questions about Fatal Trap 12

[Paul Hamilton]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
[mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of Ray
Sent: Saturday, 4 April 2009 01:45
To: freebsd general questions
Subject: questions about Fatal Trap 12

Hello,
I have received a kernel Trap 12 error several times now and am trying to
figure it out. 
the error occurred today, and the previous time was about two weeks ago. 
last time I had to run fsck manually if that proves anything.


uname -a gives the following:

FreeBSD wserver.********.com 7.0-RELEASE-p3 FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE-p3 #0: Wed
Sep 
17 13:30:46 MDT 2008     root at wserver.*********.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/MOD

amd64


Google returns results mostly for versions 4.x and 5.x, but it suggest 2
main 
things: 
test ram, and kernel panic troubleshooting. 
(http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/faq/advanced.html#KERNEL-PANIC-
TROUBLESHOOTING)

Is there a way to test the ram without removing it from the machine and
leave 
the machine functioning. I've used memtest 86 before, but obviously the 
machine has to be offline for this test.

However, I'm a little unsure of the instructions in the handbook on 
troubleshooting. namely, it talks about using the nm command, put I can't 
figure out the data file to give it as an argument, and second I'm unsure
about 
using a debugging Kernel on a production server. I have heard that It will 
significantly slow down a machine.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Ray
_______________________________________________

<snip>

Hi Ray,

I have had a few of the Trap 12 errors over the last 10 years of using
FreeBSD.  From memory, mine where due to faulty motherboard/CPU.  I just
moved the hard drive to another PC, and all was ok.  

The last time I received the error, was when I tried recompiling world.  I
put it down to CPU heat, as it was running a LOT harder than normal day to
day use.  This was on a server that had been in place for two years running
with out problem!

Cheers,

PaulH