D-Link switch and ecc-memory.

[Robert G. Brown]

On Tue, 16 Jan 2001, Thomas Lovie wrote:

>
> Regarding spurious bit-flips in memory, Greg Lindahl writes:
>
> > Josip neglected to mention that he is at sea level. If you are at a higher
> > altitude, you will see more errors.
> >
>
> Really, why would this be the case?  Surely the boiling temperature of water
> would have nothing to do with it.  Would the relative amount of atmosphere
> that high energy electro-magnetic radiation has to go through be the
> dominating effect here?  Is it radiation that causes these errors anyways?

High energy ionizing radiation is probably responsible for some of them,
anyway.  There is a lot less shielding air and a lot more radiation a
mile or so up.  Worst sunburn of my life I got in about forty minutes of
exposure in Taxco, Mexico more than a mile up.  It is still interesting
that this is a noticable effect, though -- it suggests that radiation is
actually an important cause and not just an incidental cause.

   rgb

-- 
Robert G. Brown	                       http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb at phy.duke.edu