why would I get a segmentation fault on one system but not the other?

[Valeri Galtsev]

On Sun, February 22, 2015 4:44 am, David Benfell wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 22, 2015 at 09:19:56AM +0100, Polytropon wrote:
>> On Sat, 21 Feb 2015 17:03:50 -0600, cpet wrote:
>> > As well as don't use stable on a production box as STABLE doesn't mean
>> > what it means.
>>
>> STABLE means that the API/ABI is stable. Unlike HEAD (CURRENT),
>> STABLE still is actually _stable_ in most cases, so it's a valid
>> solution for production systems (given that you're prepared well,
>> and you know what you're doing). I'm running STABLE on few
>> production machines myself (where this is needed), but I usually
>> prefer (and often recommend) using RELEASE and add the security
>> patches when they are available.
>>
> Thinking about this more, I'm inclined to think my problem is not with
> the base system. I haven't seen *any* crashes with stuff that can be
> clearly identified as being in the base system, let alone the kernel.
>
> My memory test has just completed a 4th pass with zero errors. It's
> now been running for 7.5 hours.
>
> I think my problem is somewhere in the ports.
>

After you definitely know where the failure source is memory or
system/software (e.g. by swapping drives and seeing which system fails
after that), and if it turns out to be hardware, I would suggest to try
one more thing. Clock down RAM speed just to the next slower setting (you
usually can do that in BIOS). If RAM or memory controller is marginally on
the edge of their capabilities, stepping down RAM speed may bring them to
speeds at which they are reliable (electronics wise you are just going to
longer pulses, so front steepness, and delays between different signal
line fronts matter less. This solves, e.g. the case when memory controller
can marginally not handle too high capacitive load of what is attached to
address lines of memory bus).

Good luck!

Valeri

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Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247
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