How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?How did the Apollo computers evaluate transcendental functions like sine, arctangent, log?Bits per core for the different versions of the Apollo guidance computer core rope memory?Was the Apollo 13 CM guidance computer fully shut down?Is there any merit to the Apollo 13 (movie) statement “a computer that can hold millions of pieces of information”?Apollo guidanceTiming accuracy of the Apollo Guidance Computer?How did the Apollo computers evaluate transcendental functions like sine, arctangent, log?How does the Apollo LM ascent guidance program P12 actually work?Apollo guidance computer ROM addressing using the ROM bank register, what is the bank register size?Bits per core for the different versions of the Apollo guidance computer core rope memory?What exactly turned on the light indicating Apollo 8 was starting to fall towards the Moon?How did the Apollo guidance computer handle the Earth-Moon system's rotation around the Sun?

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How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?


How did the Apollo computers evaluate transcendental functions like sine, arctangent, log?Bits per core for the different versions of the Apollo guidance computer core rope memory?Was the Apollo 13 CM guidance computer fully shut down?Is there any merit to the Apollo 13 (movie) statement “a computer that can hold millions of pieces of information”?Apollo guidanceTiming accuracy of the Apollo Guidance Computer?How did the Apollo computers evaluate transcendental functions like sine, arctangent, log?How does the Apollo LM ascent guidance program P12 actually work?Apollo guidance computer ROM addressing using the ROM bank register, what is the bank register size?Bits per core for the different versions of the Apollo guidance computer core rope memory?What exactly turned on the light indicating Apollo 8 was starting to fall towards the Moon?How did the Apollo guidance computer handle the Earth-Moon system's rotation around the Sun?













21












$begingroup$


The following answers mention the use of parity bits in the Apollo guidance computer:




  • this answer to Bits per core for the different versions of the Apollo guidance computer core rope memory?


  • this answer to How did the Apollo computers evaluate transcendental functions like sine, arctangent, log?

This leads me to wonder:



  1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?

  2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?









share|improve this question









$endgroup$







  • 4




    $begingroup$
    Probably not like this: youtube.com/watch?v=G6o881n35GU
    $endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    May 4 at 23:13






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Ha! you made me literally LOL again. My neighbors think I'm certifiable (not to mention "flawed, and imperfect") because of these.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 4 at 23:15
















21












$begingroup$


The following answers mention the use of parity bits in the Apollo guidance computer:




  • this answer to Bits per core for the different versions of the Apollo guidance computer core rope memory?


  • this answer to How did the Apollo computers evaluate transcendental functions like sine, arctangent, log?

This leads me to wonder:



  1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?

  2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?









share|improve this question









$endgroup$







  • 4




    $begingroup$
    Probably not like this: youtube.com/watch?v=G6o881n35GU
    $endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    May 4 at 23:13






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Ha! you made me literally LOL again. My neighbors think I'm certifiable (not to mention "flawed, and imperfect") because of these.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 4 at 23:15














21












21








21


1



$begingroup$


The following answers mention the use of parity bits in the Apollo guidance computer:




  • this answer to Bits per core for the different versions of the Apollo guidance computer core rope memory?


  • this answer to How did the Apollo computers evaluate transcendental functions like sine, arctangent, log?

This leads me to wonder:



  1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?

  2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?









share|improve this question









$endgroup$




The following answers mention the use of parity bits in the Apollo guidance computer:




  • this answer to Bits per core for the different versions of the Apollo guidance computer core rope memory?


  • this answer to How did the Apollo computers evaluate transcendental functions like sine, arctangent, log?

This leads me to wonder:



  1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?

