Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 09:24:19 From: "neil barnes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: 2X fubar libretto Below... (I wonder why we respond to newsgroup messages quoting below (if we don't want flaming) and emails above?) >From: mda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: 2X fubar libretto >Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 11:43:26 -0600 > >Hi Neil - > >Thank-you for the helpful message and advice about my 2 librettos with >memory problems. (am writing you outside the list because the list won't >forward emails sent from this address) > Those on the list will recall my problems earlier this year... >I'm convinced it's a motherboard memory problem. I'm aware that thick hard >drives can break solder joints. The 4GB drive I use is an 8.5mm Toshiba. > Shouldn't cause a problem. So was mine (the thickness)...but it still broke it, and it worked outside the case. I think it was the insertion/removal rather than the thickness that causes the board to flex in a direction it doesn't really like. > >On the first computer, I recently swapped hard drives while recovering from >a virus infection. They are 8.5mm drives...but I suppose I could have >broken a solder joint while exchanging them. The second computer ran >perfectly until I installed the memory upgrade. I suppose installing the >memory PCB could have broken a solder joint, too. True - once again you're flexing the pcb. I have had one machine with a break on the memory upgrade connector. > >Or, there's an electrical problem with the memory upgrade that damages the >memory on the motherboard. (?) Feasible - but the only way I can think of that happening is something going short and pulling enough current to trash the rest of the beast. I can't really see it. (although...vague recollection...I had a desktop once where inserting a cache ram block fried all the processor interface chips...) > >I have a couple questions... > >Which solder connections needed to be touched? The legs of the RAM chips? > PCB to motherboard? Or both? In my case, it was the PCB to motherboard. The PCBs are double sided, chips top and bottom, so if there's a break on the bottom you'll never get to it... > >As both librettos boot, they report 16128KB of memory. Looks like I've >lost 256KB of RAM. When I plug in the 16MB memory card, I get 32512KB - it >sees the entire card. Does losing 256KB of RAM off the motherboard suggest >a broken solder joint? ...or could this be caused by a virus? Hum. That's a good'un. AFAIK the only way a virus can affect bootup is if it's in the bios - i.e. it's written to the eerom - and the only one I know which writes the eerom is Chernobyl...which completely trashes it. Chernobyl itself lives in the boot sector of a hard disk. Yet a stop at an exact location doesn't sound like a dodgy wire...that would tend to take out a huge chunk. I'd definately hunt for a throrough memory checker you can launch from a *clean* boot floopy, and fire up without the hard disk present. Let it run for *hours* and see if it reports problems. Remember, I could just be attributing *your* symptoms to *my* faults! Neil (who still has one dead ct50 waiting to supply spares in the future!) > >Would appreciate it if you would post your reply to the libretto list. It >may invoke responses from other folks. >Thanks again, Neil! >--mark > _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ -------UNSUBSCRIBE------- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=cmd:unsubscribe --------UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Use above but add DIGEST to the subject line... **************************************************************
