OT Memory question(s)
Running 9.3 on my Pentium II and KDE is still a satisfactory experience. I have some memory added to my main board and have heavily used the memory test program because I had the idea that some of the memory was defect. Memory test has run over an extended period and indeed it seemed that I had a defect in one of the memory chips. Rearranging the memory chips gave me although a total different result. Suddenly the memory banks seem to be free of defects. Is that possible? Can it be that somewhere in the three memory banks there is some small defect? I am a little bit troubled. Especially after the new arrangement the 256M chip only seems to show 128 M. Together with the 128M chip and a 32M chip it gives now a total of 288M, slightly lower than the 256M and 60 M from the chip which was shown as defect. As the 256 chip is newly bought I will exchange this chip with a new one (guarantee) but I would like to know if I have overlooked something.
C. Brouerius van Nidek wrote:
Running 9.3 on my Pentium II and KDE is still a satisfactory experience. I have some memory added to my main board and have heavily used the memory test program because I had the idea that some of the memory was defect. Memory test has run over an extended period and indeed it seemed that I had a defect in one of the memory chips. Rearranging the memory chips gave me although a total different result. Suddenly the memory banks seem to be free of defects. Is that possible? Can it be that somewhere in the three memory banks there is some small defect? I am a little bit troubled. Especially after the new arrangement the 256M chip only seems to show 128 M. Together with the 128M chip and a 32M chip it gives now a total of 288M, slightly lower than the 256M and 60 M from the chip which was shown as defect. As the 256 chip is newly bought I will exchange this chip with a new one (guarantee) but I would like to know if I have overlooked something.
It's hard to determine what you're saying. The amount of memory shouldn't change, with moving the memory around, unless the mother board has some restriction on memory placement. Does it? It is entirely possible that an apparent memory error will occur, if there's a poor connection, caused by dirt etc. I wouldn't call a reduced amount of available memory "free of defects". If you can't access some memory that's plugged in, there's a problem somewhere.
On Sunday 03 July 2005 13:05, James Knott wrote:
It's hard to determine what you're saying. The amount of memory shouldn't change, with moving the memory around, unless the mother board has some restriction on memory placement. Does it? It is entirely possible that an apparent memory error will occur, if there's a poor connection, caused by dirt etc. I wouldn't call a reduced amount of available memory "free of defects". If you can't access some memory that's plugged in, there's a problem somewhere.
I had a problem recently with a MSI motherboard. It wouldn't see all the memory and sometime see no memory at all, depending on DIMM placement. A BIOS upgrade fixed the problem. Check motherboard manufacturers website to see if this is a known problem with that specific motherboard. -- Robert "roach" Spencer Pietermaritzburg South Africa
On Sunday 03 July 2005 19:36, roach wrote:
On Sunday 03 July 2005 13:05, James Knott wrote:
It's hard to determine what you're saying. The amount of memory shouldn't change, with moving the memory around, unless the mother board has some restriction on memory placement. Does it? It is entirely possible that an apparent memory error will occur, if there's a poor connection, caused by dirt etc. I wouldn't call a reduced amount of available memory "free of defects". If you can't access some memory that's plugged in, there's a problem somewhere.
I had a problem recently with a MSI motherboard. It wouldn't see all the memory and sometime see no memory at all, depending on DIMM placement. A BIOS upgrade fixed the problem.
Check motherboard manufacturers website to see if this is a known problem with that specific motherboard.
-- Thanks Robert Will follow up your suggestion. Makes sense.
roach (robert_spencer@mighty.co.za) wrote something I wish to comment : (news:<200507031436.08751.robert_spencer@mighty.co.za> posted on 03-juil-05 13:36:08)
It's hard to determine what you're saying. The amount of memory shouldn't change, with moving the memory around, unless the mother board has some restriction on memory placement. Does it? It is entirely possible that an apparent memory error will occur, if there's a poor connection, caused by dirt etc. I wouldn't call a reduced amount of available memory "free of defects". If you can't access some memory that's plugged in, there's a problem somewhere.
