[MPlayer-users] segfault even when running with no input files or options

[Ron Johnson]

On 05/31/2012 12:58 AM, Oliver Seitz wrote:
> Am 31.05.2012 07:24, schrieb Ron Johnson:
>> On 05/30/2012 11:57 PM, Oliver Seitz wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> What causes programs to start segfaulting out of the blue without any
>>>> other changes to the system? H/w problems.
> [...]
>>> 4) CPU malfunction. When silicon wears off (yes, it does wear off in
>>> some sense), it does not necessarily die going up in smoke. A tiny bit
>>> of circuitry, which is only used by a higly specialized multimedia
>>> program, may be corrupt while the biggest part still works fine. This
>>> would be a very rare case, but possible.
>>>
>>
>> Maybe "short circuit" is what you mean, from heat damage.
>>
>
> For example, yes. But even when temperature is within the specs, doping
> elements may slowly migrate, eventually leading to malfunction of some
> transistors. Higher temperature and finer litography both speeds up this
> type of degradation.
>


True.  We've actually had CPUs (10 yo Alphas running OpenVMS) fail, 
though I don't know the cause.

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