Ralph Shumaker wrote:
DJA wrote:
Ralph Shumaker wrote:
DJA wrote:
memtest86 turns up *no* errors.
All eleven tests?
The version I'm using (v3.2) has only 9 tests. The change log said
something about eliminating a couple of them.
I don't remember what version I have - it's fairly recent - but tests
1-8 are the "Basic" tests. Choosing "Tests" (or something similar) from
the Configure menu allows you to run just Basic, just Advanced, all, or
selected tests. Including the advanced tests, there are eleven tests in all.
Memtest86 should only be run from floppy. It wasn't clear that you knew
this. It will run from a HDD, but that would introduce a possible
measure of unreliability to the results (what if the drive running the
test is bad?).
Next step: run the drive diagnostics. That should be pretty
conclusive, one way or the other. Remember to run it first *without*
the Promise card, then again with.
Tomorrow I will shut down and pull the drive to see the Manufacturer and
other info.
You only need to know the drive manufacturer so you can download its
diagnostic software. This software is also run /only/ from floppy (for
the same reasons above).
It escaped my notice that you may not be able to test the whole of the
160 GB drive without the Promise controller because of the age of the
motherboard BIOS. The drive can be "Clipped" to 32 GB but that would
certainly restrict the test to only about a fifth of the drive capacity.
The diagnostics may be able to see all of the (non-clipped) drive even
though the BIOS won't. I've never tried that. My advice is to test the
drive in another known good box if possible - without the Promise card,
of course.
If you can only test with the Promise card, and the drive fails, you
will only be able to trust that the problem lies with one or both of
those components (assuming both RAM and mobo are good [1]).
[1] I had a good drive test as being bad by the manufacturer's
diagnostic software because the motherboard was bad. Subsequent testing
as outlined in a previous post determined that the motherboard was bad,
with its symptoms showing up as both bad RAM and a bad HDD.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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