Bad RAM in expansion card. How to test?

Tempest 2084 · 21 May 2016, 20:15

I've been having all sorts of problems with my Amiga 2000 lately. I couldn't install WB 3.1 due to some weird errors and randomly I got Guru Error 8003 (although never under WB 1.3 oddly). I narrowed the problem down to my memory on my SCSI card (a GVP HD8+ Impact II). I took out all eight sticks (I had 8MB) and all my problems went away.

Obviously I want to use this RAM, so how do I test and figure out which stick(s) are bad? At the moment I can boot to WB 1.3 or 3.1 via floppies so a program that works with either would be fine.

zipper · 21 May 2016, 20:44

This?
http://bboah.amiga-resistance.info/c...gi?HARDID=1196
test 2 MB at a time so you find the bad one(s)/good ones by interchanging.

Tempest 2084 · 21 May 2016, 23:50

Yes that's it. I was hoping for a program to test the RAM rather than just sticking it in and waiting for something to happen.

zipper · 22 May 2016, 00:31

There are a couple of memtest programs in Aminet - you could try them.

Tempest 2084 · 22 May 2016, 00:34

Do they work with any memory expansion or are they card specific? Also, got a link?

Oh and when I find the bad module and need to replace it, what kind of memory do I need? All I know is that these are 1MB 80ns DRAMs.

Tempest 2084 · 23 May 2016, 18:00

There seem to be a bunch of different memory testers, is there a recommended one that everyone uses?

hooverphonique · 24 May 2016, 11:17

Quote:

Do they work with any memory expansion or are they card specific? Also, got a link?

They are normally not card-specific. To be fair, though, I don't know if there are any specific to your card.

Quote:

Oh and when I find the bad module and need to replace it, what kind of memory do I need? All I know is that these are 1MB 80ns DRAMs.

Looks like an ordinary 30 pin 1MB SIMM, which was mostly found in old pc's (386/486 era).

spannernick · 24 May 2016, 11:20

Sorry to ask this in your post but did want to make new one on the same thing..

Is the a memory test program for the A1200 and Memory Master 1200/AlfaRam 1200..?

Tempest 2084 · 27 May 2016, 03:06

Ok I found a program called Amnesia which seems to work nicely. I've tested it with all my sticks and got some interesting results. I tested two 1MB sticks at a time:

The first two sticks showed several errors in the test at the following address ranges:

$002292D8-$002292E0
$0022E4E8-$0022E4F0
$00238630-$00238638
$0022E548-$0022E550
$002386E0-$ (didn't show the second address)
$00239810-$ (didn't show the second address)
$0023F568-$0023F380

That was for one run through, I tried it several times and got errors at different addresses. I tried another program (either memcheck or checkmem) and it said everything was fine. Not sure what to make of this. I believe those are all Fast Memory ranges ($0020000 on up)

The next two sets of memory sticks I tested crashed the system before I could even get to the mem test with a Workbench Program Failed (error #80000003) message.

The final set I tested allowed me to get to the memory test but crashed DURING the test with a Workbench Program Failed (error #80000004) message.

Everything seems stable if I use the SCSI card and no extra memory.

At this point I'm thinking it's got to be one of the following:

1. ALL the memory sticks are bad. I find this hard to believe, but I suppose it could be possible. Maybe the system took a bad shock or something?

2. The memory slots on card itself is bad. This could be I possible, but if that were true would the Amiga even detect the memory? It shows up in the Memory Free message at the top of the Workbench bar.

3. Something else with the part of the system that deals with the memory has gone bad, but not the memory itself. No idea if this is even possible. The Chip memory tested just fine.

Any ideas? I'm really at a loss here. My only idea is to buy some memory off ebay and see if that works.

meynaf · 27 May 2016, 08:21

I doubt the memory sticks are bad. If they were, you wouldn't get errors at random locations (a memory cell remains at the same location so if it's dead, this location will not change).

The memory slots may have a problem. Bad electrical contact maybe. Be sure everything is clean and well inserted.

Have this memory ever worked fine with that board ? If not, that may be a timing problem ; the memory sticks are perhaps not stable for the current timing. If your board has a jumper to change the memory access speed, you may try to move it and see if something changes (I remember having a stick that refused to work at 70ns on my B1230 board).

glenn · 27 May 2016, 09:51

SHMT - Snel Hest Memory Test is nice if you want to do long time tests.

http://amiga.microkernel.net/download/shmt-1.1.lha

However the server seem to be down right now, but I think it will be up soon.

