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Date:      Mon, 17 Jun 2002 08:51:12 +0930
From:      Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org>
To:        Aaron J Siegel <Aaron.Siegel@attbi.com>
Cc:        Questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Computer crashes and hard drive geometry
Message-ID:  <20020616232112.GA56375@wantadilla.lemis.com>
In-Reply-To: <3D0CB916.9000003@attbi.com>
References:  <3D0CB916.9000003@attbi.com>

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On Sunday, 16 June 2002 at 10:13:10 -0600, Aaron J Siegel wrote:
> Hello
>         I purchased a computer in January of this year which as been
> nothing but a big headache. Every time I compile the kernel it crashes,
> or give a bunch of compiler errors.  The computer is a AMD XP +1500
> with, Epox 8kha, and the ram is a 256 MB Crucial DDR.

That's pretty much the same as the machine I'm replying on.

> I have a 40 GB IBM hard drive setup with LBA geometry. Do I need to
> set the geometry to a extended INT13 mode?

No.

> Could the hard drive be creating the problem?

No.

> I have tried everything I can think of; replaced the RAM, upgraded
> the bios, tried the video card in another computer, used a different
> hard drive(it appear to be a little more stable). I have moved the
> hard drive to a older computer, PII, 440BX, Promise 100TX IDE
> controller, there are no problems the computer, it can run for days
> without a glitch.

That should clarify that it's not the disk that's causing the problem.

> I save the core but when I run gdb I receive the error:
> "/usr/var/crash4/vmcore.0": not in executable format: File format
> not recognized".

You need to run like this:

 # cd /var/crash
 # gdb -k kernel.debug vmcore.0

You need a debug kernel.  This is explained in the handbook.

> Next I have a problem Iike this I will send the whole computer back
> not just components, let them deal with it.

In this case, it's probably the correct thing to do.  I've heard of
sporadic problems with AMD-based motherboards, though I've had no
problems with my own hardware.

One question: are you getting any timecounter-related error messages?
Check /var/log/messages.

Greg
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