I had a problem recently with a MSI motherboard. It wouldn't see all the memory and sometime see no memory at all, depending on DIMM placement. A BIOS upgrade fixed the problem.
Check motherboard manufacturers website to see if this is a known problem with that specific motherboard.
I'm too having the halfed sized memory problem. I bought 3 RAM sticks of 256 Mb (don't remind the supplier/model now), and at first, they properly showed as a total of 768 Mb RAM. Later, I realized that the RAM available had fall to 384 Mb (???) I didn't change anything to the hardware configuration. I've just updated the BIOS, but that didn't help to recover the missing half RAM. I also tried to modify a few chipset setting in the BIOS, but without any improvement. Is there something particular I should check/set in the BIOS settings ? Probably the RAM sticks are low quality ones and are defective. My motherboard is a AOPEN AX6BC Pro. The only 256Mb SDRAM dimm tested by AOPEN (Mitsubishi M5M4V64S20ATP) as shown on their website seems to be no more available anywhere. Can someone recommand me some good quality 256 Mb SDRAM I could buy from Internet ? AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN PRIVACY SHIELD----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. okMVAIEBOWaGRElMIypypVIM0HSzvHHUxVDJzSOp5vFzBUMHFqcqazVxVKOAD5jtnVEyqzHr tCIzvHUPtWlOtLHTEvthvGtFyRFnKtWyJ3dEF6RyDnD0ERRVOltODyJ1H2vxOV5bOWFVcMlO MaVJTpF0LIMVISJRtIttpIPLUnOOqISAOtFyHyptjIRSOqyc5dI5pVpFzNJVvAOpp1vlHjja qE5xlOqlDFy3MYbVfupVvuvVvGtPP= -----END PRIVACY SHIELD----- Don't mind me, I'm just passing through.
On Sunday 03 July 2005 4:25 pm, AmigaPhil@ping.be wrote:
Probably the RAM sticks are low quality ones and are defective. My motherboard is a AOPEN AX6BC Pro. The only 256Mb SDRAM dimm tested by AOPEN (Mitsubishi M5M4V64S20ATP) as shown on their website seems to be no more available anywhere.
Can someone recommand me some good quality 256 Mb SDRAM I could buy from Internet ?
Yes.....sounds like bad RAM. Get RAM from http://www.crucial.com/ - good and reliable. Fred -- Planet Earth - a subsidiary of Microsoft. We have no bugs in our software, Never! We do have undocumented added features, that you will find amusing, at no added cost to you, at this time.
Fred A. Miller (fmiller@lightlink.com) wrote something I wish to comment : (news:<200507031749.52545.fmiller@lightlink.com> posted on 03-juil-05 22:49:52)
Can someone recommand me some good quality 256 Mb SDRAM I could buy from Internet ?
Yes.....sounds like bad RAM. Get RAM from http://www.crucial.com/ - good and reliable.
I placed an order. Nice and easy to use website, they sound very pro. Thanks for the advice. AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN NSA CHEATER----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. LJRHDWEnSFAzEVYazESPKHJW3CtAqEKtJxvOvprOOqFRz2ypFlSOypHOVIHlpqtIEWbGjqva IaUVyUFtODJlIV0VHRzVzFcMARDMokITvFEl6anzp5lxx1zxFAjMISGLHIpRhtUdOV1fH5lF H5yMRpT0vydntItORyLWOMcvbVVBUVBEyvDOHHOtpSDFtMMvvMqy5ylPItVVtDuJINO3Gt== -----END NSA CHEATER----- This tagline will selfdestruct in 10 seconds!
Replying to my own previous post:
Can someone recommand me some good quality 256 Mb SDRAM I could buy from Internet ?
Yes.....sounds like bad RAM. Get RAM from http://www.crucial.com/ - good and reliable.
