# System locks up or turns off

## starnix17

I've been using Gentoo for about a week now, and whenever I tell it to emerge something big or I have many things running in KDE the system either locks up or just turns off (usually it turns off). I doubt it's a hardware problem, I've ran Slackware and Windows on the same system before. Here's what I get in /var/log/messages:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Oct 14 18:01:01 tux CPU 0: Machine Check Exception: 0000000000000004 
> 
> Oct 14 18:01:01 tux Bank 1: d400400000000152 at 0000000000103fc0 
> ...

 

Here's the specs for the system:

AMD Athlon XP 2700+

Corsair 512 MB DDR 400

Albatron nForce 2 mobo (I forget the model number)

Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro

Oh... and I'm using vanilla 2.6.8.

Thanks

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## NeddySeagoon

starnix17,

That error points to bad hardware. The CPU has tried to do a context switch to another process and found the the contect it has just switched to is corrupt.

Linux pushes your hardware harder than Windows. 

Suspect memory, motherboard and CPU in that order. The PSU is also  a pothential culprit.

Since you appear to have two stick of memory, run each one on its own in turn. Some motherboards are also very picky about the order in which RAM is added. You won't find that in the manual though.

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## starnix17

Two sticks of RAM? Nope. Just one. I'll give some older ones a try.

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## starnix17

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> starnix17,
> 
> Linux pushes your hardware harder than Windows. 
> 
> 

 

Forgot to mention this in the last post...  wouldn't Slackware do the same thing?

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## NeddySeagoon

starnix17,

Yes.

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## starnix17

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> starnix17,
> 
> Yes.

 

Then how come that never locked up or turned off on me (oh and I forgot to mention that I ran SUSE for two or three days)?

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## NeddySeagoon

starnix17,

You were lucky?

Hardware can fail too. Maybe your other distros would find the problem now.

Run memtest 86 from the liveCD and see what it says.

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## starnix17

I tried to run that and I was told that the command was not found. I emerged the application and I'm still getting the same message.   :Sad: 

::EDIT::

I think I got it, I downloaded the Win32 binary and made a floppy.Last edited by starnix17 on Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:33 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## Halcy0n

Make sure you selected the correct CPU type when compiling your kernel.   And perhaps try a different kernel.

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## starnix17

I have AMD XP selected as my CPU. Currently I'm running Vanilla 2.6.8, I had the Gentoo one when I first installed Gentoo, but I switched to Vanilla.

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## starnix17

Ok, I ran the memory test and I got no errors.

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## Halcy0n

And you didn't have these problems with the Gentoo one?  It could be a bug in 2.6.8.  2.6.9 just came out if you want to try that instead.

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## starnix17

I didn' t use the Gentoo kernel long enough to notice any problems. Should I go back to it?

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## Halcy0n

 *starnix17 wrote:*   

> I didn' t use the Gentoo kernel long enough to notice any problems. Should I go back to it?

 

Just saying that it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.  That'd help rule out if its a kernel issue or a hardware problem.

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## starnix17

Ok.. I'll have to do it later though, when I get the time.

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## starnix17

Ok, I'm on the Gentoo kernel right now. Lets see if this helps.

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## starnix17

Arg..

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Oct 20 16:50:34 tux CPU 0: Machine Check Exception: 0000000000000004
> 
> Oct 20 16:50:34 tux Bank 1: d400400000000152 at 00000000144cff40
> ...

 

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## Halcy0n

Its most likely a hardware issue then.  That's the only reason you should be getting that error message.

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## starnix17

Hmm... ok, well.. I have no mobos or processors I can try (just started using x86 PCs again) is there anything to test those?

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