System testing

[Anthony Verevkin]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Giles Orr" <gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>

> Memory: I just ran memtest86+ on it for eleven hours straight with no
> errors.
> 
> Power supply: ah - a friend suggested this a while back, but I didn't
> do anything to check because it's a "good" power supply.  That is,
> it's the 500w Antec that came inside the relatively new Antec Sonata
> case the whole assembly is in.  But I knew I should check it.  Sadly,
> I forgot and never followed up.  I will now.
> 
> Are there good tests for the processor and hard drive?


Memtest86+ actually does not just check memory. It kind of checks the 
whole Memory-CPU-MB combination and somewhat the power supply. Current
versions of memtest show you the exact DIMM that had an issue not only
the offset that is buggy. Anyway, if you see that it's the same DIMM
or location on the DIMM that is giving you the issues across the multiple
runs - it's the broken memory, but if the errors are sporadic, the cause
is likely elsewhere.

Also a few years back (at the time of 2.4 and early 2.6) compiling the 
kernel was considered to be a good hardware test. The code was considered 
to be so clean that it would always compile on a properly working system. 
So if you see compilation errors - it's the hardware. On the other hand 
I tried to compile a kernel recently (about half a year ago) and it grew 
into a X00MB monster during the compilation and for the reason I don't 
remember now it didn't compile and I dropped the idea.

BTW, then was the last time you compiled the kernel for an i386/x84 system? ;)

Regards,
Anthony
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