Re: 1.3.95 is not stable

Steven L Baur (steve@miranova.com)
26 Apr 1996 19:27:35 -0700

[This is my second reply to this message, I have new data to add]

>>>>> "Linus" == Linus Torvalds <torvalds@cs.Helsinki.FI> writes:

Linus> The crash you see is due to memory corruption in the kernel
Linus> (the function "handle_signal()" to be exact): the code sequence
Linus> _should_ be

Linus> addl $0x10,%esp
Linus> cmpl $0x0,0x8(%ebx)
Linus> jnl <handle_signal+106>

Linus> which is "0x83 0xc4 0x10 0x83 0x7b 0x08 0x00 0x7d 0x06". Your panic
Linus> reports "0x83 0x84 0x10 0x83 0x7b 0x08 0x00 0x7d 0x06".

Linus> Note the _one_bit_ error in the second byte... (0xc4 has become
Linus> a 0x84).

I was able to duplicate this crash (with the same 1 bit error in the
same place) in a variety of motherboard settings with the common
element being enabled external caching. I'm now running (and have
about 4 hours of stable uptime) with external caching disabled.

Can these crashes be explained by bad external cache?

-- 
steve@miranova.com baur
Unsolicited commercial e-mail will be proofread for $250/hour.
Andrea Seastrand: For your vote on the Telecom bill, I will vote for anyone
except you in November.