On Saturday 21 July 2001 13:20, you wrote:
> Try taking the RAM out and re-installing it.
> Ed.
>
> Russell Hires wrote:
> > Well, you went way overboard on reistalling and the whole bit. If you
> > just installed new RAM and your kernel panics, then take out the new
> > RAM... If that doesn't work, ask around first...
There are 15 possible combinations (that I have found) of installing either
1,2 or all 3 sticks of ram in the 3 slots provided for it. I graphed out
matrices to try to ensure I didn't miss any possibilities.
In each case, the bios recognizes the proper ram count.
In each case, a single stick causes Linux to GPF almost immediately with
attendent hex dump.
In each case, 2 or more sticks causes Linux to get part way through the
hardware check.
Scroll lock doesn't work to stop the messages so I only get FAST glimpses of
the ram count under Linux. I can't be certain if it is recognizing it or not.
Following the RAID check (RAID ... what RAID? I gots no RAID ... only two
HD's with no mirroring, striping or anything else fancy going on.) I get the
original error messages.
> > > "Invalid session number or type of track"
> > >
> > > "Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:05"
Is this, perhaps, a failing of kernel 2.2.17? During each install I manually
provided the ram count as "1536M" after Linux had automatically located only
896M. The install program choked when I tried entering "1.5 G" but seemed
content with the "1536M" formatting. This included starting the install
process with "F1 / linux mem=1536".
Reinserting the previous single 128M stick causes the same hex dump as I got
with the single 512M sticks.
I have used a pencil eraser to remove the (very minor) oxidation on the ram
edge contacts of the new ram. Because I have seen a number of chips work just
fine with much greater levels of oxidation, I really don't think it was a
factor. Moreover, rubbing it off didn't change the outcome. The past couple
of days have been very humid (lower static potential) and I am also pretty
religious about grounding myself / wearing non-synthetic clothing when
handling electronic components that retail for $100 / ounce. :-)
Because the bios can detect these sticks in any order of insertion and any
combination and because Linux gives me the same error message with any single
stick ... even if it is the old (known good) memory ... and because it errors
out at different points in the boot process depending on how many sticks are
inserted (and thus can be shown to be actually using the ram -in any 2-3
stick combination- up to the point of error) I am forced to conclude that I
was shipped good ram and that the problem lays within Linux.
So, I'd like to solicit additional suggestions if I might. My hunch is that I
am not setting LILO up correctly ... possibly mis-specifying the quantity of
ram. Additionally, I am not getting offered a choice between LILO and GRUB
... only between LILO and NO BOOTLOADER. This seems odd.
Bill
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