I placed an order. Nice and easy to use website, they sound very pro. Thanks for the advice.
One more question: Can overclocking the CPU damage the RAM ? My CPU is a Pentium III Copermine, 100Mhz, 3.5 clock rate, but it runs at 138Mhz - 5.5 clock rate (so 759Mhz instead of 350Mhz). The SDRAM I've just ordered is PC100. Should I switch back the CPU clock frequency to 100Mhz or will the RAM support the 138Mhz ? AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN ECHELON TEASER----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. aVVhpp0FHFtBtWjGMYHvtEVqlIbEK1DtLyHH2tRadtAUxSAJUTyWcIqx5DaDElUpzHyIAMaM RjMnRJztVWLVtOHHdzcvSO1JvqzSpytFnOCkRISnVOEFVOyKlROzUTVpvFzPVDDBF5zSyAlI xIMG3IvlplvEHp06I5OOxOLrtJIVHJvpEFyyMRFyOWOvv5IqEVoRlObVMqtD3FuPMHNfGt== -----END ECHELON TEASER----- Windows open and let the bugs in.
On Monday 04 July 2005 05:44, AmigaPhil@ping.be wrote:
One more question:
Can overclocking the CPU damage the RAM ?
Doubtful unless your fiddling with voltages as well.
My CPU is a Pentium III Copermine, 100Mhz, 3.5 clock rate, but it runs at 138Mhz - 5.5 clock rate (so 759Mhz instead of 350Mhz). The SDRAM I've just ordered is PC100. Should I switch back the CPU clock frequency to 100Mhz or will the RAM support the 138Mhz ?
RAM of varying quality will fail at different frequencies. Only way to know is to test it or buy memory guaranteed to work at that frequency. NB: Borderline RAM will work when cold and die when hot. Run tests for long time. -- Robert "roach" Spencer Pietermaritzburg South Africa
roach (robert_spencer@mighty.co.za) wrote something I wish to comment : (news:<200507040751.48932.robert_spencer@mighty.co.za> posted on 04-juil-05 06:51:48)
Can overclocking the CPU damage the RAM ?
Doubtful unless your fiddling with voltages as well.
No, I don't dare to experiment with the voltage.
RAM of varying quality will fail at different frequencies. Only way to know is to test it or buy memory guaranteed to work at that frequency.
NB: Borderline RAM will work when cold and die when hot. Run tests for long time.
As soon as I receive the PC100 registered SDRAM I've ordered, I will rum memtest all night long (and maybe 24h) with the CPU clock frequency at 138Mhz, to see how the RAM behave. AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN ECHELON TEASER----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. tDI2FHvpjBkHHbDPvvV5OqaxyWSTLqFEAyv53atEARa6nEFHApyOAzFHrzOWdvp0tSxEzHMl pxOtzMIptpVySJMtFOhcaHISyUMvVnby2IltU1EGYOoDF1IRRMpWJKD0FItJMjaVJvzRdIJD IjVJzLOWBROKOyRcVtFyMGlqtV5EDyHxIvnVLTHqllFVlWCUtlEq5vOVHztSRVbIfVNVOyVU pOP3OMuGt -----END ECHELON TEASER-----
Fred A. Miller (fmiller@lightlink.com) wrote :
Can someone recommand me some good quality 256 Mb SDRAM I could buy from Internet ?
Yes.....sounds like bad RAM. Get RAM from http://www.crucial.com/ - good and reliable.
I placed an order. Nice and easy to use website, they sound very pro. Thanks for the advice.
