Re: OT: knoppix memtest powers off after 35 mins

[Kent West <westk@goshen.acu.edu>]

Bob Proulx wrote:
> Kent West wrote:
>   
> > Running memtest86 from a Knoppix LiveCD on an HP pavilion ze4400 laptop. 
> > No errors, but the laptop powers off consistently after about 35 minutes 
> > of testing.
> >     
>
> If that is consistently 35 minutes then it makes me wonder how the
> BIOS power saving settings are configured.  I would guess that the
> BIOS is not seeing any input and therefore turning the machine off
> because it thinks it is idle.  I believe that after the OS is booted
> it takes over these things.  But memtest may not be programmed to do
> this for that machine while the linux kernel in knoppix does.
>
> Just a guess...
>
>   
Not a bad guess. But if that's the case, it must be firm-coded into the 
BIOS; I could find no power-saving options in the BIOS setup screens. I 
had not thought about memtest86 perhaps looking idle to the system 
whereas sitting at a Knoppix boot prompt would not. Your idea gives me 
an idea for another test; tomorrow I'll see if I can load memtest86 but 
pause it so it doesn't check memory, and see if it still powers off at 
35 mins; if so, that would seem to eliminate faulty RAM as being the 
cause of the power-down.

Thanks!

--
Kent