Wierd Sun 4 crashes

[Daniel Ehrlich]

On 16 Mar 90 14:35:51 GMT, aucs!peter at cs.utexas.edu (Peter Steele) said:
> X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 85, message 3
> We've been getting numerous crashes on our Sun-4/280 and our Sun dealer
> here hasn't been able to solve the problem. The console reports a "BAD
> TRAP" followed by errors such as "data fault", "text fault", and "memory
> alignment error". The system usually reboots itself but not always. So far
> we replaced three boards, including the CPU, memory, and ethernet boards.
> Has anyone out there ever seen this type of crash and knows what the root
> of the problem is?

We had the same problem and it took Sun 8 months to figure out what it
was.  We replaced the CPU board many times. Disk controllers were swapped.
We rearranged the boards on the bus.  What the problem turned out to be
was that the memory would sometimes not respond fast enough and you would
get a `BAD TRAP' error.  You do not mention what size memory board you
have, but if it is the 32Mb one make sure it is part # 501-1254 04 Rev 50.
Once we got one of these babys installed we run for weeks without a crash.

Good luck.

Dan Ehrlich <ehrlich at cs.psu.edu>/Voice: +1 814 863 1142/FAX: +1 814 865 3176