Subject: Re: CCL: G94 on LINUX

From: [email-masked] (Frits Daalmans)
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 97 13:00:46 +0100

[Apologies to the list for this off-topic subject, but this concerns
errors that only show up under heavy system load, e.g. computational
chemistry]

Concerning RAM tests:

Last year I had the same problem on a PC clone Linux machine (faulty
RAM which only showed intermittently during, e.g., compiling large
ab-initio packages).

I used a (shareware) memory test program, testx33.zip, obtainable from
any SIMTEL mirror (e.g. ftp.sunet.se) 
in directory msdos/memutil/testx33.zip

Just run it overnight under DOS; it will perform various read/write
operations and count the failures for *as long as you let it run*. 
It found the faulty chip where other test programs failed.

Most faulty SIMMs (RAM chips) can apparently keep functioning until
the system starts getting hot due to the duration and intensity
of the computation in progress. So the memory test of a PC at boot 
time is really very unlikely to ever catch a bug, IMHO.

Good luck,
Frits Daalmans

Frits Daalmans
OIO Conformational Analysis
Gorlaeus Laboratoria
Leiden, The Netherlands
E-mail: [email-masked]
Tel: [+31] (0)71-5274505