Here is a printout for rasdaemon on a healthy intel thinkpad:
sudo ras-mc-ctl --summary
No Memory errors.
No PCIe AER errors.
No Extlog errors.
No MCE errors.
sudo ras-mc-ctl --mainboard
ras-mc-ctl : mainboard: LENOVO model XXXXXXXXXX
(this is just a generic model number that is common to all thinkpads in this category; example: all x220s are the same, all t580s are the same, all p53 are the same, and so on. It’s a model number basically)
sudo ras-mc-ctl --status
ras-mc-ctl: drivers not loaded
sudo ras-mc-ctl --print-labels
ras-mc-ctl: Error: no dimm labels for LENOVO model xxxxxxxxxx
sudo ras-mc-ctl --layout
ras-mc-ctl: Error: no memories found at via edac
sudo ras-mc-ctl --errors
(same output as --summary command)
The rasdaemon includes two systemd services as part of the software: rasdaemon.service and ras-mc-ctl.service. They install to start on boot but you can control that with sudo systemctl disable rasdaemon.service ras-mc-ctl.service and then start up manually whenever you want to test.
interesting sidenote: sometimes the “machine check exception” registers a hardware error when your cpu goes above a certain distro-specific thermal trip point. Quite harmless because the distro very often keeps this way lower than what would actually hurt the chipset. Many Intels can run rather hot at above 80C for bursts and not sustain damage until 95C according to documentation, but some distros have a trip point of 60C determined by several factors thermald for example, also tlp and related programs if installed. So if the machine trips 60 for any reason, an mce exception is logged.