  2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?






apollo-program flight-computer guidance computing core-rope-memory






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked May 4 at 23:01









uhohuhoh

42.3k19161531




42.3k19161531







  • 4




    $begingroup$
    Probably not like this: youtube.com/watch?v=G6o881n35GU
    $endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    May 4 at 23:13






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Ha! you made me literally LOL again. My neighbors think I'm certifiable (not to mention "flawed, and imperfect") because of these.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 4 at 23:15













  • 4




    $begingroup$
    Probably not like this: youtube.com/watch?v=G6o881n35GU
    $endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    May 4 at 23:13






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Ha! you made me literally LOL again. My neighbors think I'm certifiable (not to mention "flawed, and imperfect") because of these.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 4 at 23:15








4




4




$begingroup$
Probably not like this: youtube.com/watch?v=G6o881n35GU
$endgroup$
– Organic Marble
May 4 at 23:13




$begingroup$
Probably not like this: youtube.com/watch?v=G6o881n35GU
$endgroup$
– Organic Marble
May 4 at 23:13




1




1




$begingroup$
Ha! you made me literally LOL again. My neighbors think I'm certifiable (not to mention "flawed, and imperfect") because of these.
$endgroup$
– uhoh
May 4 at 23:15





$begingroup$
Ha! you made me literally LOL again. My neighbors think I'm certifiable (not to mention "flawed, and imperfect") because of these.
$endgroup$
– uhoh
May 4 at 23:15











2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















18












$begingroup$


1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?




According to Apollo 15 Hardware by Delco Electronics,




Parity Alarm



Occurs if any accessed word in fixed or erasable memory whose address is $10_8$ or greater contains an even number of "ones." All locations of $10_8$ or greater are stored in fixed or erasable memory with odd parity.




$10_8$ is octal 10 or decimal 8.



This condition triggers an automatic hardware restart:




A RESTART (hardware) and subsequent AGC/LGC Warning is generated for the following alarms:



  • Oscillator Failure

  • Transfer Control (TC) Trap

  • Parity Alarm

  • Nightwatchman Fail

  • Interrupt (RUPT) Lock

  • Voltage Fail

The RESTART inhibits access to memory temporarily, freezes the computer, stores in process information and then transfers control to address 4000. This address has the information address for the next instruction after a RESTART that the software programmer has provided.








2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?




According to the Apollo Program Summary Report, the most severe anomaly in the entire GN&C system was a transient voltage which gave an erroneous indication to the computer that the inertial attitude reference had been lost. It also states that an open gimbal rate feedback circuit caused unexpected oscillation of the redundant engine gimbal actuator assembly. However, of the computer itself, it unambiguously states:




The performance of the computer was flawless.




I would interpret that as no parity errors.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1033.pdf (section XVI, PDF page 10) says that in 1968, in more than 25 flight hours (section XIX, PDF page 11), "No restart has occured in flight.". That's pretty definite, but of course doesn't cover the lunar landing missions.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday


















13












$begingroup$

What a fascinatingly obscure question :-) It took some digging, so perhaps someone who's actually seen an AGC might know better:



The parity bit was used to verify that data transferred correctly from memory to the registers. That is, the data in the memory was assumed to be correct, and the error was assumed to take place between the electronics that transfer from the core memory to the registers.



If a parity bit error were detected, then a parity alarm would happen. This actually was displayed on the DSKY and caused a restart of the programs currently running. It was so important that a parity circuit existed in the AGC. It was one of many hardware failure detection systems that protected the AGC during such failures. You can read a lot more about the restart system here here, which describes the parity stuff.



I cannot find any reference to a parity alarm ever occurring, but I haven't looked too hard at the moment. I expect it would be in the mission communications logs if it did.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 3




    $begingroup$
    Very important. Nowadays you get a nice screen from the OS/BIOS and something along the lines of "parity error - system halted" in correctly implemented hardware (single error correction, double error detection ... )
    $endgroup$
    – David Tonhofer
    2 days ago











  • $begingroup$
    Right! obscure question of the month :)
    $endgroup$
    – Fattie
    2 days ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Love the old terminology for what we now know as a watchdog circuit ... the "Night Watchman" :)
    $endgroup$
    – madscientist159
    2 days ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    As someone who has seen (and is restoring) an AGC, I can comment on this. Memory did have parity (15 bits data + 1 bit parity). There was no assumption that the data in memory was correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Ken Shirriff
    2 days ago










  • $begingroup$
    @DavidTonhofer A modern system will more likely make a system log entry when a correctable RAM ECC error is encountered. (Certainly Linux does it that way.) The assumption here is probably that if you care enough to even know that such an error occured, you care enough to have some kind of log monitoring in place, and since it's correctable, there's no reason to halt or reboot the system.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday











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2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes








2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









18












$begingroup$


1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?




