Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:24:14 -0600 | From | Robert Hancock <> | Subject | Re: MCE on an NForce4 board (again) |
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Jack Malmostoso wrote: > Hi there list, > > this is a repost from the x86-64.org discuss list. I think it could be > relevant here too, if not please excuse me and forget this message. I am not > subscribed to the LKML, but I can follow the thread on usenet, so no need to > CC. Feel free to do it if you think it's relevant! > > Since a couple of days I have been experiencing weird lockups on my AMD64 > machine running Debian Sid. > The computer is composed like this: > > Asus A8N-E (NForce4 socket 939) > Athlon64 X2 3800+ > 2x512MB Corsair TwinX > 2x250GB Sata Western Digital > 2xDVD/DVDRW on PATA channels > > None of the components has *ever* been overclocked and the whole is one year > old. > > I have logged on in single mode and tried to find a way to reproduce the > crash. It has been enough to do a stupid script like > > while true; do > tar -xjvf linux-2.6.20.3.tar.bz2 && rm -fr linux-2.6.20.3 > done > > and regularly, after one or two cycles, the system would lockup with this > error: > > CPU 0: Machine Check Exception: 4 Bank 4: b200000000070f0f > TSC 185ef6d81ca > > It also gave me the hint to use mcelog, so I rebooted and installed it. The > decoded error read: > > CPU 0 4 northbridge TSC 185ef6d81ca > Northbridge Watchdog error > bit57 = processor context corrupt > bit61 = error uncorrected > bus error 'generic participation, request timed out > generic error mem transaction > generic access, level generic' > STATUS b200000000070f0f MCGSTATUS 4 > > I googled and found a thread on the x86-64.org discuss list [1] that blamed > the RAM for the > problem. So I have started doing some tests: > > 1) If I use only 512MB of my RAM, alternatively, I don't get the error. > 2) Memtest+ has been running for 10hrs and no errors have been detected. > I'll have it running for the day just to be sure. > > Additionally, right before the MCE, I could read another error: > > ata3: CPB flags CMD err, flags=0x11 > > Googling this brought up some threads in the LKML about the sata_nv driver > (the ADMA bit, I think).
It means the controller had an error sending commands to the drive. There's a possibility that if the controller is taking a long time retrying commands, etc. the CPU might complain about a bus transaction timing out. I'd check the SATA cable for that drive, maybe try a different one.
> > Since I am running a 2.6.20 kernel (a testing version from the Debian kernel > team) I have tried booting older kernels but looks like anything I have > tried does not work (but this is not your problem). > > So I have booted a livecd (I had around an Ubuntu with a 2.6.12 kernel) and > with my great surprise the machine worked without problems. > > Now, do you think it would be even slightly possible that some regression in > the sata_nv module could trigger an MCE? If not, would you put your money on > the RAM, or could the motherboard be blamed? I hope it's not the CPU ;)
-- Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada To email, remove "nospam" from hancockr@nospamshaw.ca Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/
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