[mythtv-users] Random system freezes -- clueless

[Keith Pyle]

On 12/21/15 06:00, Mike Thomas wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Dec 2015 13:22:47 -0600 Craig Huff <huffcslists at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>> >Okay, I have a clue. Now what to do with it?
>> >
>> >I found "general protection fault" and "Oops" messages while trolling
>> >through the /var/log/kern.log* and /var/log/syslog* files.  Here are
>> >the ten I found in the kern.log* files over the last ~30 days and the
>> >following RIP: lines that indicate where the problems occurred:
>> >
>>
>> The portions you show indicate that memory contains something
>> unexpected (corrupt). It is unlikely to be a kernel bug because these
>> code paths have been in use for decades. I don't think it is your CPU;
>> the errors would likely be much more extensive.
>>
>>
I agree with Mike that memory is a likely culprit.  If you're 
comfortable with a little sysadmin work, the best way to test your 
memory is with either memtest86 <http://www.memtest86.com/> or 
memtest86+ <http://www.memtest.org/>.  They're both based on the same 
original work, but memtest86 is a commercial package with a free option 
and memtest86+ is an open-source fork of the original work.  In either 
case, you boot the memory tester in place of your normal kernel and it 
runs some very comprehensive pattern tests on your memory.  It can often 
identify the specific module that has a problem.  In the worst case. you 
can do a binary search to find the bad one by pulling half the modules 
and testing, repeating until the bad one is found.  It can take several 
hours to run a full test, depending on the amount of memory you have.

You can generally create a bootable CD/DVD from ISO's available at the 
sites above and just run that way.  I believe there are options for 
booting from a USB device, but haven't done this myself.  I think you 
have to use a Windows system to create the bootable USB device.  You can 
also install the memory tester as a boot option in your bootloader if 
you don't have a suitable optical or USB device.

Keith
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