ubuntu desktop 12.04 lts on nehalem workstation

[Liam Proven]

On 14 August 2012 18:43, Roger Miller <abq at lwasf.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2012-08-14 at 18:30 +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
>>
>> NP. (BTW, we bottom-post on this list.)
>>
>> Well, that being the case, I don't know for sure. The general rather
>> than specific advice I'd give would be:
>>
>> * ensure it's fully updated ( `sudo apt-get update ; sudo apt-get
>> dist-upgrade -y` )
>>
>> * run memtestx86 on it for a while - e.g. overnight.
>>
>> I encountered a client's machine a couple of years ago with a
>> motherboard problem. It is a single Core i7 with 12GB of RAM. All the
>> RAM checks out fine on its own, but fit >4GB - i.e. >2 DIMMs at once -
>> and memtest throws RAM errors. Each DIMM on its own is fine, each DIMM
>> slot on its own is fine, & it doesn't matter if they're arrange in
>> single, dual or triple channels - it's just unstable with any
>> combination of 6GB or more.
>
> Oops.  Loosing style points.

"Losing". ;¬)

> Update I can do fairly easy,

Should be quick - doable in 45min even if it has never been done
post-install. Will require a reboot, though.

> but without access to all the machine's
> resources I have to keep the workstation working 24/7 to have any chance
> of completing the job on time; memtestx86 will have to wait.

Fair enough. A full pass will take a long time - many hours - but even
allowing just 1 test to run, rather than a full cycle, would be
informative. Well worth 10-15min of your time.

> I'm concerned about possible motherboard problems.  What were the
> symptoms of your client's problem?

More or less random app crashes and occasional system freezes or
reboots - sometimes with blue-screens. (I saw it bluey once or twice;
he couldn't tell me if it did so more often, as he is blind.) Mind
you, this was in general desktop use with Windows 7. (Linux is quite
poor for blind users, with many GUI apps not reading well.)

Memtest would highlight the errors inside 5min of testing - the
longest it ever lasted in memtest /without/ an error appearing was
about 8min.

-- 
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