
> > the ESC key, at the beginning of the boot process? Will that reliably
> indicate
> > problems with the RAM, or is that test also rubbish?
>
> That just tests that the RAM is accessible (ie, electrical interface is
> sound).

Got to be careful how you word it; it doesn't even mean that, cause there
are so many corner cases that memory needs to meet, really needs it, and
the electrical checks are unbelieveably thin.  I know YOU know that, but
we're writing for the newbies, they're going to take you at your words
here, and that check, it's so useless.

Something like looking at your car's fuel guage to tell if your car is
working.  If the fuel guage reads 3/4 full, it does't say much about the
state of your spark plugs, does it?  Unfortunately, that IS a fair
analogy.  Now, let the newbies read that one, it's accurate, far as it
goes.

You have to realize, newbies will guess, if you don't give them enough
data, they're not stupid, just ignorant, so be careful what sort of
guessing data you give them.

>
> --
> Matt Emmerton
>
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Chuck Robey         | Interests include C & Java programming, FreeBSD,
chuckr at chuckr.org   | electronics, communications, and SF/Fantasy.

New Year's Resolution:  I will not sphroxify gullible people into looking up
fictitious words in the dictionary (on the wall at my old fraternity,
Signa Phi Nothing).
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