(Snel hest means "kind horse" (badly spelled) in swedish

)

Tempest 2084 · 27 May 2016, 13:59

If the pins on the memory socket were bent could it cause this problem? A few of the pins look a little bent (probably due to my removing the memory chips), but I had these errors before I did that so maybe that's not the cause?

The memory was working when I got it. I did get the occasional Guru error on startup (usually a warm reboot) but nothing that crashed the system. The only things I've added since then are a kickstart switcher (doubt that's the issue), a different cable for the hard drive so I can hook up a CD Rom drive to it but I don't have that hooked up yet (also doubt that's the issue). I also added a larger hard drive (4GB vs 1GB) but it seems to be working fine. Maybe there's a power draw issue now?

There's no timing jumper on the card. The manual says the memory has to be 100ns or faster. I believe these are 80ns SIMMs (at least from the few I checked).

Tempest 2084 · 28 May 2016, 01:11

So, on a whim I decided to take the new hard drive cable out and put my old one back in. Poof! All my memory issues went away. So it would seem that the cause of my problems is the new SCSI cable with the terminator pack on the end that I got. I have another cable with extra connectors for the CD drive but no terminator (the CD drive provides it anyway) that I'm going to try and see what happens. At least I know my memory and card are good.

EDIT: Spoke too soon. The system has become unstable again. I wonder if the power supply isn't going or something like that? Are there any system diagnostics (not just memory) I can run?

Tempest 2084 · 28 May 2016, 02:52

It was the damn 68010 I added to the system that was causing it to be unstable! I swapped the 68000 back in and the system is rock solid now. Who would have guessed? I wonder if it was conflicting with my SCSI card or if the 68010 itself was bad somehow?

21 May 2016, 20:15	#1
Tempest 2084 Prototype Historian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SE MI / USA Posts: 420	Bad RAM in expansion card. How to test? I've been having all sorts of problems with my Amiga 2000 lately. I couldn't install WB 3.1 due to some weird errors and randomly I got Guru Error 8003 (although never under WB 1.3 oddly). I narrowed the problem down to my memory on my SCSI card (a GVP HD8+ Impact II). I took out all eight sticks (I had 8MB) and all my problems went away. Obviously I want to use this RAM, so how do I test and figure out which stick(s) are bad? At the moment I can boot to WB 1.3 or 3.1 via floppies so a program that works with either would be fine.

27 May 2016, 13:59	#12
Tempest 2084 Prototype Historian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SE MI / USA Posts: 420	If the pins on the memory socket were bent could it cause this problem? A few of the pins look a little bent (probably due to my removing the memory chips), but I had these errors before I did that so maybe that's not the cause? The memory was working when I got it. I did get the occasional Guru error on startup (usually a warm reboot) but nothing that crashed the system. The only things I've added since then are a kickstart switcher (doubt that's the issue), a different cable for the hard drive so I can hook up a CD Rom drive to it but I don't have that hooked up yet (also doubt that's the issue). I also added a larger hard drive (4GB vs 1GB) but it seems to be working fine. Maybe there's a power draw issue now? There's no timing jumper on the card. The manual says the memory has to be 100ns or faster. I believe these are 80ns SIMMs (at least from the few I checked). Last edited by Tempest 2084; 27 May 2016 at 16:09.

28 May 2016, 01:11	#13
Tempest 2084 Prototype Historian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SE MI / USA Posts: 420	So, on a whim I decided to take the new hard drive cable out and put my old one back in. Poof! All my memory issues went away. So it would seem that the cause of my problems is the new SCSI cable with the terminator pack on the end that I got. I have another cable with extra connectors for the CD drive but no terminator (the CD drive provides it anyway) that I'm going to try and see what happens. At least I know my memory and card are good. EDIT: Spoke too soon. The system has become unstable again. I wonder if the power supply isn't going or something like that? Are there any system diagnostics (not just memory) I can run? Last edited by Tempest 2084; 28 May 2016 at 02:05.

