wendell@medsys.uucp (Wendell Dingus) (03/19/91)
Is this a ram problem, or what? I recently upgraded my A3000/16 to 6 megs, but 6 of the 256x4 Scrams were page mode, and I returned them to be replaced with scram type. I went ahead and installed the other 3 meg while waiting on the return, and things worked fine. Now I install the final 1 meg, and the program REBOOT gives a yellow screen, and blinking power light (ram error). This program reboots back to the Kickstart selection menu, and worked fine in both 2 and 5 meg configurations. Also, I've been having some sporadic gurus that just didn't happen before.. Sometimes quite bad, 3 or 4 crashes in a couple hours! 2.0 is simply more stable than this :-) Dave, I understand that SetRamsey is totally in how it names the registers, but nonetheless, I can turn on everything it supports, and the machine still functions properly. ^make that 'totally wrong' above... Anyway, is one of the new chips bad? Are there any A3000 ram test programs? As usual, any help will be greatly appreciated... ----- Wendell Dingus UseNet: ...uunet!medsys!wendell
daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (03/20/91)
In article <1991Mar19.000852.1808@medsys.uucp> wendell@medsys.uucp (Wendell Dingus) writes: >Is this a ram problem, or what? I recently upgraded my A3000/16 to 6 megs, >but 6 of the 256x4 Scrams were page mode, and I returned them to be replaced >with scram type. I went ahead and installed the other 3 meg while waiting >on the return, and things worked fine. So, far, so good. >Now I install the final 1 meg, and the program REBOOT gives a yellow screen, I don't know anything about any REBOOT program. It may be perfectly OK, but you shouldn't base the performance of your system on any single program. By the way, a yellow screen generally indicates an exception taken before you get to the point in the OS where alerts work. That could, of course, go along with what you're seeing down below. >Also, I've been having some sporadic gurus that just didn't happen before.. >Sometimes bquite bad, 3 or 4 crashes in a couple hours! The most likely thing is that one of the last RAM chips you installed is either defective, or not quite installed correctly. >Dave, I understand that SetRamsey is totally wrong in how it names the >registers, but nonetheless, I can turn on everything it supports, and the >machine still functions properly. Well, you have just pointed out that it doesn't function properly. But I think what you're claiming is that you can turn on page-detect mode (what SetRamsey calls "static column" mode), and the system works OK. You're wrong. It may appear to work OK, but it will be using incorrect RAM timing every so often with hard disk use. On some systems, this will cause immediate failures. In other systems, you'll get occasional failures, which show up as an increased rate of memory failures (which usually generate level 3 and 4 exceptions). You may only get failures when the machine gets hot. Unless you have something like 60ns DRAM in there, you will be overdriving your memory. Technically speaking, what happens is that RAS precharge to the DRAM, on occasions during disk DMA, gets only 40ns, rather than the 80ns it's supposed to get. >Anyway, is one of the new chips bad? Failures without page-detect mode set most likely indicates a bad memory chip or an incorrectly-inserted memory chip. Failures with page-detect mode set would be considered expected behavior. >Are there any A3000 ram test programs? Unfortunately, none that I know of, yet. >Wendell Dingus UseNet: ...uunet!medsys!wendell -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "What works for me might work for you" -Jimmy Buffett
frank@morpheus.UUCP (Frank McPherson) (03/21/91)
In article <19993@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: > >>Dave, I understand that SetRamsey is totally wrong in how it names the >>registers, but nonetheless, I can turn on everything it supports, and the >>machine still functions properly. > >Well, you have just pointed out that it doesn't function properly. But I >think what you're claiming is that you can turn on page-detect mode (what >SetRamsey calls "static column" mode), and the system works OK. You're wrong. >It may appear to work OK, but it will be using incorrect RAM timing every so >often with hard disk use. On some systems, this will cause immediate failures. >In other systems, you'll get occasional failures, which show up as an increased >rate of memory failures (which usually generate level 3 and 4 exceptions). You >may only get failures when the machine gets hot. Unless you have something >like 60ns DRAM in there, you will be overdriving your memory. > >Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" > {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy > "What works for me might work for you" -Jimmy Buffett -- What's this about SetRamsey not working correctly? Am I unwittingly causing some of the infrequent GURU's I experience by using this program? Should I get off my duff and get your equivalent to it, Dave? (What's it called again? Setcpu or something like that?) -- Frank McPherson INTERNET: emcphers@fox.cs.vt.edu --