According to Apollo 15 Hardware by Delco Electronics,




Parity Alarm



Occurs if any accessed word in fixed or erasable memory whose address is $10_8$ or greater contains an even number of "ones." All locations of $10_8$ or greater are stored in fixed or erasable memory with odd parity.




$10_8$ is octal 10 or decimal 8.



This condition triggers an automatic hardware restart:




A RESTART (hardware) and subsequent AGC/LGC Warning is generated for the following alarms:



  • Oscillator Failure

  • Transfer Control (TC) Trap

  • Parity Alarm

  • Nightwatchman Fail

  • Interrupt (RUPT) Lock

  • Voltage Fail

The RESTART inhibits access to memory temporarily, freezes the computer, stores in process information and then transfers control to address 4000. This address has the information address for the next instruction after a RESTART that the software programmer has provided.








2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?




According to the Apollo Program Summary Report, the most severe anomaly in the entire GN&C system was a transient voltage which gave an erroneous indication to the computer that the inertial attitude reference had been lost. It also states that an open gimbal rate feedback circuit caused unexpected oscillation of the redundant engine gimbal actuator assembly. However, of the computer itself, it unambiguously states:




The performance of the computer was flawless.




I would interpret that as no parity errors.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1033.pdf (section XVI, PDF page 10) says that in 1968, in more than 25 flight hours (section XIX, PDF page 11), "No restart has occured in flight.". That's pretty definite, but of course doesn't cover the lunar landing missions.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday















18












$begingroup$


1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?




According to Apollo 15 Hardware by Delco Electronics,




Parity Alarm



Occurs if any accessed word in fixed or erasable memory whose address is $10_8$ or greater contains an even number of "ones." All locations of $10_8$ or greater are stored in fixed or erasable memory with odd parity.




$10_8$ is octal 10 or decimal 8.



This condition triggers an automatic hardware restart:




A RESTART (hardware) and subsequent AGC/LGC Warning is generated for the following alarms:



  • Oscillator Failure

  • Transfer Control (TC) Trap

  • Parity Alarm

  • Nightwatchman Fail

  • Interrupt (RUPT) Lock

  • Voltage Fail

The RESTART inhibits access to memory temporarily, freezes the computer, stores in process information and then transfers control to address 4000. This address has the information address for the next instruction after a RESTART that the software programmer has provided.








2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?




According to the Apollo Program Summary Report, the most severe anomaly in the entire GN&C system was a transient voltage which gave an erroneous indication to the computer that the inertial attitude reference had been lost. It also states that an open gimbal rate feedback circuit caused unexpected oscillation of the redundant engine gimbal actuator assembly. However, of the computer itself, it unambiguously states:




The performance of the computer was flawless.




I would interpret that as no parity errors.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1033.pdf (section XVI, PDF page 10) says that in 1968, in more than 25 flight hours (section XIX, PDF page 11), "No restart has occured in flight.". That's pretty definite, but of course doesn't cover the lunar landing missions.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday













18












18








18





$begingroup$


1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?




According to Apollo 15 Hardware by Delco Electronics,




Parity Alarm



Occurs if any accessed word in fixed or erasable memory whose address is $10_8$ or greater contains an even number of "ones." All locations of $10_8$ or greater are stored in fixed or erasable memory with odd parity.




$10_8$ is octal 10 or decimal 8.



This condition triggers an automatic hardware restart:




A RESTART (hardware) and subsequent AGC/LGC Warning is generated for the following alarms:



  • Oscillator Failure

  • Transfer Control (TC) Trap

  • Parity Alarm

  • Nightwatchman Fail

  • Interrupt (RUPT) Lock

  • Voltage Fail

The RESTART inhibits access to memory temporarily, freezes the computer, stores in process information and then transfers control to address 4000. This address has the information address for the next instruction after a RESTART that the software programmer has provided.








2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?




