On 3 July 2013 15:42, James Tunnicliffe <james.tunnicliffe@linaro.org> wrote:

I believe that in the LAVA lab there are a few pandas with USB keys
that are used for builds to try and overcome some reliability
problems.

I'm using USB drives for that reason.

Is running at 100% of the thermal limit really an issue? Isn't the
point that it is the limit, which itself should have some safety built
in? I don't know off hand if the OMAP 4 SoCs incorporate hardware
frequency limiting or if it is entirely software, in which case the
kernel frequency governor should (at a guess) be throttling back.

That's what I thought, but apparently, both Panda and Panda ES on current Linaro Ubuntu 13.03 fail randomly with USB drives (SSD or HDD) after a few hours under constant load. That means it's impossible for me to use them for toolchain testing at all. Arndales have also given up after a few hours, though after the errata kernel patches it was a bit better.

The only board that hasn't failed yet is the Chromebook, which has clocked a solid 5-month period under intense load. Guess what? The Chromebook's A15, which is identical to the Arndale's, has a massive heat-sink almost the size of the laptop itself.

I did have a panda give up on me about a year ago. It wasn't being
worked hard, but did refuse to get through a boot most of the time (it
did power on and get part way through booting). Those boards aren't
designed for high reliability and it may be that you just need to get
a couple of replacements.

I have tried 5 different Pandas and all of them fail the same way. I don't think it's a matter of replacing the defective, but of trying a new board altogether...

cheers,

--renato