Re: Signal 11 Panics

• Date: Sat, 19 Oct 1996 23:06:04 PDT
• From:
  "Robert J. Brown" <rj@eli.wariat.org>
• CC: MOO-Cows@parc.xerox.com
• In-reply-to: <3269B4B7.714D@wichita.fn.net> (message from Martian on Sat, 19 Oct 1996 22:12:23 PDT)

>>>>> "Martian" == Martian  <wsmyth@wichita.fn.net> writes:

    Martian> Every once in a while, without any pattern we've seen,
    Martian> MidgardMOO will panic on signal 11.  Twice it's even
    Martian> happened DURING a checkpoint (once causing a loss of both
    Martian> DBs)

    Martian> It's a dedicated server with no one logged into the
    Martian> server itself at the time.

    Martian> First question: What is signal 11?  Second question: What
    Martian> might be causing it?  Third question: How can we stop it
    Martian> panicing the MOO?

Signal 11 is usually a memory problem, such as segment violation, etc.
The Linux 2.0.0 docs mention that you can get a Signal 11 when doing
kernel builds, and that it usually means a memory hardware problem,
such as a flakey RAM module or some such thing.  

Since most modern cheap PCs no longer have memory parity, there is no
good way to detect when this foolishness occurs except a signal 11.
This unfortunately does not give you the physical address of the
error.  Not that it would help nowdays, what with the complicated DRAM
controllers, you never know where a particular address is located in
the actual hardware anymore :-(  

I just hope they have parity on the machine that keeps my bank
ballance!

So if you are running Linux 2,.0.0, there is a distinct possibility
that you have a bad memory module, and this is just how it shows up.

If you are running on a *REAL* computer, like an HP-9000, or a Sun
Sparc, or a Silly-G, then you might have some other problem (then
again, it might *BE* memory...).

-- 
--------  "And there came a writing to him from Elijah"  [2Ch 21:12]  --------
Robert Jay Brown III  rj@eli.wariat.org  http://eli.wariat.org  1 847 705-0424
Elijah Laboratories Inc.;  37 South Greenwood Avenue;  Palatine, IL 60067-6328
-----  M o d e l i n g   t h e   M e t h o d s   o f   t h e   M i n d  ------

• Re: Signal 11 Panics
• From: Pascal Eeftinck <arcade@xs4all.nl>
• Re: Signal 11 Panics
• From: Martian <wsmyth@wichita.fn.net>

• Signal 11 Panics
• From: Martian <wsmyth@wichita.fn.net>

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