28 May 2016, 02:52	#14
Tempest 2084 Prototype Historian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SE MI / USA Posts: 420	It was the damn 68010 I added to the system that was causing it to be unstable! I swapped the 68000 back in and the system is rock solid now. Who would have guessed? I wonder if it was conflicting with my SCSI card or if the 68010 itself was bad somehow? Last edited by Tempest 2084; 28 May 2016 at 03:01.

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21 May 2016, 20:44	#2
zipper Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: finland Posts: 1,837	This? http://bboah.amiga-resistance.info/c...gi?HARDID=1196 test 2 MB at a time so you find the bad one(s)/good ones by interchanging.

21 May 2016, 23:50	#3
Tempest 2084 Prototype Historian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SE MI / USA Posts: 420	Yes that's it. I was hoping for a program to test the RAM rather than just sticking it in and waiting for something to happen.

22 May 2016, 00:31	#4
zipper Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: finland Posts: 1,837	There are a couple of memtest programs in Aminet - you could try them.

22 May 2016, 00:34	#5
Tempest 2084 Prototype Historian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SE MI / USA Posts: 420	Do they work with any memory expansion or are they card specific? Also, got a link? Oh and when I find the bad module and need to replace it, what kind of memory do I need? All I know is that these are 1MB 80ns DRAMs.

23 May 2016, 18:00	#6
Tempest 2084 Prototype Historian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SE MI / USA Posts: 420	There seem to be a bunch of different memory testers, is there a recommended one that everyone uses?

24 May 2016, 11:20	#8
spannernick Retro Nuts Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: London/UK Age: 53 Posts: 1,184	Sorry to ask this in your post but did want to make new one on the same thing.. Is the a memory test program for the A1200 and Memory Master 1200/AlfaRam 1200..?

27 May 2016, 03:06	#9
Tempest 2084 Prototype Historian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SE MI / USA Posts: 420	Ok I found a program called Amnesia which seems to work nicely. I've tested it with all my sticks and got some interesting results. I tested two 1MB sticks at a time: The first two sticks showed several errors in the test at the following address ranges: $002292D8-$002292E0 $0022E4E8-$0022E4F0 $00238630-$00238638 $0022E548-$0022E550 $002386E0-$ (didn't show the second address) $00239810-$ (didn't show the second address) $0023F568-$0023F380 That was for one run through, I tried it several times and got errors at different addresses. I tried another program (either memcheck or checkmem) and it said everything was fine. Not sure what to make of this. I believe those are all Fast Memory ranges ($0020000 on up) The next two sets of memory sticks I tested crashed the system before I could even get to the mem test with a Workbench Program Failed (error #80000003) message. The final set I tested allowed me to get to the memory test but crashed DURING the test with a Workbench Program Failed (error #80000004) message. Everything seems stable if I use the SCSI card and no extra memory. At this point I'm thinking it's got to be one of the following: 1. ALL the memory sticks are bad. I find this hard to believe, but I suppose it could be possible. Maybe the system took a bad shock or something? 2. The memory slots on card itself is bad. This could be I possible, but if that were true would the Amiga even detect the memory? It shows up in the Memory Free message at the top of the Workbench bar. 3. Something else with the part of the system that deals with the memory has gone bad, but not the memory itself. No idea if this is even possible. The Chip memory tested just fine. Any ideas? I'm really at a loss here. My only idea is to buy some memory off ebay and see if that works.

27 May 2016, 08:21	#10
meynaf son of 68k Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Lyon / France Age: 51 Posts: 5,322	I doubt the memory sticks are bad. If they were, you wouldn't get errors at random locations (a memory cell remains at the same location so if it's dead, this location will not change). The memory slots may have a problem. Bad electrical contact maybe. Be sure everything is clean and well inserted. Have this memory ever worked fine with that board ? If not, that may be a timing problem ; the memory sticks are perhaps not stable for the current timing. If your board has a jumper to change the memory access speed, you may try to move it and see if something changes (I remember having a stick that refused to work at 70ns on my B1230 board).

27 May 2016, 09:51	#11
glenn Repulsive Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: stockholm Sweden Posts: 89	SHMT - Snel Hest Memory Test is nice if you want to do long time tests. http://amiga.microkernel.net/download/shmt-1.1.lha However the server seem to be down right now, but I think it will be up soon. (Snel hest means "kind horse" (badly spelled) in swedish )

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