Command Line Version - Error allocating RAM

[tech01]

Hi,

I'm having a problem trying to the get the Command line version to run the memory test reliably, sometimes it will run the memory test if restarted numerous times.

Test setup is an Ibase MB890 motherboard with of 1G RAM. OS is Gentoo Linux 2.4.34.


Test Configured[3]: Memory (RAM)
CTest_Mem constructor..., m_testID = 3
Attempting to allocate 81 percent of 833118208 (available physical RAM) for memory test buffer size = 666494592 bytes
_MLOCK_PAGE_ALIGN_ NOT defined
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x40aeb008, Size: 134217728
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x48aec008, Size: 134217728
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x50aed008, Size: 134217728
Error memory locking -> Address: 0x58aee008, Size: 134217728, Error: mlock -> Too many pages requested - reducing requested amount....
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x40aeb008, Size: 134217728
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x48aec008, Size: 134217728
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x50aed008, Size: 134217728
Attempting to allocate 81 percent of 833097728 (available HIGH RAM) for memory test buffer size = 666478208 bytes
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x40aeb008, Size: 134217728
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x48aec008, Size: 134217728
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x50aed008, Size: 134217728
Error memory locking -> Address: 0x58aee008, Size: 134217728, Error: mlock -> Too many pages requested - reducing requested amount....
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x40aeb008, Size: 134217728
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x48aec008, Size: 134217728
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x50aed008, Size: 134217728

Any help greatly appreciated
Best Regards.

[Tim (PassMark)]

When it does successfully run is there any more memory available (ie are there less processes running and using the available memory)? It may be possible BiT Linux isn't reducing the amount it's trying to allocate properly.

[tech01]

When Less memory available appears to run ok.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

When it did run.....

..........total..used..free
mem ....881....871....10
buffers............63.. 818
swap....988...... 0.. 988


Attempting to allocate 61 percent of 6303744 (available physical RAM) for memory test buffer size = 3782246 bytes
_MLOCK_PAGE_ALIGN_ NOT defined
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x412eb008, Size: 3782246
CTest_Network constructor, cAddressNumbers = 0...
Destructing CPU - Maths
Test_Thread_Math before pthread_exit
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x412eb008, Size: 3782246
Destructing Memory (RAM)
Test_Thread_Mem before pthread_exit

When it didn't run..

........total..used..free
mem ..881 ...149 .732
buffers .........43. 838
swap ..988 .....0..988

Burn it test tries to allocate 81percent as detailed in the first message.
I tried adjusting the type of tests to run but it didn't help.

Also tried on a different motherboard MB800V same results.

Thanks,
Ori

[Tim (PassMark)]

Thanks for the extra info, we should have a new debug build on monday with some extra output and possibly the option of setting a percentage for the memory test.

[Tim (PassMark)]

Could you please download and try this version, http://www.passmark.com/ftp/bit_cmd_line.zip. The available memory will be refreshed just before the test starts to make sure the values aren't stale, and if the first allocation fails the second will attempt a smaller allocation.

[tech01]

Update Results

Thanks for the update TimR.
But it didn't appear to fix my problem.

Starting test
###################### START_TEST_DEBUG_BEGINS ######################
Wed Feb 20 07:51:34 2008 - 17160 /root/BiTLinux/bit_cmd_line/src/BiT_cmd_line.cpp, startTest[2211]: Test started, testconfig.auto_stop_time = 0.000000, testconfig.auto_stop_cycles = 0
Test Configured[1]: CPU - Maths
Test Configured[3]: Memory (RAM)
CTest_Math constructor..., m_testID = 1
Starting Math test, iThreadNum = 0
CTest_Mem constructor..., m_testID = 3
Attempting to allocate 81 percent of 792338432 (available physical RAM) for memory test buffer size = 633870784 bytes
_MLOCK_PAGE_ALIGN_ NOT defined
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x412f3008, Size: 134217728
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x492f4008, Size: 134217728
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x512f5008, Size: 134217728
Error memory locking -> Address: 0x592f6008, Size: 134217728, Error: mlock -> Too many pages requested - reducing requested amount....
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x412f3008, Size: 134217728
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x492f4008, Size: 134217728
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x512f5008, Size: 134217728
Attempting to allocate 61 percent of 792326144 (available HIGH RAM) for memory test buffer size = 475395712 bytes
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x412f3008, Size: 134217728
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x492f4008, Size: 134217728
Success memory locking - mlock success -> Address: 0x512f5008, Size: 134217728
Error memory locking -> Address: 0x592f6008, Size: 72742528, Error: mlock -> Too many pages requested - reducing requested amount....
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x412f3008, Size: 134217728
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x492f4008, Size: 134217728
Success memory unlocking - munlock success -> Address: 0x512f5008, Size: 134217728
Destructing CPU - Maths
Test_Thread_Math before pthread_exit
Destructing Memory (RAM)
Test_Thread_Mem before pthread_exit
Wed Feb 20 07:52:56 2008 - 993124 /root/BiTLinux/bit_cmd_line/src/BiT_cmd_line.cpp, stopTest[2461]: Test stopped by user
###################### STOP_TEST_DEBUG_FINISHES ######################


RAM Test

Cycle 0
Status Starting
Pattern Sequence (0,1,2...255)
Total RAM 881.93 MBytes
Free RAM 755.55 MBytes
Test RAM 453.37 MBytes
Written RAM 0.00 MBytes
Verified RAM 0.00 Mbytes

Kernel: Gentoo 2.4.36

I try some other configurations and see what happens.
Regards
Ori

[Tim (PassMark)]

The error being returned is ENOMEM which is:

(Linux 2.6.9 and later) the caller had a non-zero RLIMIT_MEMLOCK soft resource limit, but tried to lock more memory than the limit permitted. This limit is not enforced if the process is privileged (CAP_IPC_LOCK).

(Linux 2.4 and earlier) the calling process tried to lock more than half of RAM.

So i'd say because the kernel is version 2.4 it's failing because the process is trying to allocate more than 50% of the RAM. I'm not currently aware of any workarounds for this (and it's one of the reasons we list the kernel 2.6+ as the requirements for BiT Linux).

[tech01]

Min requirements.

Thanks TimR,

Sorry to have wasted your time. I didn't notice that I was not meeting the min requirements.

Thanks for your help anyway.

Regards
Ori