Re: Signal 11

Dr. Kelsey Hudson
2000-12-08T20:14:57Z

On Fri, 8 Dec 2000 davej@suse.de wrote:

> On Thu, 7 Dec 2000, Jeff V. Merkey wrote:
>
> > I think there may be a case when a process forks, that the MMU or some
> > other subsystem is either not setting the page bits correctly, or
> > mapping in a bad page. It's a LEVEL I bug in 2.4 is this is the case,
> > BTW. In core dumps (I've looked at 2 of them from SSH) it barfs right
> > after executing fork() or one of the exec functions and at some places
> > in the code where there's not any obvious coding bugs. Looks like some
> > type of mapping problem. I reported it three months ago, but it was
> > pretty much ignored.
> >
> > Linus needs to add this one to the pre-12 list -- looks like some type
> > of mapping bug.
>
> Now that you mention it, every app that has bombed has been the type
> that forks a lot. MpegTV, gtv, and make spring to mind. All apps drive
> the CPU load up quite a lot, which was why I initially suspected
> overheating. I don't see it on my other 2.4 boxes though which is
> suspicious. But they don't get as much of a beating as this, which was
> up until last week my main workstation.

Just to add some input and insight on here, I loaded the system down with
some FFT algorithms, and then ran an 8-way kernel compile. The machine in
question is a dual P3/600 with 512MB RAM, 2.4.0-test11. The load
skyrocketed to a mere 13.6. xmms was still running, didn't skip even
once. The FFT algorithms didn't bitch at all. Neither did the kernel
compile. In fact, it compiled without a hitch...

I dunno what to say about these boxes that segfault all the
time... Probably just bad hardware somewhere along the lines.

Kelsey Hudson khudson@ctica.com
Software Engineer
Compendium Technologies, Inc (619) 725-0771
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