Subject: [linux-audio-user] Re: [OT] interesting installation problem
From: Paul (set_AT_pobox.com)
Date: Thu Dec 13 2001 - 06:43:56 EET
Paul Winkler <slinkp23_AT_yahoo.com>, on Wed Dec 12, 2001 [03:40:26 PM] said:
> On Mon, Dec 10, 2001 at 08:42:17PM -0500, Ross Vandegrift wrote:
> (snip)
> > ... Try running memtest86
> > overnight and see if it kills his box.
>
> I highly recommend doing this on *any* linux box you depend on.
> I've been bitten by bad hardware before. It is *not* fun.
>
> I also recommend using badblocks -w to test your swap
> partition(s). (Of course, turn off swap first: swapoff -a) Problem: If
> you find bad blocks there, I'm not sure if anything can be done,
> except to avoid using that partition for swap. :(
> With ext2 filesystems, you can use the e2fsck -l option to add the bad
> blocks to the list of blocks to ignore, but AFAIKT there's no
> equivalent workaround for bad blocks on a swap partition.
>
Hi.
mkswap has the -c option, which will do a read check of
each swap page, and keep a map of bad ones. mke2fs has a similar
-c options as well. (e2fsck has a -c option too, which makes it
do the legwork with badblocks) However, if bad blocks suddenly
start turning up on a modern disk, you should consider making
backups, because the end may be neigh. OTH If your disk is old
enough to have come with a list of defects from the manufacturer,
then working around bad blocks is just part of life:)
>
> There's nothing like having your system crash in wonderfully
> destructive ways when you do something memory-intensive... it's hard
> to predict, hard to repeat, and truly maddening until you realize it's
> a hardware problem.
>
Verily. I find that even 24hours of memtest86 isnt
enough. My simple test for a new box is something like:
(this tends to stress the basic systems.)
while (make dep && make clean && make bzImage ) ; do
echo built >> /tmp/log
done
I have sticks that pass the memtest86, but fail the
endless kernel build. (for big memory boxes, several of these at
once might be required.) I havent tried the valinux Cerberus
test system yet, because the warning scared me:)
Paul
set_AT_pobox.com
> --
>
> paul winkler
> home: http://www.slinkp.com
> music: http://www.reacharms.com
> calendars: http://www.calendargalaxy.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Thu Dec 13 2001 - 06:36:58 EET