[Gllug] CPU exerciser?

[Richard Jones]

On Mon, Oct 25, 2004 at 09:51:15AM +0100, John Hearns wrote:
> Does anyone know of such a thing as a CPU exerciser code?
> ie. something which makes the CPU execute all instructions in turn.
> I'm thinking along the lines of Memtest, which we use extensively.

Most instructions are never used (the original observation behind RISC
computing).  I'm sure that doing some thing big and CPU intensive like
compiling the kernel will quickly exercise those instructions which
are used.

The nearest I can think of a true CPU tester would be 'crashme'.
http://people.delphiforums.com/gjc/crashme.html

> I have an Opteron CPU which is problematic. When running the HPL 
> benchmark it quickly freezes - no indication on the console.
> I guess it is hitting an instruction which has a hardware fault on the
> CPU or something.
> It would be interesting to diagnose this (prior to swapping the CPU out
> of course). Dual CPU box.

Have you tried underclocking the CPU slightly.  Assuming this really
is a CPU fault, it's likely to be caused by exceeded setup and/or hold
minima, and underclocking should reduce the probability of those being
violated.

Rich.

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