On Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:55:33 +1000 Basil Chupin wrote:

I had no hassles with mine until the end of a couple of years ago when suddenly the system would freeze for no apparent reason AFTER I added some memory (I had a 1GB module installed but then added another 3GB into sockets #2, #3 & #4).

Memory slots that weren't in use for a long time can have dust or oxide on contacts that is not always easy to remove. This is the most frequent reason to have trouble with it. It is not only missing contact, but even increased resistance, that can prevent proper function. For instance one of contacts on data bus has increased resistance slowing down transition, so when memory via its control bus tells that data are ready, faulty line is not. As resistance will increase when computer warms up, it will work fine after boot and fail later. Another are lesser common, but possible: * old power supply electrolytic capacitors with changed properties; * factory fault that is not detected before; * design fault that wasn't apparent with older memories; * faster switching circuitry in newer memories that is not compensated with on board components (again memory tells its ok to read data, while data are still in transient state) Some of above are incompatibilities that happen even on day one and designers know about them. That is the reason to use only memory chips that either motherboard, or memory stick, manufacturer recommend. -- Regards, Rajko. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 4:55 PM, Ciro Iriarte wrote:

2013/4/22 Basil Chupin :

...

On 22/04/13 16:22, Ciro Iriarte wrote:

...

El 21/04/2013 02:04, "Basil Chupin" escribió:

...

On 20/04/13 06:17, Ciro Iriarte wrote:

...

Hi, I'm trying to install opensuse 11.2 on a machine running dual Opteron processors with 32GB (kfsn4-dre/sas) and the kernel hangs without any info after scanning disks.

"The kernel hangs.....after scanning disks."

What are those discs - how many, which brand, have they been formatted (and in which file system).

And how exactly does the kernel "hang"? You are able to boot the 11.2 installation DVD/CD right? but then the kernel "hangs"?

By this do yo mean that the whole process just stops and goes nowhere?

What video card do you have installed - is it a nVidia card?

...

I can see that with other distros also, it can boot the installer and even complete installation

To me this is suggesting the normal problem with the video card which has plagued oS for ever and a day when you have tried to install 11.2 :-( .

...

with mem=4096M but the system won't boot without that.

Sorry, but "Won't boot without" *what* exactly?

You don't make it absolutely clear but is the case that no matter which distro you have tried you end up either unable to install it or the OS won't run after it was installed?

Any distro will run in 4GB of RAM and even much less than that so RAM is not the problem.

openSUSE is well know for having installation hassles when there is a nVidia card installed which then requires for "nomodeset" to be entered on the kernel command line when the installation is being done, but if, as it seems that you are indicating, that other distros will not run even after they have been installed then the problem lies somewhere else.

You mention that your computer has "dual Opteron processors". Now this does not sound like the normal for-home-use computer. Is it a second hand computer - which may have been sold because it developed some unidentified problem?

And you did ask whether there may be......

...

Any ideas of what can be the issue?.

:-)

BC

-- Using openSUSE 12.3 x86_64 KDE 4.10.2 & kernel 3.8.8-1 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia

Hi!, sorry if I wasn't clear. I can install OS and boot the installed system with mem=4096M. For the installation I also had to use "nomodeset vga=normal".

These are second hand Rackable Systems half depth servers (GA around 2007/2008), 16 x 2GB memory modules and 2 x AMD Opteron 2350 on Asus KFSN4-DRE/SAS. Think of them as a whitebox servers or highend desktops.

I ran memtest as suggested in the list and it complained, quickly. Given I have two machines exhibiting the same issue, I'm tempted to think it's a configuration thing. I'll have to look at memory timing parameters or whatever can be set at the BIOS.

OK, thanks Ciro.

The last para doesn't bode well for you. I had an ASUS mobo (the info on yours is here:

http://www.asus.com/Commericial_Servers_Workstations/KFSN4DRESAS/ )

and it was around the same age as the one on your system.

I had no hassles with mine until the end of a couple of years ago when suddenly the system would freeze for no apparent reason AFTER I added some memory (I had a 1GB module installed but then added another 3GB into sockets #2, #3 & #4).

To cut a long story short, the channels between the RAM sockets failed somewhere and the only RAM socket which worked was #1 - and NO configuration of RAM in any other combination of sockets would work: memory errors where showing up after ~15minutes of starting Memtest :-( . Only any RAM module placed in socket #1 always showed no errors. Some $150+ wasted :-( . So I built a new system for myself in April last year.

But, this was my experience. Yours I sincerely hope has a different cause.

Good luck.

BC

-- Using openSUSE 12.3 x86_64 KDE 4.10.2 & kernel 3.8.8-1 on a system with- AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor 16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX550Ti 1GB DDR5 GPU

For the record, the timing configuration indeed had to be changed by hand, but the issue at the end was a faulty module (out of 16) on each server. Swapping them with other modules solved the issue.

FYI, There is a bug on the 12.2 DVD at a minimum that often causes memtest to report a false issue. I don't recall the details, but it is in bugzilla. The workaround for me is to just download a memtest ISO directly from the memtest website and run it. Greg -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org