I was giving my 8500 a battery of Tech Tool Pro 3 tests while booted from the CD and I decided to subject my two 128MB interleaved DIMMS (purchased from OWC 3 months ago and passed basic testing previously) with some of the "extra" tests on the TT3 RAM tester. Everything went well up until the last test called "Major March" whereupon my computer froze instantly. I soft-restarted and rebooted from the CD and tried the "Minor March" RAM test, one that I skipped on the last try, and this also caused an instant freeze.
Is this a bad thing? It may help to know I just installed a Powerlogix G3/350 upgrade processor to my 8500/120 and had been experimenting all day with various bus and backside cache ratios. I finally decided to stick with the preset recommended switch settings which gave me the rated 350 MHz clock speed at 50 MHz bus speed (up from 40 MHz with my old 604 on this mobo) at a 7:1 bus ratio. This was with the 512K backside cache running at 140Mhz or less than the typically desired 2:1 ratio. So, nothing really too taxing on the system other than the higher bus speed which, Powerlogix says should work. Does anyone know if those particular RAM tests are a major strain to a system. Should I suspect the RAM? It has given me no problems since the install. Or is it more likely the processor or system bus couldn't handle the test activities? Last question: Is disabling the 256K motherboard cache with the G3 card control panel just as effective as physically removing the cache DIMM? I really do NOT want to go back in and remove all my cards and disconnect every cable and wire to take this poorly designed rig apart again! Last time I went in I removed the two original 8MB DIMMS from the A2, B2 slots as recommended by Powerlogix and noticed absolutely no difference in the G3 with or without them. Only going back in if completely necessary! Thanks for listening, Mike -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
