|
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]
|
Re: [PLUG] How To Diagnose System Instability?
|
Casey Bralla had this to say:
> On Wednesday 30 December 2009 10:06:46 am Mike Leone wrote:
>> Casey Bralla had this to say:
>>> Lately my computer has started showing signs of instability. I get
>>> rather frequent SegFaults which pop up windows in KDE and (usually) allow
>>> me to restart applications. The computer is about 8 months old, and had
>>> been completely fine up until about a month ago.
>>>
>>> At first I thought this was just goofiness with the latest version of
>>> KDE, but after I removed half my RAM, the stability improved
>>> tremendously. Also, my BIOS includes the memtest86+ program and it
>>> shows errors (sometimes).
>>>
>>> I use Gentoo, so am compiling a lot of software. I've read that
>>> recompiling the kernel is a great way to identify hardware problems since
>>> it exercises the whole system so thoroughly. <sigh>
>>>
>>> So I'm struggling to identify which component(s) of my system are causing
>>> the instability. Here are the things I've tried, with very limited
>>> success:
>>>
>>> - run memtest86+. (Sometimes shows errors, but sometimes can run
>>> overnight without any problems)
>>> - Removed half the 4 memory chips. [I had 8 GBytes, so could spare the
>>> RAM] (This helped, but not 100%)
>> Sure sounds like the RAM is your problem.
>>
>> So throw out that RAM, and buy all new. It's cheap, and less frustrating.
>>
>
> But wouldn't RAM issues to isolated to individual chips?
Not if more than 1 stick had a problem. :-)
> It bothers me that I can remove half the RAM and the problem gets better, but doesn't completely go
> away.
Perhaps you have intermittent problems in the remaining sticks, which is
why I recommended just trying all new.
I have seen flaky power supplies cause weird issues. I've come to the
conclusion that having more power than what the ratings say is needed,
is never a bad idea .. I'd buy a good quality PS. You might try that
first, rather than the RAM.
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
|
|