Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 10:02:40 -0400 From: "Eloy A. Paris" <Eloy.Paris@ven.ra.rockwell.com> To: questions@freebsd.org, hardware@freebsd.org Cc: Gary Chrysler <tcg@ime.net>, "Lenzi, Sergio" <lenzi@cwbone.bsi.com.br>, "M.R.Murphy" <mrm@marmot.Mole.ORG>, "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" <michaelv@HeadCandy.com>, sos@freebsd.org, Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>, Didier Derny <didier@aida.org>, Alex Nash <alex@fa.tdktca.com>, "Andrew V. Stesin" <stesin@elvisti.kiev.ua>, "Brant M. Katkansky" <bmk@fta.com>, "David Alderman" <dave@persprog.com>, "Jacob M. Parnas" <jparnas@jparnas.cybercom.net> Subject: (SOLVED!) My Cyrix microprocessor/motherboard problems Message-ID: <2.2.16.19960626100546.362f66d6@zeus.ven.ra.rockwell.com>
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Hello everyone.
Well, finally the problems with my Cyrix 486DX4/100 and my motherboard seem
to be solverd.
As you know, I was under severe attack of signals 10 (bus error) and 11
(segmentation fault) - almost all of them are, and this made my system too
unstable to work as a dedicated server.
In my last message I made a plan to find out the causes of my problem. These
are the results:
> 1) Replace the Cyrix 486DX4 with a genuine Intel DX4.
OK, I got a genuine Intel 486DX4-100. I set up the jumpers of my motherboard
accordingly and guess what? I got the segmentation fault when executing "man
-a /usr/local/bin/*| col -b > /tmp/junk_test".
This took me to the next step of my plan:
>2) ... I am going to take my IDE harddrive with FreeBSD to another machine
with an
>Intel DX2/66 with a motherboard I know that works (it's a Digital computer,
like one
>that has been running Linux for about a year now with no problems - very
good quality).
I took the IDE hard drive with FreeBSD to a Digital DECpc LPx 466d2, with 16
Megs. of RAM and a 486DX2-66. Again, when trying "man -a ..." I got the
segmentation fault.
This really confussed me and made me suspect the problem was not hardware
since I really trust the Digital mother board.
The third step was not needed since step #2 failed:
> 3) Get a different motherboard, one of good quality. I'll try to test the
Cyrix DX4 on > it just to know if the problem is the microprocessor or the
motherboard.
I decided to made a final test to be sure the problem was not hardware: I
repeated the same "man -a /usr/local/bin/* ..." test on my Dell Latitude XPi
notebook with a genuine Intel Pentium @ 90 MHz. I had been running FreeBSD
2.1.0-RELEASE on this machine for more than 6 months with no problems.
Initially I did not get the segmentation fault but when I looked at the
/usr/local/bin directory I saw the Elm files were not there, as compared to
the FreeBSD in the installation I was problems with.
I installed Elm in the notebook and I GOT THE SEGMENTATION FAULT. I upgraded
to -stable and I still was getting the fault.
Finally, I determined that the command "man -a elm" was causing the faults.
Summarizing, I found two causes for the segmentation faults:
1) I was using to test my configuration a command ("man -a elm") that has
some kind of bug (I guess).
2) I was configuring the jumpers of the mother board for a Cyrix DX4-100, as
is my case. If I do this I get more segmentation faults than ever, beginning
with the modload command that loads the screen saver module.
To overcome this situation I configured the jumpers for a genuine Intel
DX4-100. After I did this my system is stable!!! :-) I know this does not
make sense (to have a Cyrix working in a mother board set up for an Intel)
but it works.
Well, I hope this helps people having the same problems I had.
Thank you all people that helped me with suggestions and fresh ideas.
See ya!
E-loy.-
--
Eloy A. Paris
Global Technical Services
Rockwell Automation de Venezuela
Telephone: 58-2-9432311 Fax: 58-2-9430323
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