Memory and such.

Post #89,980 by Ashton 3/21/03 6:41:16 AM 3/21/03 6:49:02 AM Reply	Memory and such. No, it started happening and THEN we bought more memory. It's also a brand new motherboard, do we still need to run diagnostics on it? OK - that probably makes "bad physical memory" an unlikely cause. Diags? - Can't hurt when you have an inexplicable phenom, either all the time or intermittently. Letting Diags test everything and then run overnight, repeatedly checking memory: If all tests have 0 failures: at least you probably can eliminate hardware (though not necessarily hardware setup, IRQs and such). As to "base 640K": DOS is a crude theft of the CP/M OS, slightly redone for a particular microprocessor - as usual with virtually every M/Soft "innovation": stolen from someone who really did know how to innovate, a place called Digital Research. Without going into details: "640K" in those days was thought to be vastly more memory than anyone would ever need! It became necessary to do lots of clever coding things to address memory beyond 1 MB and then ---> onwards. IF.. there's a problem in memory within that first 640 Kilobytes (of your 256 or whatever Megabytes of total RAM) - usually the so-called POST (Power On Self Test) will stop everything, with beeps or maybe even a "bad memory" display - depending on exact address of first bad location, regarding the video display. This would happen while still in the "black screen = DOS" first stage you always pass through before 'Doze loads all its toys. Anyway.. running Diagnostics may reveal that the new memory IS bad (too) or improperly 'seated' or that the motherboard has suffered "infant mortality failure" etc. Electronics can fail any old time.. no matter what probability says! There's no reason Not to run Diags, so - why not run them? Knowledge is good (up to the point of making it some sorta God and all) Ashton PS: What I meant about "total memory detected by Windoze" was: MyComputer/ControlPanel/System [Performance Tab] should show (at least in the 9.x series, dunno re Ex-Pee): what Doze thinks is the total "System RAM". almost always it will agree with POST results -- except in the case I described. Not your problem, here - apparently. Doesn't mean you don't have some subtle memory problem though; just less likely to be It. A Edited by Ashton March 21, 2003, 06:49:02 AM EST Expand All History
Post #89,982 by jbrabeck 3/21/03 8:12:24 AM Reply	Could it be heat related? Since the "reboots" don't bring back all the memory until you're tried a few times (chips have "cooled"). Ashton, Andrew, others... does this seem probable? Nightowl, do you always have the correct RAM upon startup when computer has been off for a period of time? [link\|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com\|Joe]
Post #89,990 by Nightowl 3/21/03 9:10:33 AM Reply	Re: Could it be heat related? Since the "reboots" don't bring back all the memory until you're tried a few times (chips have "cooled"). Ashton, Andrew, others... does this seem probable? Well we also recently replaced the CPU fan, there should not be a heat problem. Hmmm. Nightowl, do you always have the correct RAM upon startup when computer has been off for a period of time? Nope, I've even had it off all night long, and booting it up sometimes only brings us 332 in tweakram's counter. Still has the right number in DOS bootup though. Perplexing isn't it? ;) Thanks for your input, still searching and analyzing :) Nightowl >8# "Only dead fish swim with the stream." Linda Ellerbee
Post #89,991 by Nightowl 3/21/03 9:14:49 AM Reply	Re: Memory and such. Diags? - Can't hurt when you have an inexplicable phenom, either all the time or intermittently. Letting Diags test everything and then run overnight, repeatedly checking memory: What do I run a diagnostic with? Is there a specific software? As to "base 640K": DOS is a crude theft of the CP/M OS, slightly redone for a particular microprocessor - as usual with virtually every M/Soft "innovation": stolen from someone who really did know how to innovate, a place called Digital Research. Without going into details: "640K" in those days was thought to be vastly more memory than anyone would ever need! It became necessary to do lots of clever coding things to address memory beyond 1 MB and then ---> onwards. IF.. there's a problem in memory within that first 640 Kilobytes (of your 256 or whatever Megabytes of total RAM) - usually the so-called POST (Power On Self Test) will stop everything, with beeps or maybe even a "bad memory" display - depending on exact address of first bad location, regarding the video display. This would happen while still in the "black screen = DOS" first stage you always pass through before 'Doze loads all its toys. Anyway.. running Diagnostics may reveal that the new memory IS bad (too) or improperly 'seated' or that the motherboard has suffered "infant mortality failure" etc. Electronics can fail any old time.. no matter what probability says! There's no reason Not to run Diags, so - why not run them? I'll ask John if we have something to run them with. PS: What I meant about "total memory detected by Windoze" was: MyComputer/ControlPanel/System [Performance Tab] should show (at least in the 9.x series, dunno re Ex-Pee): what Doze thinks is the total "System RAM". almost always it will agree with POST results -- except in the case I described. Not your problem, here - apparently. Doesn't mean you don't have some subtle memory problem though; just less likely to be It. Thanks for explaining that. John helped me understand it some too, but we have seen no indication so far on the DOS bootup screen of any memory issues. Thanks also for your input. I'm still running individual tests, too. :) Nightowl >8# "Only dead fish swim with the stream." Linda Ellerbee

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