Aaron Kulkis wrote:
As example: we once obtained a computer that had been running windows fine for ages. The moment we started installing linux on it, it failed. Indeed it already failed during the installation! Running a memory check tool showed that memory was bad => computer to the IT department, they stated that there was nothing wrong with the system using their tools! After talking a bit longer the faulty memory got replaced and the machine started to behave correctly.
And upon re-installing windows, it MAGICALLY worked properly with bad memory???
I call bullshit.
NO software works properly with bad memory.
Let me tell you my story. Again, Windows XP and Linux on the very same machine. Suddenly, Linux applications started crashing while Windows did show no problem. I tracked it down to bad memory too. But this time the erroneous field at one of the top addresses. And as you may know, memory errors come in different flavors and they may show up only in some circumstances. This one was one of those hideous ones. We all know that Linux uses all the memory it has got. Windows don't do that, you can frequently see quite a lot of free memory (while the system accesses swap file which is IMHO brain-dead). Realising that you can tell with quite some confidence that top addresses are accessed much more frequently in Linux than in Windows therefore there's much bigger chance to get error in Linux. Now, software MAY work properly with erroneous memory provided it simply does not access the bad area, either by purpose or just a luck.... Tosuja P.S.: We're getting off topic here. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org