Server Freezing Solid

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 07:40:47AM -0800, Chris Maness wrote:
> Roland Smith wrote:
>> On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 06:42:39AM -0800, Chris Maness wrote:
>>   
>>> I am having a new problem.  I have been running FreeBSD for years with
>>> no crashing.  All of a sudden my server starts crashing with no panic
>>> messages.  I am suspecting hardware because there are no messages, but
>>> the CPU temp is fine.
>>>
>>> Weird --maybe bad RAM?
>>>     
>>
>> Could be. But you can test RAM with e.g. memtest86.
>>
>> Or it could be a bad component (e.g. a capacitator) somewhere on the
>> motherboard or in the powersupply. Or a spike or drop in the external power.
>>
>> Roland
>>   
> I have swapped the HD back to the old box.  I am up and running again.   
> If it doesn't crash today, I can be certain the ol' grey mare needs to  
> be taken out back and shot.  Dual PIII on a Abit server board c. 2000.
>
> I hear that the Abit boards have issues with components.
>
> Anyone recommend a cheap (not necessarily the latest technology) mobo  
> for my server?  I am running a low load SoHo server here at the house.

If you live in the US and would like a server-class Supermicro PDSMi+
board (just the board, although I could throw in some memory if you'd
like), I have a spare which I could give to you for free.  I just
upgraded my home FreeBSD box to an X7SBA, so the older PDSMi+ sits in
its box (I purchased it retail, so it comes with manual, cables, etc.).
These boards retail for about US$240, and work very well with FreeBSD.

Link to board:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/3000/PDSMi+.cfm

Let me know.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |