Re: [opensuse] 4GB computer slowdown

Aaron Kulkis wrote:
Richard Bos wrote:
Op Friday 11 May 2007 20:24:49 schreef Petr Klíma:
Aaron Kulkis wrote:
I think it's more of an observation effect.

Windows is so buggy, that when hardware errors do occur,
it's just background noise in the all-too-typical crashing
and failing...
Well, I don't agree at all. What I experienced was correct Windows
behaviour (no errors, at least none reported) while in LInux programs
crashed now and then without apparent reason.

I agree with Carlos that LInux most probably uses hardware more
aggressively, something like leaving less time between successive
actions therefore leaving less time for the things (signal levels etc.)
to settle down. That wouldn't be a problem for perfectly stable
hardware
whose critical operating frequencies are quite higher than the real
operating ones (e.g. all transients finished soon enough). Once you got
hardware which is operating at (or behind) the edge, you may get
anything.

As example: we once obtained a computer that had been running windows
fine for ages. The moment we started installing linux on it, it
failed. Indeed it already failed during the installation! Running a
memory check tool showed that memory was bad => computer to the IT
department, they stated that there was nothing wrong with the system
using their tools! After talking a bit longer the faulty memory got
replaced and the machine started to behave correctly.

And upon re-installing windows, it MAGICALLY worked properly
with bad memory???


I call bull***.

NO software works properly with bad memory.


That would depend on whether parity checking is enabled. If not, you
could easily have errors and not know about them. If the bad memory
contains executable code, you could have a crash. If data, you might
have an error and not realize it. Incidentally, parity memory
introduces another failure mode, in that you don't know if the parity
bit or parity check circuitry is bad. You only know you're getting
errors from somewhere. There's a better system called CRC, which can
not only check for errors, but can also correct many. That system
should also generate an interupt, so that the OS knows there's bad
memory and can notify the admin.


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