I've just receive the RAM I ordered on Sunday night (fast delivery !) So far, the RAM seems to work properly (running memtest-86 right now). Yes, crucial is a good source ! On the dark side... While I was replacing the RAM, I saw the old sticks were 128MB and NOT 256Mb as I thought :-° (Maybe I dreamed I had 256Mb sticks ???) Anyway, a quick check make me think my Suse 9.3 installation run a bit smoother now (less swapping ?). AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN PRIVATE MESSAGE----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. ppyJROFGlzzVvRvVyRRa0vtbClDHL5ITErJ5ctxSEWFFtIvWPMIaE5USyGFtHyFvMVIAOEI2 yMxtqpFtM3olvWnO6datOyzD1JfpRIFKHVHypOtMEEVSjIc1zSSqDpHYzhzyAJDqzAOEFvDp IVHDnVaq5qdKVkOtlLlWlHHMUVVnIBMOFvtHUtAyx0JBVRROjLPIlOUVTHpObOvuGxNMt3== -----END PRIVATE MESSAGE----- Give up, you'll only live til you die.
AmigaPhil@ping.be wrote:
Fred A. Miller (fmiller@lightlink.com) wrote :
Can someone recommand me some good quality 256 Mb SDRAM I could buy from Internet ? Yes.....sounds like bad RAM. Get RAM from http://www.crucial.com/ - good and reliable. I placed an order. Nice and easy to use website, they sound very pro. Thanks for the advice.
I've just receive the RAM I ordered on Sunday night (fast delivery !) So far, the RAM seems to work properly (running memtest-86 right now). Yes, crucial is a good source !
On the dark side... While I was replacing the RAM, I saw the old sticks were 128MB and NOT 256Mb as I thought :-° (Maybe I dreamed I had 256Mb sticks ???)
Or perhaps it was virtual memory. ;-)
On Sunday 03 July 2005 22:25, AmigaPhil@ping.be wrote: <...>
Probably the RAM sticks are low quality ones and are defective. My motherboard is a AOPEN AX6BC Pro. The only 256Mb SDRAM dimm tested by AOPEN (Mitsubishi M5M4V64S20ATP) as shown on their website seems to be no more available anywhere.
Try testing your RAM with Memtest86 or Memtest86+. Comes with Suse Installation DVD in boot menu. No point in buying new memory if that's not the problem. Some other debugging suggestions: - Test RAM in PC. #Confirm if RAM is bad. - Test RAM in other PC. #Verify RAM is bad. - Test RAM in PC with cache switched off. #Rule out bad cache RAM. - Test in PC with other RAM. #Try to rule out bad motherboard. Hope this helps. -- Robert "roach" Spencer Pietermaritzburg South Africa
Robert, On Sunday 03 July 2005 22:45, roach wrote:
On Sunday 03 July 2005 22:25, AmigaPhil@ping.be wrote: <...>
Probably the RAM sticks are low quality ones and are defective. My motherboard is a AOPEN AX6BC Pro. The only 256Mb SDRAM dimm tested by AOPEN (Mitsubishi M5M4V64S20ATP) as shown on their website seems to be no more available anywhere.
Try testing your RAM with Memtest86 or Memtest86+. Comes with Suse Installation DVD in boot menu.
Bear in mind that as Intel has produced new processors, MemTest86 has required updating. E.g., on my current system the MemTest86 from the 9.1 boot / install disk just crashes. The one from 9.3 is OK, as is the latest from the MemTest86 Web site.
No point in buying new memory if that's not the problem.
And likewise there's no point buying new memory if a MemTest86 crash makes you think there's a problem with your RAM but there is no such problem.
...
-- Robert "roach" Spencer
Randall Schulz
roach (robert_spencer@mighty.co.za) wrote something I wish to comment : (news:<200507040745.51049.robert_spencer@mighty.co.za> posted on 04-juil-05 06:45:50)
Try testing your RAM with Memtest86 or Memtest86+. Comes with Suse Installation DVD in boot menu.
I did run it once, for a little more than half an hour. All seemed ok, but I think that only the "visible" 128Mb part of the 256Mb sticks were tested, the "missing" 128Mb left being ignored.
No point in buying new memory if that's not the problem.
Too late, I already ordered 3 dimms of registered 256Mb SDRAM (PC100). I'm confident they are working, good quality RAM (127$ each); and I hope they will run fine at 138Mhz (overclocked) CPU clock frequency. (Just a bit anxious as if I could damage them doing that.)
