Memory issue with FreeBSD 4.7

Okay here's the scenario:

Supermicro x5da8 board with (4) stick of 1024MB RAM-ECC (4GBof RAM)
Dual P4 2.8GHZ Xeons 533MHX FSB
Nothing else but a zero channel RAID card.


Upon installation of FReeBSD 4.7 I recieve no errors, no nothing, it just hangs unpacking various packages, different package, it seems, every time. If I remove 2 of the RAM chips it loads with no problem, boots and is quite happy. (Yes, the memory is good. I've checked and triple checked.) Funky problem or what? :D

Any suggestions?? Anything at all?

Thanks muchly.

P.S. I know this isn't security related but I didn't think it fit in general chit chat or cosmos, so.....

Nice system to play with, now get it working ;)
Picture the situation:
You need to put them in pairs cause that board uses two way interleaved memory. You are doing that 2 x times 2 x 1024MB, check the banks. It needs to be registered DDR and ECC,
and DDR 266 (PC2100)
You meet al those requirements...
Perhaps it's related to the intel's SDDC
see http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/e7505/
Did you check the memory recommandation list when purchasing those sticks?
http://www.supermicro.com/TECHSUPPOR...2100_E7500.htm
It seems that they recommend Corsair, Samsung, Infineon and Nanya not something to be surprised about. You can check your part numbers at that support page.
I would say this is definitly a funky error. Have you checked your ram timings in the bios?

Yeah, I was thinking it could the no name memory they installed in it, stuff has been silk-screened twice.(ouch!) The system, unfortunately, wasn't built by me so I have to get a hold of the people responsible to find out about that part of it. As for the BIOS settings, yep everything looks good. Thanks for the prompt response.

It's possibly the no-name memory. I experienced that memory and memory isn't the same. Since *nix boxes do take your box to the outer limits, slight memory incompatibilities could become a problem. The same goes for music samplers ... you read on the box expandable with normal sdram or something similar, but if you don't use a major brand on the list of the manufacturer and with that chip number, etc... you will end up with an unstable device. To bad when its yours :( and you didn't purchased the sticks.

Actually, it's a customer's box. He thought he'd save a few bucks and buy the hardware from someone else. Just goes to show you that it may not be cheaper in the long run if I have to spend hours troubleshooting a system I didn't build.

Maybe he'll learn a lesson here... doubt it.

Thanks again.

if he doesnt ill more than gladly take the box off your hands for you :):)

Dear God... dual XEON... Lotsa RAM.... Free BSD... *faints*

Korp, you missed my bday remember!!! ;)

Korpdeath: Sounds like a pretty obscure sort of problem. You problably won't have much luck with your question here, since the level of BSD enthusiasts is quite low at AO by all accounts. You might want to try asking your question at http://www.bsdforums.org/ if you haven't already. If anyone can answer it, they can. It'd be a shame to let all that RAM go to waste on a box like that. :)

Thanks. smirc. I have indeed been to BSDForums.org and am awaiting an answer.

Korpdeath, perhaps with a little luck you can find more info about your prob.
Search on the ram sticks for some nfo (brand name, part number, chip version,...) and google that, eventualy together with FreeBSD. Perhaps someone did have a similar problem and reported it very detailed. Otherwise you are going to have to wait for some respons from freebsdforums