server process (PID 27884) was terminated by signal 4 (SIGILL)

Hi,

i had a rather strange crash of my server (log file at the end of my mailling)
and i was googling for Signal 4 and read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIGILL

i am running on linux 2.6.18-5-686 and postgresql-8.1.9-0etch2.

Most (all?) other processes on this machine got signal 4 at this time also
(postfix, munin), etc

As i understood my reading about signal 4, there must be some kind of hardware
failure as the postgresql log says, too. I rebooted the server and since then
everything works fine. But i am going to drop this server and replace it with
a new one of course. I just want to ask if there is something else besideds
hardware failure which could force a signall 4 (ILL)?

I am asking as i did a lot of CREATE/DROP Tables before to move some data back
and forth between to schemas. Is it possible that massive creating and
dropping of tables generated this error. If so, i have to rethink my sql
script. Otherwise i just would replace the hardware.

here is my log:

LOG: server process (PID 27884) was terminated by signal 4
LOG: terminating any other active server processes
WARNING: terminating connection because of crash of another server process
DETAIL: The postmaster has commanded this server process to roll back the
current transaction and exit, because another server process exited
abnormally and possibly corrupted shared memory.
HINT: In a moment you should be able to reconnect to the database and repeat
your command.
WARNING: terminating connection because of crash of another server process
[...] 26 times
LOG: all server processes terminated; reinitializing
LOG: database system was interrupted at 2007-12-31 13:43:49 CET
LOG: checkpoint record is at 4/D401C5FC
LOG: redo record is at 4/D401C5FC; undo record is at 0/0; shutdown FALSE
LOG: next transaction ID: 22378390; next OID: 373396
LOG: next MultiXactId: 2; next MultiXactOffset: 3
LOG: database system was not properly shut down; automatic recovery in
progress
LOG: redo starts at 4/D401C640
LOG: record with zero length at 4/D401E88C
LOG: redo done at 4/D401E864
LOG: database system is ready
LOG: transaction ID wrap limit is 2147484146, limited by database "postgres"
LOG: database system was interrupted at 2007-12-31 13:43:59 CET
LOG: checkpoint record is at 4/D401E88C
LOG: redo record is at 4/D401E88C; undo record is at 0/0; shutdown TRUE
LOG: next transaction ID: 22378414; next OID: 373396
LOG: next MultiXactId: 2; next MultiXactOffset: 3
LOG: database system was not properly shut down; automatic recovery in
progress
LOG: incomplete startup packet
LOG: record with zero length at 4/D401E8D0
LOG: redo is not required
LOG: database system is ready
LOG: transaction ID wrap limit is 2147484146, limited by database "postgres"

kind regards,
janning