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Date:      Fri, 1 Aug 1997 01:25:17 -0700 (PDT)
From:      Nick Thille <thille@employees.org>
To:        btherl@students.cs.mu.oz.au
Cc:        dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu, questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: lockups, reboots
Message-ID:  <199708010825.BAA00380@willers.employees.org>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970801004624.11381G-100000@localhost> (message from Doug White on Fri, 1 Aug 1997 00:47:16 -0700 (PDT))

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 > On Thu, 31 Jul 1997, Brian Timothy HERLIHY wrote:
 > 
 > > Last night I installed FreeBSD 2.2.2-RELEASE onto my amd 486
 > > dx4/100, and some very odd things have been happening.  Firstly, the
 > > boot disk for installation would not boot until I switched the cpu
 > > cache off.  Once all was installed, things seemed to be working
 > > until I tried to compile cfs (crypto file system).  The system
 > > locked solid; this is reproducible.  Also, while transferring files 
 > > via ftp over slip, it rebooted about 1 hour ago. (cpu cache was on)
 > 
 > Hm, your CPU cache module may be corrupted.  Do you get signal 11's
 > (Segmentation fault) randomly, esp. during heavy activity?
 > 
 > > Is this something to do with using 2.2.2-RELEASE, or is it more
 > > likely to be my particular system?  I am now deciding whether to
 > > install linux or a more stable freeBSD on the system (I already have
 > > two linux 2.0.30, very reliable, never crash unless I do something
 > > dumb :) 
 > 
 > I can't tell.  FreeBSD may tickle something that Linux doesn't.
 > 
 > > Or are there any bios settings I should tweak?  Switching off cpu
 > > cache halves the speed, so that's not very good :(
 > 
 > Are you overclocking your CPU?
 > 

One more question:  What kind of memory do you have?

I had a heck of a time setting my machine up at work (fast network
connection).  It kept getting corruption trying to download the file.

I took it home and it loaded fine over my slower link (one isdn b
channel).  It worked fine.  I tried to run XFree86 and it kept
crashing miserably with signal 11s.  I tried to build a kernel and it
kept crashing miserably with signal 11s.

I had two 32mb edo simms in slot 0 and two 8mb fast page mode (slower
than edo) simms in slot 1.  On the below forwarded advice from a
friend, I removed the two 8mb fast page mode simms and tried again.
It has been rock solid since then.

I suspect that the BIOS was setting up the wait states etc based on
the EDO ram, and that was too fast for the fast page mode ram.  If I
didn't stress the machine much, it did okay, but when I tried to build
a kernel or run XFree86 with lots of windows, it wasn't happy.

There is a FAQ on signal 11s.  The below was forwarded to me by a
friend:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6.14. My programs occasionally die with ``Signal 11'' errors.

This can be caused by bad hardware (memory, motherboard, etc.). Try
running a memory-testing program on your PC. Note that, even though
every memory testing program you try will report your memory as being
fine, it's possible for slightly marginal memory to pass all memory
tests, yet fail under operating conditions (such as during
busmastering DMA from a SCSI controller like the Adaptec 1542, when
you're beating on memory by compiling a kernel, or just when the
system's running particularly hot).

The SIG11 FAQ (listed below) points up slow memory as being the most
common problem. Increase the number of wait states in your BIOS setup,
or get faster memory.

For me the guilty party has been bad cache RAM or a bad on-board cache
controller. Try disabling the on-board (secondary) cache in the BIOS
setup and see if that solves the problem.

There's an extensive FAQ on this at the SIG11 problem FAQ
			(www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/)

Good luck!

-Nick



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