Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Sat, 25 May 1996 19:11:34 -0700 (PDT) | From | wiegley@teamster ... | Subject | Re: BAD CPU --> SIG11 (mine appears to be caused by cache) |
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Ok, so I too am having the same probalem with an Iwill motherboard (the P54TSW2 model with built-in AHA-2940UW) and P166 that I bought last weekend. I have never had a singal 11 error before and before I go shooting my mouth off to the dealer I did some testing as you all suggested...
This board comes with a 512K pipelined burst cache soldered to the board. With the external cache turned on in the BIOS I can run
#!/bin/sh for i in 0 1 2 3 4 ; do for j in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ; do make clean; make zImage >& log.$i$j done done
and approx 1 out of every 4 'make zImage's fails with
gcc: Internal compiler error: program cc1 got fatal signal 11
and they fail in different spots of course, so I doubt its software related. (With the external cache turned on I also seem to always have corrupt filesystems when I reboot and get to the fsck checkpoint, if that matters any).
With the external cache turned off I can do the same thing and it builds all 50 kernels without a hitch and no signal 11 or any other errors. Of course this takes significantly longer and is undesirable because I don't have a cache.
Can I be pretty certain then at this point that this error I am getting is due to a faulty cache on this motherboard and that it should be exchanged? This motherboard is supposed to support 180Mhz and 200Mhz CPUs as well so I would think that the cache should perform flawlessly with a 166Mhz CPU. Am I wrong here?
Or am I missing something entirely? Could it actually be the CPU's fault trying to access cache memory or what-not? I don't have another P166 lying around to do testing with and I would like to be as firm as possible with my dealer about getting a replacement on Tuesday. 'Cause you all have probably been through the drill...
dlr: What problem are you having? you: gcc fails because of signal 11 errors caused by faulty hardware. dlr: gcc? signal 11?? never heard of these errors, what software are you using? you: linux, a superb and excellent operating system but that is besides the poi... dlr: oh, it must be problem with software. What errors is DOS or Windows giving you? you: no, its not the software and I dont use DOS... dlr: you should use Window... you: this is not about what O/S I use. with the cache turned on it screws up with the cache disabled it works fine, hence it must be a problem with the cache... dlr: but if you dont use DOS how do you know you are getting errors?... you: AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH! blam blam blam blam blam tv: earlier today a terrible shooting occurred in a neighborhood shop...
So would you, or would you not, say this pretty much nails it down as an external cache/motherboard problem? (I can't replace just the cache)
Thanks for your diagnosis and opinion on this matter, I appreciate it.
- Jeff Wiegley
On Fri, 24 May 1996, Darrin R. Smith wrote:
> Jan Kees Joosse wrote: > > > > In article <Pine.LNX.3.93.960512232530.407C-100000@jcoy-ppp.cscwc.pima.edu>, > > "Jeff Coy Jr." <jcoy@jcoy-ppp.cscwc.pima.edu> writes: > > >On Sun, 12 May 1996, lilo wrote: > > > > > >=> There are also known irregularities with L2 writeback cache and > > >=> cleanroom-microcode AMD DX2/80's. I've never seen anything more than weird > > >=> bogomips values though.... > > >=> > > >i have a 486dx2-80, and the sig 11's only showed up for me when i really > > >pushed the machine, like when i recompiled gcc. the first build would be > > >fine, but the second build would crash about 45 minutes in. the crashes > > >weren't really frequent, but setting the CPU speed back to 66mHz solved > > >the problem and offered the fastest compile time. > > > > > >the only other solution was turning off the external cache, but without > > >the extern cache, first stage gcc compile was 36 minutes at 80 mHz, but at > > >66 mHz i get 26 minute first stage builds. > > > > Take a look at http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/ This page describes > > causes for a signal 11 while compiling (esp. kernel-compiles). > > > > The effects of turning of the external cache also point to the direction > > of memory subsystem problems. When you set the CPU speed to 80 MHz the > > motherboard operates at 40Mhz, but when the CPU-clock is set to 66MHz the > > board operates at 33MHz. Maybe slow memory? Check waitstages. > > > > Jan Kees > > Incedentally, one fix for the 80 Mhz AMD might have been to > go to Radio Shack or the local elecronics store and buy a little > tube of white silicon heatsink compound. I put a thin layer of this > between my cpu/heatsink combination and I have never had a problem > with my own AMD-80 chip. This will effectively increase the cooling > ability of the heatsink and fan by providing better contact between > the processor and heatsink. It's scary to think that most processors > just have the heatsink clipped on with only bare contact to do the > cooling. > > --Darrin >
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