[PLUG] Rebuilt System Still Not Right

Galen Seitz galens at seitzassoc.com
Wed Mar 29 15:59:42 UTC 2006


Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> wrote:

>    I thought that a seg fault was a bad data structure or pointer that
> crossed a code boundary in the ia86 processor/memory
> architecture. Despite the 2.2M hits Google returned, all I saw were
> reports of the occurrence of a segmentation fault, not a confirmation
> of just what it is, and what causes them.

Seg fault is not x86 specific.  It can happen on any processor that has
an MMU or other memory access protection.  If a read, write, or fetch
occurs to an area of memory where that type of access is not allowed by the
MMU, a seg fault will occur.

An old, but still relevant link.
http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/

>    This sudden lack of stability with a new motherboard, memory that tests
> good, and the same hard drive that worked flawlessly in the old
> workstation/server is distracting and bothersome. If anyone has ideas on what
> the problem might be, ways to test for the problem source, or practical
> solutions, I would like to learn from your greater expertise and experience.

I think you have a hardware problem, not software.  Here are some ideas.

Boot from Knoppix or similar and try to recreate the problem.  If the
problem persists, this would confirm that it's not a software problem, 
and that it is unlikely to be a disk drive problem.

Double check that the processor is not being overclocked.

Double check that the memory is not being overclocked.

Double check that the front side bus is not being overclocked.

Double check that the PCI bus is not being overclocked.

Your motherboard probably has some fan connections that are not speed
controlled.  Move your CPU fan to one of these connectors.  If your
motherboard has a CPU fan speed check in the BIOS, you will probably 
have to disable it.

Make sure you have good contact between the CPU and heatsink.

Check the DMA configuration of your disk drive.  Consider backing its
speed down.

Go back to the shop where you got the motherboard and ask if you can get
a loaner motherboard and power supply from different vendors.  If the
problem persists with the different mb and power supply, your CPU may
have been damaged when your old system died.

Good luck!

galen



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