According to the Apollo Program Summary Report, the most severe anomaly in the entire GN&C system was a transient voltage which gave an erroneous indication to the computer that the inertial attitude reference had been lost. It also states that an open gimbal rate feedback circuit caused unexpected oscillation of the redundant engine gimbal actuator assembly. However, of the computer itself, it unambiguously states:




The performance of the computer was flawless.




I would interpret that as no parity errors.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$




1. How did the Apollo guidance computer handle parity bit errors?




According to Apollo 15 Hardware by Delco Electronics,




Parity Alarm



Occurs if any accessed word in fixed or erasable memory whose address is $10_8$ or greater contains an even number of "ones." All locations of $10_8$ or greater are stored in fixed or erasable memory with odd parity.




$10_8$ is octal 10 or decimal 8.



This condition triggers an automatic hardware restart:




A RESTART (hardware) and subsequent AGC/LGC Warning is generated for the following alarms:



  • Oscillator Failure

  • Transfer Control (TC) Trap

  • Parity Alarm

  • Nightwatchman Fail

  • Interrupt (RUPT) Lock

  • Voltage Fail

The RESTART inhibits access to memory temporarily, freezes the computer, stores in process information and then transfers control to address 4000. This address has the information address for the next instruction after a RESTART that the software programmer has provided.








2. Were these ever encountered during actual missions?




According to the Apollo Program Summary Report, the most severe anomaly in the entire GN&C system was a transient voltage which gave an erroneous indication to the computer that the inertial attitude reference had been lost. It also states that an open gimbal rate feedback circuit caused unexpected oscillation of the redundant engine gimbal actuator assembly. However, of the computer itself, it unambiguously states:




The performance of the computer was flawless.




I would interpret that as no parity errors.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered May 5 at 1:31









Dr SheldonDr Sheldon

6,27322358




6,27322358







  • 1




    $begingroup$
    ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1033.pdf (section XVI, PDF page 10) says that in 1968, in more than 25 flight hours (section XIX, PDF page 11), "No restart has occured in flight.". That's pretty definite, but of course doesn't cover the lunar landing missions.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday












  • 1




    $begingroup$
    ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1033.pdf (section XVI, PDF page 10) says that in 1968, in more than 25 flight hours (section XIX, PDF page 11), "No restart has occured in flight.". That's pretty definite, but of course doesn't cover the lunar landing missions.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday







1




1




$begingroup$
ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1033.pdf (section XVI, PDF page 10) says that in 1968, in more than 25 flight hours (section XIX, PDF page 11), "No restart has occured in flight.". That's pretty definite, but of course doesn't cover the lunar landing missions.
$endgroup$
– a CVn
yesterday




$begingroup$
ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1033.pdf (section XVI, PDF page 10) says that in 1968, in more than 25 flight hours (section XIX, PDF page 11), "No restart has occured in flight.". That's pretty definite, but of course doesn't cover the lunar landing missions.
$endgroup$
– a CVn
yesterday











13












$begingroup$

What a fascinatingly obscure question :-) It took some digging, so perhaps someone who's actually seen an AGC might know better:



The parity bit was used to verify that data transferred correctly from memory to the registers. That is, the data in the memory was assumed to be correct, and the error was assumed to take place between the electronics that transfer from the core memory to the registers.



If a parity bit error were detected, then a parity alarm would happen. This actually was displayed on the DSKY and caused a restart of the programs currently running. It was so important that a parity circuit existed in the AGC. It was one of many hardware failure detection systems that protected the AGC during such failures. You can read a lot more about the restart system here here, which describes the parity stuff.



I cannot find any reference to a parity alarm ever occurring, but I haven't looked too hard at the moment. I expect it would be in the mission communications logs if it did.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 3




    $begingroup$
    Very important. Nowadays you get a nice screen from the OS/BIOS and something along the lines of "parity error - system halted" in correctly implemented hardware (single error correction, double error detection ... )
    $endgroup$
    – David Tonhofer
    2 days ago











  • $begingroup$
    Right! obscure question of the month :)
    $endgroup$
    – Fattie
    2 days ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Love the old terminology for what we now know as a watchdog circuit ... the "Night Watchman" :)
    $endgroup$
    – madscientist159
    2 days ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    As someone who has seen (and is restoring) an AGC, I can comment on this. Memory did have parity (15 bits data + 1 bit parity). There was no assumption that the data in memory was correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Ken Shirriff
    2 days ago










