Kernel: Losing Some Ticks Checking If Cpu Freq. Changed

Hi everyone,

I am running openSuse 10.2 on the following specification:

AMD Athlon 64, 3000+ 2.0 GHZ, 512MB of DDR RAM.

Problem:

Usually around 5 minutes of use Suse freezes and I have to reboot.

Suse detects my onboard graphics card correctly and installation goes great.

I get the following message before the screen and whole computer freezes:

Kerenel: Losing some ticks
checking if CPU frequency changed

This happens about 20 seconds before it freezers.


I also tried Ubuntu CD which does the same thing.

I run the memory test and I get 3 bad entries during 8bit testing.

On this machine I currently am running XP and have been running it for number of years without the problem.

What could he fault be?

And please don't tell me my RAM is bad.
Because I been running XP on it for years and without any problems...
I hate to think XP is better lol

Thats why I want to make it work so bad.

No one to give me any type of advice?

No one to give me any type of advice?[/b]

Well, you already stated you did not want to hear about about the problem.

ie ...

I run the memory test and I get 3 bad entries during 8bit testing.[/b]

Your memory test fails. This suggests bad ram, or maybe something bad on the mother board. Are you doing something in your BIOS to over-clock your PC? Could be that has timing problems with your memory that XP does not detect.

And please don't tell me my RAM is bad. Because I been running XP on it for years and without any problems...[/b]

I suspect the reason for a lack of response is you state you don't want to be told about the problem, and you state you think linux is worse because it is susceptible to a memory problem (and you state your XP was not (presumably then, not one XP freeze after many many years - if only the XP's in the office where I work were as stable as yours ... )).

64 bit SUSE is sensitive to bad ram. Because Linux use Memory differently than Windows it will show up much easier. I suspect if you were running Vista it would also be more visible due to Vista memory handling being more similar to Linux..

Advice: Replace the faulty ram. Or conversely stay with Windows and wonder why you have unexplained lockups now and than.

Of course I do want to hear about the problem.
I guess I have to be more careful in the way I express myself.

The funny thing is that I am using Athlon 64 3000+ which has running speed of 2.0 Ghz..And I have been unable to locate that type of processor with that speed..Possibly I could have overclocker processor?

I totally do not think Linux is worst but instead I think windows is too dumb to realise that there is a problem or it uses RAM in a different way to what Linux uses it as.

I stated the fact that I been using Windows XP on this machine for a while and have never had a real problem.

I also did a couple of tests myself and I found that when my RAM usage reaches close to its limit that it is then when I have the problem.(When I run several different applications and RAM fill up close to top it then freezes)

I was hoping you guys could point me to the right place in terms of where to read up about how Linux uses RAM memory.

How does Suse Linux empty RAM and why does it always have pretty high usage of RAM even when using not demanding programs?

MattB I think I'll stick with your advise as I think that might be the right solution but to be honest I have really not had any lock ups on this machine but I have to admit it has restarted itself one ever few months by itself and also constantly my Page File Usage is always 354 MB?
Is that ment to be right?

I'll let you know how I get on once I change the RAM over.


oldcpu Thank you for constructive feedback.

Many thanks

Linux and ram usage is covered in many Threads on the Forum and indeed in most Linux manuals. It is only recently Windows in Vista has started to use ram in a similar fashion. I am not great at explaining why this is more advantages, but you might find this thread from Novell Cool Solutions to be of interest.

I had a bad ram stick on my 64 bit computer (brand new) and it caused all kinds of trouble when I had SuSE 10.0 loaded. I found it out using Memtest. Once I replaced it with matching Corsair memory all the strange behavior went away.

You may want to google your particular chipset for linux compatibility. I know from past experience that certain chipset combinations with AMD x2 procs cause timer problems in some of the recent kernels. It can often be worked around with kernel parameters, though they sometimes lead to new issues themselves.

Just my 2c...

Cheers,
KV

From what he mentioned as AMD Athlon 64, 3000+
A google shows it to be a 2Ghz processor single core 64bit rather old specs so it does not look to be overclocked.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/displ...lon64-3000.html