Kernel panics

[Sinister Midget]

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 04:47:44 -0800
Chris Sparks <mrada at catalina-inter.net> wrote:

> Hello again,
> 
> I have been experiencing a rash of kernel panics from FC1 and I was 
> wondering if I should upgrade from the update directory
> on a Fedora server to stop this.  I have not done this yet because I 
> don't know what is stable and what is not.

I'd take a look at a potential hardware problem as well as  a software
one. In fact, I'd try to eliminate that first so you don't do a lot of
other steps unnecessarily. Updating software would be safe enough, but I
wouldn't go past it until I tested memory as a minimum.

MEMTEST86 should do the trick. It usually isn't too important that you
run all of the tests unless it's a really rare and random problem.
Generally a run through the first 3 or 4 tests should give some
indication.

Don't assume that it can't be RAM just because it ran OK before doing
something in software, or especially if Windwoes doesn't have a
problem. I spent the better part of a week chasing a problem that turned
out to be on a memory stick that seemed to be working fine earlier in
the day before problems started. That was one where I ruled out RAM and
wished I hadn't. I also have first-hand experience with Winders running
seemingly OK when linux would crash at boot. Turns out that if I left
the machine alone long enough, WinDoze would lock tight, too, and
replacing the bad memory fixed them both. Turns out that I was getting
kernel panics when that last one happened.

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