  • $begingroup$
    @DavidTonhofer A modern system will more likely make a system log entry when a correctable RAM ECC error is encountered. (Certainly Linux does it that way.) The assumption here is probably that if you care enough to even know that such an error occured, you care enough to have some kind of log monitoring in place, and since it's correctable, there's no reason to halt or reboot the system.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday















13












$begingroup$

What a fascinatingly obscure question :-) It took some digging, so perhaps someone who's actually seen an AGC might know better:



The parity bit was used to verify that data transferred correctly from memory to the registers. That is, the data in the memory was assumed to be correct, and the error was assumed to take place between the electronics that transfer from the core memory to the registers.



If a parity bit error were detected, then a parity alarm would happen. This actually was displayed on the DSKY and caused a restart of the programs currently running. It was so important that a parity circuit existed in the AGC. It was one of many hardware failure detection systems that protected the AGC during such failures. You can read a lot more about the restart system here here, which describes the parity stuff.



I cannot find any reference to a parity alarm ever occurring, but I haven't looked too hard at the moment. I expect it would be in the mission communications logs if it did.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 3




    $begingroup$
    Very important. Nowadays you get a nice screen from the OS/BIOS and something along the lines of "parity error - system halted" in correctly implemented hardware (single error correction, double error detection ... )
    $endgroup$
    – David Tonhofer
    2 days ago











  • $begingroup$
    Right! obscure question of the month :)
    $endgroup$
    – Fattie
    2 days ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Love the old terminology for what we now know as a watchdog circuit ... the "Night Watchman" :)
    $endgroup$
    – madscientist159
    2 days ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    As someone who has seen (and is restoring) an AGC, I can comment on this. Memory did have parity (15 bits data + 1 bit parity). There was no assumption that the data in memory was correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Ken Shirriff
    2 days ago










  • $begingroup$
    @DavidTonhofer A modern system will more likely make a system log entry when a correctable RAM ECC error is encountered. (Certainly Linux does it that way.) The assumption here is probably that if you care enough to even know that such an error occured, you care enough to have some kind of log monitoring in place, and since it's correctable, there's no reason to halt or reboot the system.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday













13












13








13





$begingroup$

What a fascinatingly obscure question :-) It took some digging, so perhaps someone who's actually seen an AGC might know better:



The parity bit was used to verify that data transferred correctly from memory to the registers. That is, the data in the memory was assumed to be correct, and the error was assumed to take place between the electronics that transfer from the core memory to the registers.



If a parity bit error were detected, then a parity alarm would happen. This actually was displayed on the DSKY and caused a restart of the programs currently running. It was so important that a parity circuit existed in the AGC. It was one of many hardware failure detection systems that protected the AGC during such failures. You can read a lot more about the restart system here here, which describes the parity stuff.



I cannot find any reference to a parity alarm ever occurring, but I haven't looked too hard at the moment. I expect it would be in the mission communications logs if it did.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$



What a fascinatingly obscure question :-) It took some digging, so perhaps someone who's actually seen an AGC might know better:



The parity bit was used to verify that data transferred correctly from memory to the registers. That is, the data in the memory was assumed to be correct, and the error was assumed to take place between the electronics that transfer from the core memory to the registers.



If a parity bit error were detected, then a parity alarm would happen. This actually was displayed on the DSKY and caused a restart of the programs currently running. It was so important that a parity circuit existed in the AGC. It was one of many hardware failure detection systems that protected the AGC during such failures. You can read a lot more about the restart system here here, which describes the parity stuff.