Some other debugging suggestions:
- Test RAM in PC. #Confirm if RAM is bad. - Test RAM in other PC. #Verify RAM is bad. - Test RAM in PC with cache switched off. #Rule out bad cache RAM. - Test in PC with other RAM. #Try to rule out bad motherboard.
No other PC to test the suspected defective RAM at the moment. I will test them later. Thanks. AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN CARNIVORE TEASER----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. tjvVLcARvtlDtOGzycVzvSn3yWMAWFIvFlIJLpVTMzyI2FhMlAOyHyaqvapxaOWEVnESIpIn Hyyp0JIEtxHtODztFHSKtMHHIRVpJpVHvRpJy0USDVt5DPVxTDVVMJObEFHtnplMMBLBUGlz OIFVFEkaqxDpV3KqDJty5RjP1pOydHR1YOfFrJtyMAORzHFMMozW6YRMCWdI5zLDI0UtpORF vESK3pvpllEOulqUGMOqN5btPvItI= -----END CARNIVORE TEASER-----
AmigaPhil@ping.be wrote:
I did run it once, for a little more than half an hour. All seemed ok, but I think that only the "visible" 128Mb part of the 256Mb sticks were tested, the "missing" 128Mb left being ignored.
that problem is IMHO a BIOS problem. I have seen similar. My guess is the chips on the SDRAM are too big, and the BIOS doesn't support the highest address line. I had one that only saw 128M of a 256M stick, because IIRC they used 64M chips, and the largest I could use was 32M chips. I could use 256M SDRAM, but I could only use the lower chip size. I was able to swap for an older 256M that used 32M chips with a newer machine. YMMV, but the newer the memory, the possibility of them using the bigger capacity chips (lower chip number) on the stick goes up, and barring the motherboard coming out with a BIOS update to fix it (assuming it isn't a hardware limitation), you may have the same problem with newer memory. -- Joe Morris New Tribes Mission Email Address: Joe_Morris@ntm.org Registered Linux user 231871
NTM (Joe_Morris@ntm.org) wrote something I wish to comment : (news:<42C95A7B.3020606@ntm.org> posted on 04-juil-05 16:49:15)
I did run it once, for a little more than half an hour. All seemed ok, but I think that only the "visible" 128Mb part of the 256Mb sticks were tested, the "missing" 128Mb left being ignored.
that problem is IMHO a BIOS problem. I have seen similar. My guess is the chips on the SDRAM are too big, and the BIOS doesn't support the highest address line. I had one that only saw 128M of a 256M stick, because IIRC they used 64M chips, and the largest I could use was 32M chips. I could use 256M SDRAM, but I could only use the lower chip size. I was able to swap for an older 256M that used 32M chips with a newer machine. YMMV, but the newer the memory, the possibility of them using the bigger capacity chips (lower chip number) on the stick goes up, and barring the motherboard coming out with a BIOS update to fix it (assuming it isn't a hardware limitation), you may have the same problem with newer memory.
That's possible. The strange thing is that when I first installed the memory sticks, they properly showed as a total of 768Mb RAM. Later, I realized that the RAM had fall to 384Mb. I also recently updated the BIOS, but that didn't fixed the problem. AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN CARNIVORE TEASER----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. Ia3ttJRFJOlBxjnyzYzDxOkxODGHbVvvEDrpzIE5DOqFvvSELaVyVvEHytHJGCSvJpOlBt0I IWHyOpFFSHzADylUR6FEURTlSL1AzcHzMpVhVOttjoFMHPWVAMxTdaSy1IpMtVlHqtOnWtdH M2VzAn5tJFcRyyWI5EvKpVRqMLtDHRbKIVI5Fv0UaqfpIlVqEpUvRIuVyOOOFMlNM3POGt== -----END CARNIVORE TEASER-----
AmigaPhil (AmigaPhil@ping.be) wrote something I wish to comment : (news:<1819.46T1654T10983159AmigaPhil@ping.be> posted on 04-juil-05 18:18:33)
I did run it once, for a little more than half an hour. All seemed ok, but I think that only the "visible" 128Mb part of the 256Mb sticks were tested, the "missing" 128Mb left being ignored.
