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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yarrina.connect.com.au!classic.iinet.com.au!swing.iinet.net.au!news.uoregon.edu!europa.chnt.gtegsc.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!hookup!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.sesqui.net!uuneo.neosoft.com!Starbase.NeoSoft.COM!not-for-mail From: chuckg@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM (Chuck G.) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Weird instability with 2.1 (10/5 SNAP) Date: 21 Oct 1995 20:07:50 -0500 Organization: NeoSoft Internet Services +1 713 968 5800 Lines: 44 Message-ID: <46c5h6$d6n@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> NNTP-Posting-Host: starbase.neosoft.com I am experiencing some strange instability problems with the 2.1 SNAP release from October 5th. Processes crash for no discernable reason. XF86_W32 refuses to work or crashes the machine. This is contrary to my previous experiences with FreeBSD and with XFree86. Hardware: A Frankenclone 386/486 motherboard with TI 486DLC and ACER 486 BIOS. 8 Mb of memory. Orchid Prodesigner II (ET4000) SVGA. Mitsumi single-speed CD-ROM drive. *New* Maxtor 540 Mb hard drive. *New* BIOS add-in board for Logical Block Addressing. Software: 100 Mb Dos partition. Rest of disk given to FreeBSD. 390 Mb root filesystem. 24 Mb swap. Kernel recompiled to eliminate unused drivers. Symptoms: 1) cc crash during kernel build. Attempts to build a kernel are repeatedly interrupted by compiler crashes, usually "Bus Error". Before new disk and LBA bios, only crashed once during build. After hardware change, crashed 4 times during kernel build. 2) syslogd crash (Bus Error) during boot sequence. One time only. After the hardware change. 3) XF86_W32 hangs system. XFree86 3.11 was fine with FreeBSD 2.0.5 on this hardware. Loaded 3.12 after buying the new disk and LBA BIOS and after installing FreeBSD 2.1 (obviously). Redirecting stderr sometimes records "Bus Error" as the last line of output. I am suspicious of the BIOS that allows me to use a disk with more than 1024 cylinders. The swap space reaches into that unexplored (by me) territory. I *assumed* everything would be OK since the BIOS would handle the details, but this is my first time trying to use a big drive on a PC and I don't know if I am doing something unwise or unsupported. I could really use a clue here. -- chuckg@NeoSoft.com "Wet women waste your food" -- G.V. Casale