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cron(1M)

crontab(1)

ECCLOGGER(1M)

Model 350 only

NAME

ecclogger − checks ECC memory for errors
eccscrub − scrubs soft errors from ECC memory

SYNOPSIS

ecclogger [logsize]
eccscrub

DESCRIPTION

ecclogger checks ECC (error-checking and correcting) memory, installed in an HP9000 Model 350 computer system, for errors which have been corrected.  When ecclogger finds an error it writes a record of the error to /etc/ecclog and invokes eccscrub to insure that all errors have been cleared (only one error per ECC memory board is logged). 

The optional parameter logsize specifies the number of log entries which are allowed.  Hewlett-Packard recommends that the default value of 100 be used for logsize; if 100 errors occur on a system the local HP Sales and Service office should be notified, so that the /etc/ecclog can be evaluated (a system with less than 100 ecclog entries is generally not a concern).  When the log actually contains this many entries a message is printed (mailed to root, when invoked from root’s crontab) to indicate that /etc/ecclog is full. 

ecclogger should be invoked by root’s crontab(1).  In order for this to occur an entry must be made in the crontab(1M) entry for root.  The recommended frequency for ecclogger is once per hour.  (eccscrub is automatically invoked by ecclogger whenever an error is corrected.) 

eccscrub is a utility that will perform a read-modify-write function on memory.  This function will correct any single-bit soft (not a ’stuck’ bit) errors that may be in a memory cell.  It may be desirable to have eccscrub invoked by cron(1) once per day. 

In order to achieve the recommended frequencies, the following two entries need to be added to the crontab(1M) entry for root: 0 * * * *    exec /etc/ecclogger
0 0 * * *    exec /etc/eccscrub

Below is a typical entry for a failure, in /etc/ecclog:      870911084132 0xFF55CF40 0x70

(Note:  Do not write to /etc/ecclog.  This will prevent ecclogger from writing to /etc/ecclog.) 

The first field in the error entry is a date/time stamp [yymmddhhmmss] that indicates when the error was logged.  The second field is the memory location in hexadecimal.  The final field is the error syndrome byte.  The syndrome byte is decoded below (primarily useful to Hewlett-Packard for repairing the ECC boards):     SYNDROME  ERROR LOCATION     SYNDROME  ERROR LOCATION
 
    0x01      check bit 0        0x31      data bit 14
    0x02      check bit 1        0x34      data bit 15
    0x04      check bit 2        0x40      check bit 6
    0x08      check bit 3        0x4A      data bit 1
    0x0B      data bit 17        0x4F      data bit 0
    0x0E      data bit 16        0x52      data bit 2
    0x10      check bit 4        0x54      data bit 3
    0x13      data bit 18        0x57      data bit 4
    0x15      data bit 19        0x58      data bit 5
    0x16      data bit 20        0x5B      data bit 6
    0x19      data bit 21        0x5D      data bit 7
    0x1A      data bit 22        0x62      data bit 24
    0x1C      data bit 23        0x64      data bit 25
    0x20      check bit 5        0x67      data bit 26
    0x23      data bit 8         0x68      data bit 27
    0x25      data bit 9         0x6B      data bit 28
    0x26      data bit 10        0x6D      data bit 29
    0x29      data bit 11        0x70      data bit 30
    0x2A      data bit 12        0x75      data bit 31
    0x2C      data bit 13

FILES

/etc/ecclog

SEE ALSO

cron(1M), crontab(1)

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  June 06, 1988

Typewritten Software • bear@typewritten.org • Edmonds, WA 98026