that problem is IMHO a BIOS problem. I have seen similar. My guess is the chips on the SDRAM are too big, and the BIOS doesn't support the highest address line. I had one that only saw 128M of a 256M stick, because IIRC they used 64M chips, and the largest I could use was 32M chips. I could use 256M SDRAM, but I could only use the lower chip size. I was able to swap for an older 256M that used 32M chips with a newer machine. YMMV, but the newer the memory, the possibility of them using the bigger capacity chips (lower chip number) on the stick goes up, and barring the motherboard coming out with a BIOS update to fix it (assuming it isn't a hardware limitation), you may have the same problem with newer memory.
That's possible.
The strange thing is that when I first installed the memory sticks, they properly showed as a total of 768Mb RAM. Later, I realized that the RAM had fall to 384Mb.
I also recently updated the BIOS, but that didn't fixed the problem.
Erm, well, while I was installing the new 256Mb SDRAM I bought, I saw the older RAM sticks were NOT 256Mb as I thought, but 128 ! (Shame on me) I don't know were I saw I was once having 768Mb, as it was not possible. Maybe I dream too much... (At least, that made me upgrade the BIOS and increase the available RAM) Hu-ho, Memtest-86 is now reporting errors at Test 7 - Random number sequence: various locations, but the Err-Bits is always 00000080 AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN NSA TEASER----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. OBzIRRPyHvpFpA3ELpdHVVAxVHFWnJFSttOO1OEzqGvqxbVVvxvDHSASpxJUKEyF5MnyTRtc cApWUOFztyOVOIvHWMSqEanzElJHOIRytlIDtz0TRjK5zvDDHlYOjUOJDnMvalyIIGHzCSak t0UzaMLIkRLIVlpRIypat1HlztxqyH5pMFOhho6MBtDErOOqSFIIMM2HVJKOFOyEOIqFDVIv 6VIIVtUdEf3VuvqI5UVWlRMbPNrGtt -----END NSA TEASER----- WindowsError:01C Uncertainty error. Uncertainty may be inadequate.
I wrote :
Hu-ho, Memtest-86 is now reporting errors at Test 7 - Random number sequence: various locations, but the Err-Bits is always 00000080
Switched back the CPU clock frequency to 100Mhz (the CPU is a Pentium III, Coppermine, 550E), and run Memtest - test 7 again: now the errors are gone. This confirm my previous question: using PC100 SDRAM with an overclocked CPU is risky. I have now more RAM, but a slower computer (base 550Mhz instead of the overclocked 759Mhz). However, I'm more confident that the system will run stable. AmigaPhil, world citizen. /No MS-HTML mail please/ PGP key: 0x9C07F6C1 -----BEGIN NSA TEASER----- The following garbage may or may not contain crypted message. At least you now know I'm an advocate for the respect of privacy. GDEMlHESUIEIKhlJypByIpvVW3blWEOrVSvtHqpRpHHkIVptyHnJz1dOxalct2WztvRDzxUD FntDz5yAyt16yFDxOFvjqvOMaJPqGVatFVOIOKHYAMF0lHvSSLJTMj5VHLAplHRCyVBLSdOR OaV0RMUcozIEEOFMyzqWFtI5IVAItnMvVOvfOEFVFpJHpDIzVMOxTRRyUlNtGv5bu3tPtq== -----END NSA TEASER-----
participants (7)
-
AmigaPhil＠ping.be -
C. Brouerius van Nidek -
Fred A. Miller -
James Knott -
Joe Morris (NTM) -
Randall R Schulz -
roach