On Tue, 15 Mar 2005, Frederick Bruckman wrote:

> > Well, the RAM is the same (PC2100 Kingston, two 256MB sticks) that was
> > in the machine for a long time (~3 years) when that computer was my
> > gaming machine. It worked flawlessly (as far as I know).
> > Now, that machine is my server. The only change in the computer is a
> > different hard drive, and a lack of a DVD drive (I took it out). I'm
> > trying to figure out why the RAM died now, instead of earlier. It
> > could just be a similarity, but I'm trying as hard as I can to find
> > any connection between the two servers and their RAM issues.
>
> Would that be a beefier hard drive? Hard drives vary wildly in current
> draw.  It could be that your power supply is marginal, or failing, and
> the larger hard drive pushed it over.  See if the motherboard voltages
> vary while the hard drive is active, or just try a different PS.

...with more wattage.  Many machines these days start out with too small a
power supply for "power users" of the type you'd find running NetBSD; some
off the shelf "beefy" systems ship with only a 230W[!!] supply.

My home server has three 7200RPM ATA HDs, a SCSI tape drive (with controller
card), and a CD-ROM with an Athlon XP chip and compatible board.  Anything
less than a 350W makes the supply heat up like crazy (due to current
overdraw).

-- 
-- Todd Vierling <tv@duh.org> <tv@pobox.com>