Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 22:58:22 -0500 (EST) From: Chuck Robey <chuckr@glue.umd.edu> To: Mike Jeays <jeays@statcan.ca> Cc: hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Defective motherboard? Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.970105224837.9375E-100000@ginger.eng.umd.edu> In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.92.970105220941.987A-100000@austral>
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On Sun, 5 Jan 1997, Mike Jeays wrote: > Questions - my swap partition is only 16MB, the same size as > real memory. Would this hurt stability as well as impair > performance? (It is a big slice out of my 212 MB BSD disk, > and I don't want to buy a new disk until the hardware is stable.) > > Is it likely to be memory or the motherboard? I presume the CPU > is not the problem. If the motherboard, am I likely to have a > defective specimen, or should I get it replaced by an ASUS or other > more expensive board? > > Is there any free software that will help diagnose hardware problems > of this kind? > > Any other advice, such as strategy in dealing with the vendor, please? I had a problem like this once. Most vendors will take their cue from you ... if you go to them and tell them it doesn't work, and that you wanted to run unix on it, they will go out of their way to make sure it works. They can swap out all your memory, or the motherboard, or anything they have to, until it finally works. Main points: 1) There isn't _any_ program that can adequately test memory, so stop looking for one. The only sure method is a memory tester (which does work fine), but swapping memory will usually catch such problems. 2) It doesn't have to be memory, it could be the motherboard. Only way to test this is a swapout. 3) If you go the the vendor and give him very strong indications that you don't trust the software, he will likely take the cue from you, and not do the testing required. FreeBSD _is_ solid, and _does_ work, please have faith in this, it's true. Explain that to your hardware vendor, and they will work until things are correct. 4) Don't jump to any conclusions as to what piece of hardware it is; a fouled up disk can cause panics as easily as a motherboard or memory. A network card that has a shared memory interface can do it easily. Let the vendor solve the problem, just be ready to test it. If you can get it to do several make worlds serially, that's likely a fair test. ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Chuck Robey | Interests include any kind of voice or data chuckr@eng.umd.edu | communications topic, C programming, and Unix. 9120 Edmonston Ct #302 | Greenbelt, MD 20770 | I run Journey2 and picnic, both FreeBSD (301) 220-2114 | version 3.0 current -- and great FUN! ----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------
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