High Memory Support -> system unstable

[uraes]

Hi,

I added to my pc new RAM (was 256M+256M+256M, now 500M+500M+1G).
with (almost) default configuration kernel it sees total mem about 1G.

Then, in kernel configuration switched "Processor type and features" -> "High Memory Support" to 4GB and voila - kernel saw all memory, but...
.. then turned out that almost _everything_ became unstable. KDE crashed in random places, runlevel scripts made segmentation faults (randomly! different boot times gave faults in different places), I was unable to compile new kernel because compiling failed due "illegal instruction" etc etc.. I think there is no point to try write down all those errors.. problem should be in kernel.
(Now working with same kernel only "High Memory Support" switched off and everything ok again)

Kernel: 2.6.17-gentoo-r8, tried also linux-2.6.18-gentoo-r3
Processor: Pentium 4

ps. did also memtest - memory is fine and kicking.

Can somebody say smth?

[frostschutz]

[batistuta]

quality of no-name memory vendors varies widely. Is yours from a known vendor or bulk? I tend to agree with frostschutz, it sounds like a RAM issue. You might also try a bit less aggressive timings in your BIOS, to see if that easies the issue.

[uraes]

eh, you were right!

left memtest to run for whole night, and in the morning there were pretty sad results.
Now waiting for a new chip.

Thanks!