*BSD News Article 99967


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From: le@put.com (Louis Epstein)
Subject: Re: ECC vs parity: Gigabyte 686DX
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup.hardware,comp.os.ms-windows.setup.win95,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.hardware
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References: <EDH9z1.I42@rockyd.rockefeller.edu> <5qm1er$h6b$1@flea.best.net> <33CE8D1F.7D956E94@jumpnet.com>
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Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 18:36:09 GMT
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Donovan Ready (dready@jumpnet.com) wrote:
: Matt Dillon wrote:
: > 
: > :In article <EDH9z1.I42@rockyd.rockefeller.edu>,
: > :Dan Ts'o  <dan@dnn.rockefeller.edu> wrote:
: > :>      I recently bought a Gigabyte 686DX system with dual PPro 200's and
: > :>2 * 32Mb parity memory in hopes of getting ECC memory implemented.
: > :>      The systems runs "fine" with parity disabled, which was the way
: > :>the system was delivered.
: > :>      With either parity enabled or ECC enabled, the system traps out with
: > :>a "parity error" any where from 5 minutes to several hours of run time.
: > :>
: > :>      1) Can I assume that the parity system is "working" and that it is
: > :>...
: > :>
: > :>      2) Under Windows 95, what is the practical difference between ECC and
: > :>parity ? How can I tell if the ECC circuitry has successfully corrected a
: > :>...
: > :>      Obviously if Windows 95/BIOS is going to trap out even with an ECC
: > :>single bit detect->correct, then it is pointless to have ECC over parity.
: > :>
: > :>      3) What is the situation wrt ECC handling in other OS's: NT, FreeBSD,
: > :>Linux ?
: > :>
: > :>--
: > :>                      Cheers,
: > :>                      Dan Ts'o                        212-327-7671
: > 
: >     Both ECC and Parity modes work fine on PPro 200's / Natoma or later
: >     chipsets.. we run all of our FreeBSD boxes on PPro's with ECC turned on.
: >     We use single-cpu ASUS motherboards but I wouldn't expect there to be
: >     any problems on duel-ppro boards.

Don't forget,since Dan might not know this,that dual-processor
boards will only work with FreeBSD 3.0,not 2.x.
 
: >     Make sure your memory is actually parity memory and not some of the
: >     'fake parity memory' that's been floating around.  Fake parity memory
: >     fakes the parity bit by using a parity generator rather then a dram
: >     for the parity bits.  It's the stupidest thing I've ever seen, but
: >     apparently there are a lot of these floating around.
: > 
: >     Also make sure that the memory speed settings in the bios match the
: >     speed of the memory you purchased (usually 60 or 70ns).
: > 
: >     I do not believe correctable bit errors generate an interrupt, but I
: >     could be wrong.
: > 
: >                                                         -Matt
: 
: I think you are correct. A two bit error should generate an NMI.
: 
: We are an Asus dealer, and there was a BIOS beta (since corrected) that
: acted similarly to the Gigabyte problem reported above. 
: 
: As far as I know, the ECC is done well before the OS knows anything has
: happened. This is hardware, not OS dependent.
: -- 
: 
: Donovan Ready,
: Lindsay Computer Systems
: http://www.jumpnet.com/~lcs