Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!fenchurch.mit.edu!jbs
From: jbs@fenchurch.MIT.EDU (Jeff Siegal)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: VAX Memory Test
Message-ID: <9827@eddie.MIT.EDU>
Date: 5 Aug 88 16:49:05 GMT
References: <3300032@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <12849@mimsy.UUCP>
Sender: uucp@eddie.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: jbs@fenchurch.MIT.EDU (Jeff Siegal)
Organization: MIT EE/CS Computer Facilities, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 15

In article <12849@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
>The easiest test for a Vax with ECC is to let the machine run
>normally.  Single-bit errors will be corrected automatically, with a
>note from the O/S (as reported by the hardware) when this happens.  

Except on MicroVAX-II's, where ECC memory is not officially supported.
You can get ECC memory from third-party vendors, but all the products
I've seen correct any errors silently and do not report them to the
O/S in order to stay compatible (one of them kept an internal error
log you could read by looking at the appropriate address)

Actually, it was a while ago when I looked at this, so it may no
longer be true.

Jeff Siegal