[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Parity Error. What do I do?

beckman@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Peter Beckman) (11/21/90)

Memory parity interrupt at
0BC6:006D
type (S)hut NMI (R)eboot, other keys to continue

I have a 386/33, Phoenix Bios, 4 Meg in SIMMS, and since I rebooted, I
can't recreate it.  What should I do?

-Pete

grege@gold.gvg.tek.com (Greg Ebert) (11/21/90)

In article <73334@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> beckman@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Peter Beckman) writes:
>Memory parity interrupt at
>0BC6:006D
>type (S)hut NMI (R)eboot, other keys to continue
>
>I have a 386/33, Phoenix Bios, 4 Meg in SIMMS, and since I rebooted, I
>can't recreate it.  What should I do?
>

If your BIOS auto-sizes RAM (as most do), start popping-out SIMMS until the
error goes away. Now you've located the bad SIMM. Take it to work/school
and ''exchange it'' [just kidding].

Be aware that you will need to move them around to get contiguous RAM. This
trick *WONT* work if your system uses 1Mx9 SIMMS; I suspect your system uses
the 256Kx36 format so you probably don't need to worry.

Also, try the (S)hut option. Sounds like it will silence future parity
errors so you can boot and run stuff < 1M. 

swh@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com (Steve Harrold) (11/21/90)

>>> Memory parity interrupt at
>>> 0BC6:006D
>>> type (S)hut NMI (R)eboot, other keys to continue
>>> 
>>> I have a 386/33, Phoenix Bios, 4 Meg in SIMMS, and since I rebooted, I
>>> can't recreate it.  What should I do?
----------

You may be experiencing a false alarm here.

My HP Vectra ES/12 (a 286 with extended memory) periodically (once every 
few months) issues this message.  The work-around is to power off/on and 
it goes away.  Perhaps this is truly an intermittent hardware problem, 
but I think, in my case, it is software related.

After discussions with other people who have also experienced this
behaviour,  I've concluded that some memory managers do not do a good 
job of resetting memory at reboot.  Aborting Windows, or Ventura Publisher, 
often seems to be trigger the problem.

Next time you hit this condition, think back and check if, since the last
power on, you aborted an application or OS extension that was exercising
or controlling extended memory.  If so, you may be experiencing what 
I've been seeing, and you can blame the software. (Now, try and get
THAT fixed :-)

poffen@sj.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger) (11/22/90)

In article <73334@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> beckman@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Peter Beckman) writes:
>Memory parity interrupt at
>0BC6:006D
>type (S)hut NMI (R)eboot, other keys to continue
>
>I have a 386/33, Phoenix Bios, 4 Meg in SIMMS, and since I rebooted, I
>can't recreate it.  What should I do?
>

Nothing unless it starts happening again with more regularity.

Believe it or not, but DRAMs have a specified soft error rate. It is usually
one bit in error every godawful long time. Things like nuclear particles and
cosmic rays can cause a bit to flip, causing a once in a blue moon parity
error.

I wouldn't worry unless it starts becoming chronic, and at the same address,
then suspect a particular chip/SIMM.


Russ Poffenberger               DOMAIN: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies       UUCP:   {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen
1601 Technology Drive		CIS:	72401,276
San Jose, Ca. 95110             (408)437-5254

shite@unf7.UUCP (Stephen Hite) (12/02/90)

In article <56470002@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com>, swh@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com (Steve Harrold) writes:
> >>> Memory parity interrupt at
> >>> 0BC6:006D
> >>> type (S)hut NMI (R)eboot, other keys to continue
> >>> 
> few months) issues this message.  The work-around is to power off/on and 
> it goes away.  Perhaps this is truly an intermittent hardware problem, 
> but I think, in my case, it is software related.
> 

   This sounds like a good idea. It happened to be also.  In my case, it
was pretty obvious what the problem was.  I took out 4 of the 8 meg I had
installed in my 386 PC and when I put it back in, some of the chips were
not as well seated as I had thought.  I reseated the chips and my problem
has vanished.

-----------------------------
Steve Hite
...gatech!uflorida!unf7!shite
shite@sinkhole.unf.edu