>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?
Probably not. The 'March' tests were originally designed for early super computers to be run on a continuous basis on segments of memory to ferret out memory problems. With 256MB of RAM and a G3/350 running without the L2 cache enabled, I would expect the Minor March to finish in many hours and the Major to finish in a few days. What you saw as a 'freeze' was simply the computer chomping away and the progress indicator not moving. When TT is in certain test modes, it will not respond to keyboard activity and the mouse disappears, but it is working. Both tests set one byte of memory then examine every other byte of memory in the system to verify that they have not changed. Read the manual for more information. One other tester you can try is the memory test in Newer's Gauge Pro. You can get it <http://www.newertech.com/software/gauges/index.html> from Newer Tech. This test found a subtle problem with my memory that TechTool missed, because Newer's writes out a stream of changing information to the entire memory segment in one pass and then reads it back in. I was lucky in that I was able to fix the problem by setting my backside cache to Write-though (slower). >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, As long as things are working, don't worry about pulling it out. Obviously removing the card is a better solution, but if your G3 software has disabled it you should have no problems. -- Mr. PopMan - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - "Does anybody want to play a game of pinball?" Some people are born into wonderful families. Others have to find or create them. Being a member of a family is a priceless membership that we pay nothing for but love. Jim Stovall-The Ultimate Gift -- 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
