Testing RAM |
June, 04, 2003 5:35 PM |
72350.3014 |
I'm having some problems with my 7500 / G3/400/512- applications keep quitting with no explanation. I suspect one of my RAM sticks- I have 576 MB installed. I believe someone mentioned on the forum a utility available for download for testing RAM- if anyone knows of anything like that which seems to work, would appreciate knowing about it- Thanks for any help. Duane Bluhm |
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RE: Testing RAM |
June, 15, 2003 10:09 AM |
72350.3014 |
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I downloaded the ProVue RamCheck 2.0. When I tried to use it, I got a total freeze, i.e., couldn't even restart with Cmd-Option-Pwr keys, had to switch the machine off. I thought it was a fluke, but i tried it again with the same results. I'm using a 7500 with Powerlogix G3 400/512 CPU card, 9.3 and 2.1 internal SCSI drives, 576 MB RAM. Has anyone had a similar experience with the ProVue utility? Duane Bluhm |
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RE: Testing RAM |
June, 11, 2003 3:28 AM |
Patrick.Demaret |
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There exists an utility to test your RAM under OSX, memtest (transposed from linux, so it is a command-line utility). Available at http://friskythecat.tripod.com/. Please read carefully the Readme.rtf file, as this utility is likely to put your mac to an halt if used to test all your memory. Here is the output on my Beige G3, testing only 10 MB on the 254 MB reported free by top (and it took already 7 minutes on a G3/333 ...): " % ./memtest 10M 1 memtest v. 2.93.1 (C) 2000 Charles Cazabon Original v.1 (C) 1999 Simon Kirby Current limits: RLIMIT_RSS 0xffffffff RLIMIT_VMEM 0xffffffff Raising limits... Allocated 10485760 bytes...trying mlock...success. Starting tests... Testing 10485760 bytes at 0x00091000 (0 bytes lost to page alignment). Run 1: Test 1: Stuck Address: Testing...Passed. Test 2: Random value: Setting...Testing...Passed. Test 3: XOR comparison: Setting...Testing...Passed. Test 4: SUB comparison: Setting...Testing...Passed. Test 5: MUL comparison: Setting...Testing...Passed. Test 6: DIV comparison: Setting...Testing...Passed. Test 7: OR comparison: Setting...Testing...Passed. Test 8: AND comparison: Setting...Testing...Passed. Test 9: Sequential Increment: Setting...Testing...Passed. Test 10: Solid Bits: Testing...Passed. Test 11: Block Sequential: Testing...Passed. Test 12: Checkerboard: Testing...Passed. Test 13: Bit Spread: Testing...Passed. Test 14: Bit Flip: Testing...Passed. Test 15: Walking Ones: Testing...Passed. Test 16: Walking Zeroes: Testing...Passed. Run 1 completed in 450 seconds (0 tests showed errors). munlock'ed memory. 1 runs completed. 0 errors detected. Total runtime: 450 seconds. " Now, I experienced the same behaviour on my PMac7500 with interleaved memory. Once I de-interleaved it, no more applications were quitting "unexpectedly". Hope this will help. |
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RE: Testing RAM |
June, 06, 2003 11:35 PM |
joevt |
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OWC upgrade finder shows 512 MB DIMMs for slot loading iMacs but only 256MB DIMMs for Rev A-D iMacs. Any memory test should be run at least over night. I use the very simple "Gauge PRO" in OS 9. It has helped me find bad RAM in my B&W G3. Boot with extensions off, run Gauge PRO, select "Memory Testing" in the File menu, click "Shutdown All Other Processes", click "Run Continuously", let it run overnight or over the weekend or while you're at work, click "Stop". If no errors occured, then the RAM should be OK. There's a simple method of converting the address reported in an error to a DIMM slot number on the B&W G3 and other new Macs. I don't know of an easy way to do that on Old World Macs (I think I read somewhere that interleaving mixes things up). |
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RE: Testing RAM |
June, 06, 2003 6:14 PM |
earlyd416 |
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Checkout this thread of a couple of weeks ago. I can vouch for it's content. 8-) http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/forum/viewThread.cfm?&thread=1766&Topic=31&threadID=10376&ct=1#10376 --Dwight |
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RE: Testing RAM |
June, 06, 2003 8:02 AM |
gregoryy |
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In your case, DIMM First Aid (1.2) actually should help enough. RAM can fail and still pass software tests. DFA at least will tell you if it is PC100 8 ns. ARe you sure that 512's are supported? I would go by Crucial's upgrade finder - as well as OWC's. |
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RE: Testing RAM |
June, 05, 2003 11:18 PM |
alan |
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This is a little off topic, But I need a utility to check the RAM in an OS 9 box if anyone has any suggestions. I have an Blue Dalmation iMac 600 that locks up when it tries to wake from to sleep, and I swear it happend after I pulled 2x128M and replaced it with 1x512M stick of ram. I ruled out software issues when it wouldn't sleep when booted from the OS 9.2 CD, and I have reset the PRAM (even from open firmware) about 100 times. Memory is the only change I made, since this has happened... Any RAM testing utilities that also work in OS 9 would be appreciated! Alan |
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RE: Testing RAM |
June, 05, 2003 11:53 AM |
rpertierra |
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I was having similar problems with 256 MB chips. Luckily, one stick will run OS X by itself. I removed all the memory and tested one chip at a time until I found the culprit. The Jaguar install process failed every time I used the bad chip. OWC exchanged it for a good one. |
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