I cannot find any reference to a parity alarm ever occurring, but I haven't looked too hard at the moment. I expect it would be in the mission communications logs if it did.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered May 5 at 1:04









Michael StachowskyMichael Stachowsky

595110




595110







  • 3




    $begingroup$
    Very important. Nowadays you get a nice screen from the OS/BIOS and something along the lines of "parity error - system halted" in correctly implemented hardware (single error correction, double error detection ... )
    $endgroup$
    – David Tonhofer
    2 days ago











  • $begingroup$
    Right! obscure question of the month :)
    $endgroup$
    – Fattie
    2 days ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Love the old terminology for what we now know as a watchdog circuit ... the "Night Watchman" :)
    $endgroup$
    – madscientist159
    2 days ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    As someone who has seen (and is restoring) an AGC, I can comment on this. Memory did have parity (15 bits data + 1 bit parity). There was no assumption that the data in memory was correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Ken Shirriff
    2 days ago










  • $begingroup$
    @DavidTonhofer A modern system will more likely make a system log entry when a correctable RAM ECC error is encountered. (Certainly Linux does it that way.) The assumption here is probably that if you care enough to even know that such an error occured, you care enough to have some kind of log monitoring in place, and since it's correctable, there's no reason to halt or reboot the system.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday












  • 3




    $begingroup$
    Very important. Nowadays you get a nice screen from the OS/BIOS and something along the lines of "parity error - system halted" in correctly implemented hardware (single error correction, double error detection ... )
    $endgroup$
    – David Tonhofer
    2 days ago











  • $begingroup$
    Right! obscure question of the month :)
    $endgroup$
    – Fattie
    2 days ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Love the old terminology for what we now know as a watchdog circuit ... the "Night Watchman" :)
    $endgroup$
    – madscientist159
    2 days ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    As someone who has seen (and is restoring) an AGC, I can comment on this. Memory did have parity (15 bits data + 1 bit parity). There was no assumption that the data in memory was correct.
    $endgroup$
    – Ken Shirriff
    2 days ago










  • $begingroup$
    @DavidTonhofer A modern system will more likely make a system log entry when a correctable RAM ECC error is encountered. (Certainly Linux does it that way.) The assumption here is probably that if you care enough to even know that such an error occured, you care enough to have some kind of log monitoring in place, and since it's correctable, there's no reason to halt or reboot the system.
    $endgroup$
    – a CVn
    yesterday







3




3




$begingroup$
Very important. Nowadays you get a nice screen from the OS/BIOS and something along the lines of "parity error - system halted" in correctly implemented hardware (single error correction, double error detection ... )
$endgroup$
– David Tonhofer
2 days ago





$begingroup$
Very important. Nowadays you get a nice screen from the OS/BIOS and something along the lines of "parity error - system halted" in correctly implemented hardware (single error correction, double error detection ... )
$endgroup$
– David Tonhofer
2 days ago













$begingroup$
Right! obscure question of the month :)
$endgroup$
– Fattie
2 days ago




$begingroup$
Right! obscure question of the month :)
$endgroup$
– Fattie
2 days ago




1




1




$begingroup$
Love the old terminology for what we now know as a watchdog circuit ... the "Night Watchman" :)
$endgroup$
– madscientist159
2 days ago




$begingroup$
Love the old terminology for what we now know as a watchdog circuit ... the "Night Watchman" :)
$endgroup$
– madscientist159
2 days ago




5




5




$begingroup$
As someone who has seen (and is restoring) an AGC, I can comment on this. Memory did have parity (15 bits data + 1 bit parity). There was no assumption that the data in memory was correct.
$endgroup$
– Ken Shirriff
2 days ago




$begingroup$
As someone who has seen (and is restoring) an AGC, I can comment on this. Memory did have parity (15 bits data + 1 bit parity). There was no assumption that the data in memory was correct.
$endgroup$
– Ken Shirriff
2 days ago












$begingroup$
@DavidTonhofer A modern system will more likely make a system log entry when a correctable RAM ECC error is encountered. (Certainly Linux does it that way.) The assumption here is probably that if you care enough to even know that such an error occured, you care enough to have some kind of log monitoring in place, and since it's correctable, there's no reason to halt or reboot the system.
$endgroup$
– a CVn
yesterday




$begingroup$
@DavidTonhofer A modern system will more likely make a system log entry when a correctable RAM ECC error is encountered. (Certainly Linux does it that way.) The assumption here is probably that if you care enough to even know that such an error occured, you care enough to have some kind of log monitoring in place, and since it's correctable, there's no reason to halt or reboot the system.
$endgroup$
– a CVn
yesterday

















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