On Thu, 2 Jul 2020 at 01:34, Samuel Sieb samuel@sieb.net wrote:
On 7/1/20 8:01 PM, Thomas Dineen wrote:
I am developing an optimization application that uses the CPU quiteintensely for long periods of time on a CentOS 6.9 machine. Some test runs can run for hours or even days. On a particular test the the OS crashes to a black screen with the message "North Bridge Disconnected" printed in the upper left.
This list is not for CentOS questions and why are you still on 6.9, which is quite old?
The application is carefully designed to not simply consume too muchmemory and run out, and observation of the System Monitor confirms this.
What could be the cause? Is this a bug in my code, quite possiblegiven the fact that I an still testing and debugging? Can a bug in a user application get into Kernel space and crash the machine? Or is it likely a hardware problem on the Motherboard?
Unless you're running as root and poking at things you shouldn't, there's no way a user level program should be able to cause that. It sounds most likely to be a hardware issue. Maybe something's overheating?
Without any additional details, overheating is the prime suspect. I would open up the system to check for bulging capacitors and anything that might affect cooling.
You don't mention the hardware details (Intel versus AMD) or whether the system runs in a controlled environment (machine room). https://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/design-guide/e8500-chipset-north-bridg... https://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/design-guide/e8500-chipset-north-bridge-external-memory-bridge-guide.pdf#:~:text=The%20Intel%C2%AEE8500%20Chipset%20North%20Bridge%20%28NB%29%20and%20eXternal,specifications.%20Current%20characterized%20errata%20are%20available%20on%20request. describes the cooling requirements for North Bridge on one Intel chipset. There can be significant differences in how well cooling is engineered between homebrew and high-end server class systems, and cooling deteriorates over time due to things like dust accumulating on cooling fins and fan blades and cables blocking air pathways. There are apps that monitor temperatures at a number of sensors on a system board.