General Schvantzkopf wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 06:34:46 -0400, Bruce Coryell wrote:
>
>> Bruce Coryell wrote:
>>> General Schvantzkopf wrote:
>>>> On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:13:45 -0400, Bruce Coryell wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm trying to install CentOS 5.2 on a dual-core Athlon box with 2 GB
>>>>> of RAM. This box had run Win XP without issue. The install hangs up
>>>>> and I get a message saying "Kernel panic - not syncing". Can anyone
>>>>> tell me what this is all about?
>>>> Have you tried Fedora 9? CentOS uses an antique kernel, it might not
>>>> support the chipset on your motherboard.
>>> Thanks, General, but the 2.6.18 kernel is not too ancient for the
>>> motherboard I'm using. But that gives me an idea: maybe I'll try
>>> loading a 32 bit version of CentOS or Fedora instead of 64 bit and see
>>> if I still have a problem.
>>>
>>> If this hardware-related at all, I'm most suspecting the RAM as
>>> discussed in my other post.
>> I think my kernel panics are cured - looks like my memory modules needed
>> some burning in.
>>
>> I ran Memtest86 (right on the Fedora/ CentOS installation DVD's). At
>> first it was so bad that Memtest couldn't even continue. But it got
>> better as time went on and finally I could run Memtest for over an hour
>> with no errors. Then tried the install again and it went without a
>> hitch. So everything's good now. The box is running right now, just
>> cruising along.
>
> There is no such thing as burning in on a DRAM. Changing the temperature
> will change the speed of the RAM, if you have a hold time problem then
> heating it up might have helped. I'd suggest that you try a couple of
> things in your BIOS. First I'd try lowering the RAM clock speed, that's
> completely safe and has the best chance of resolving your problems
> assuming you don't have a bad RAM. The other thing you could try is
> raising the voltage to the DIMMs a little, be sure that you keep it in the
> safe range.

Your second tip, raising the voltage, seems to have helped. The voltage
was at 1.90V. I raised it to 2.05V (the next higher setting in the
BIOS) and that seems to have stabilized things quite a bit.