From: rich@example.invalid   
      
   root  wrote:   
   > Rich  wrote:   
   >> root  wrote:   
   >>> The system would run for a few days and crash again.   
   >>>   
   >>> I swapped out the power supply with a brand new 750w unit.   
   >>> The crashes continued.   
   >>>   
   >>> I swapped out the motherboard/cpu/memory with one   
   >>> from a working machine. The crashes continued.   
   >>>   
   >>> I updated the 10 year old bios on the motherboard.   
   >>> I tried different kernels.   
   >>> I updated everything with slackpkg.   
   >>> I updated Chrome to the latest version. Chrome runs all the time.   
   >>>   
   >>> Only the computer case and NVidia graphics card remain   
   >>> from the original system, and still the crashes persist.   
   >>   
   >> You've given us very little info with which to help.  But...   
   >>   
   >> Are you running the NVidia closed-source driver or the open source   
   >> driver?   
   >>   
   >> If closed-source driver, then try the open source driver.   
   >>   
   >>> Among other Call Traces in the syslog I see something   
   >>> that must have originated within Chrome, and another   
   >>> crash from kswapd, when I have no swap partition.   
   >>   
   >> Hmm...  How much RAM?   
   >>   
   >> Chrome is a known memory hog, and if you have no swap, then anytime   
   >> chrome trys to grow beyond the free memory left in the system's ram   
   >> after everything else that is loaded, things will go bad very fast.   
   >>   
   >   
   > Thanks for responding.   
   >   
   > I am running the NVidia driver. Nouveau, the alternative, does not   
   > support driving two different displays,   
      
   I am presently typing this on a system running Nouveau with an Nvidia   
   card driving two displays, so Nouveau does support multiple displays.   
      
   > The system has 16GB of ram. Up until a few weeks ago the system   
   > ran 24/7 and only was taken down to change SATA drives. Uptime   
   > of several months was the norm.   
      
   But, a Chrome process consuming 12+GB of ram is not unheard of.  You   
   could, possibly, still have an "out of memory, with no swap" situation.   
      
   > I am beginning to think that this isn't a hardware problem.  The   
   > server functions at two levels: to gather, clean-up, and source   
   > online data, and as a A/V server.   
      
   You state you've replaced everything except the Nvidia card.  So if it   
   is hardware, the only common hardware is the Nvidia card itself.   
   Which, of course, because it is in common, /could/ be the culprit   
   (i.e., you have not ruled it out, neither have you confirmed it to be   
   the culprit).   
      
   One way this /could/ be a hardware problem, and only just now manifest   
   itself, is:   
      
   1) filter capacitors on the on-board voltage generators for the Nvidia   
      card have been slowly degrading, and have now reached the point   
      where their filtering is allowing just a bit too much ripple through   
      - which would cause a "runs fine for years, then starts failing"   
      situation.   
      
   2) cooling for the nvidia card has gotten poor (i.e., dust clogging   
      card) - which would also cause a "runs for years, then starts   
      failing situation".   
      
   Both are guesses.  And it could be an out of memory with no swap issue   
   (which would not be the Nvidia card).  Which is also a guess.   
      
   We depend upon you to test, and tell us which guess is ruled out.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)