linux-kernel - Re: Request for MCE decode (AMD Barcelona, fam 10h)

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Message-ID: <8ee0b8e80809080413r1eb75a2bu1b29ffdf06daa319@mail.gmail.com>
Date:	Mon, 8 Sep 2008 13:13:39 +0200
From:	"Jeroen van Rijn" <jvrnix@...il.com>
To:	"Andi Kleen" <andi@...stfloor.org>
Cc:	"Tony Vroon" <tony@...on.org>, LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: Request for MCE decode (AMD Barcelona, fam 10h)

On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 12:55 PM, Andi Kleen <andi@...stfloor.org> wrote:
> Tony Vroon <tony@...on.org> writes:
>
>> HARDWARE ERROR. This is *NOT* a software problem!
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> Please contact your hardware vendor
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>> I realize that the linux kernel may be entirely blameless in this
>> situation,
>
> It is, like mcelog told you.
>
>> but I'd like to have some peer insight before I run after
>> vendors.
>
> It unfortunately turns out that mcelog logging is a tricky
> psychological problem. How should the warning above have
> looked like so that you would not have required "peer insight"
> and actually just contacted your hardware vendor?

I suppose mcelog might be extended to point at possible tools to get a
second opinion, in case the admin would like to to be entirely
certain. In their position I can understand them when their vendor
asks them if it's the hardware and what tests they've run to rule out
software.

Think for example a machine check that might point to faulty RAM, it
might direct the admin to run memcheck if mcelog alone isn't
compelling enough.

> Thank you.
>
> -Andi (who wonders if <blink> tags in syslog would be useful
> to solve this)

Yikes, ixnay to the <blinkay>. Next people will ask for flash support
to get all-singing and -dancing error messages.

-- Jeroen.
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