I basically just stopped using "older" machines, machines that suffered
   from it, so I stopped noticing it.  But it isn't new, unless I've
   misunderstood the problem.


that is my understanding.  i've basically stopped using sun4c's...

for *ever* i had weird traps and maintained a patched trap.c that
was supposed to provide extra info but i never managed to figure it
out and none of the stuff i sent to pk over the years made sense
to him either.... it was only a problem "rarely" - my systems often
stayed up months, but never more than 6...


.mrg.