• Blinking in the sunlight

    From Louis Ohland@21:1/5 to Ozzuneoj on Mon Mar 27 12:12:28 2023
    Remove all MCA adapters. We are troubleshooting.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/T2.html#L_486DX2-50

    "L" complex, 486DX2-50, should work.

    Try placing a pair of 4MB SIMMs on J11, the riser closest to the
    complex. Use J1 and J3.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/90/Planar.html#Memory_Riser

    The H and L can use single, paired, or mismatched SIMMs. But you are troubleshooting. Use a universally supported configuration. Can't hurt.

    Re-seat the complex. https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/Install.html

    Re-seat SIMMs into J11 riser, using J1 (A1) and J3 (B1). Make sure the
    SIMMs are correctly oriented.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/T3.html#H097075

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/Install.html

    Power up. Report.

    Ozzuneoj wrote:
    92F0161 Processor Card with DX2 50Mhz and 41G96361 ROM
    20MB (8+4+4+4) RAM on one memory card

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ozzuneoj@21:1/5 to Ozzuneoj on Mon Mar 27 10:36:36 2023
    By the way... I think I know why this didn't turn up when I tested the memory sticks individually. I guess the first one I tested and left running was the bad one, then the others I didn't test for long enough to notice the display going into standby,
    because they all start out the same. Oy...

    I will say, I would have expected memory error codes for bad or incompatible memory. I read through the step by step diagnostic charts before posting here and everything pointed to a processor board or cache issue. Nothing mentioned RAM problems unless
    there was a memory error code or beeping involved. I guess at the time it may not have been common for incorrect (but fitting) PC memory to have been installed in these systems.

    On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 1:31:47 PM UTC-4, Ozzuneoj wrote:
    Thank you for the suggestions. I just tried this just to be sure, and to my surprise something did change! One of the memory sticks (a simply 8 chip one labeled as 4MB... looks like one out of a normal PC) seems to hang the system forever at the
    blinking cursor. With any combination of the other three however, the monitor will actually go into standby after about 6 seconds, stay in standby for several seconds, and then I actually start to get some error codes on the screen! They are 00060100 and
    later 19990022... haven't looked them up yet, but they are probably related to all of the things I removed. I will try reconnecting everything and just using these SIMMs. They are, to me, a bit odd looking with 12 chips and slightly taller PCBs compared
    to the SIMMs found in other PCs. Thank you again! I will report back here with my findings.
    On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 1:12:29 PM UTC-4, Louis Ohland wrote:
    Remove all MCA adapters. We are troubleshooting.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/T2.html#L_486DX2-50

    "L" complex, 486DX2-50, should work.

    Try placing a pair of 4MB SIMMs on J11, the riser closest to the
    complex. Use J1 and J3.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/90/Planar.html#Memory_Riser

    The H and L can use single, paired, or mismatched SIMMs. But you are troubleshooting. Use a universally supported configuration. Can't hurt.

    Re-seat the complex. https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/Install.html

    Re-seat SIMMs into J11 riser, using J1 (A1) and J3 (B1). Make sure the SIMMs are correctly oriented.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/T3.html#H097075

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/Install.html

    Power up. Report.
    Ozzuneoj wrote:
    92F0161 Processor Card with DX2 50Mhz and 41G96361 ROM
    20MB (8+4+4+4) RAM on one memory card

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ozzuneoj@21:1/5 to Louis Ohland on Mon Mar 27 10:31:45 2023
    Thank you for the suggestions. I just tried this just to be sure, and to my surprise something did change! One of the memory sticks (a simply 8 chip one labeled as 4MB... looks like one out of a normal PC) seems to hang the system forever at the blinking
    cursor. With any combination of the other three however, the monitor will actually go into standby after about 6 seconds, stay in standby for several seconds, and then I actually start to get some error codes on the screen! They are 00060100 and later
    19990022... haven't looked them up yet, but they are probably related to all of the things I removed. I will try reconnecting everything and just using these SIMMs. They are, to me, a bit odd looking with 12 chips and slightly taller PCBs compared to the
    SIMMs found in other PCs. Thank you again! I will report back here with my findings.

    On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 1:12:29 PM UTC-4, Louis Ohland wrote:
    Remove all MCA adapters. We are troubleshooting.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/T2.html#L_486DX2-50

    "L" complex, 486DX2-50, should work.

    Try placing a pair of 4MB SIMMs on J11, the riser closest to the
    complex. Use J1 and J3.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/90/Planar.html#Memory_Riser

    The H and L can use single, paired, or mismatched SIMMs. But you are troubleshooting. Use a universally supported configuration. Can't hurt.

    Re-seat the complex. https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/Install.html

    Re-seat SIMMs into J11 riser, using J1 (A1) and J3 (B1). Make sure the
    SIMMs are correctly oriented.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/T3.html#H097075

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/Install.html

    Power up. Report.
    Ozzuneoj wrote:
    92F0161 Processor Card with DX2 50Mhz and 41G96361 ROM
    20MB (8+4+4+4) RAM on one memory card

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ozzuneoj@21:1/5 to Ozzuneoj on Mon Mar 27 11:10:21 2023
    Success! Wow... I'm SO glad that's all it was. I hate doing board-level diagnostics, especially on systems I am totally unfamiliar with.

    It is now booting to Windows 95, and running surprisingly well. Thank you for the suggestion. It's a little odd because I basically already did exactly what you said last night, I just didn't wait long enough to see if it worked. LOL

    Ah... old computers. ;)

    Thanks again!


    On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 1:36:37 PM UTC-4, Ozzuneoj wrote:
    By the way... I think I know why this didn't turn up when I tested the memory sticks individually. I guess the first one I tested and left running was the bad one, then the others I didn't test for long enough to notice the display going into standby,
    because they all start out the same. Oy...

    I will say, I would have expected memory error codes for bad or incompatible memory. I read through the step by step diagnostic charts before posting here and everything pointed to a processor board or cache issue. Nothing mentioned RAM problems unless
    there was a memory error code or beeping involved. I guess at the time it may not have been common for incorrect (but fitting) PC memory to have been installed in these systems.
    On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 1:31:47 PM UTC-4, Ozzuneoj wrote:
    Thank you for the suggestions. I just tried this just to be sure, and to my surprise something did change! One of the memory sticks (a simply 8 chip one labeled as 4MB... looks like one out of a normal PC) seems to hang the system forever at the
    blinking cursor. With any combination of the other three however, the monitor will actually go into standby after about 6 seconds, stay in standby for several seconds, and then I actually start to get some error codes on the screen! They are 00060100 and
    later 19990022... haven't looked them up yet, but they are probably related to all of the things I removed. I will try reconnecting everything and just using these SIMMs. They are, to me, a bit odd looking with 12 chips and slightly taller PCBs compared
    to the SIMMs found in other PCs. Thank you again! I will report back here with my findings.
    On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 1:12:29 PM UTC-4, Louis Ohland wrote:
    Remove all MCA adapters. We are troubleshooting.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/T2.html#L_486DX2-50

    "L" complex, 486DX2-50, should work.

    Try placing a pair of 4MB SIMMs on J11, the riser closest to the complex. Use J1 and J3.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/90/Planar.html#Memory_Riser

    The H and L can use single, paired, or mismatched SIMMs. But you are troubleshooting. Use a universally supported configuration. Can't hurt.

    Re-seat the complex. https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/Install.html

    Re-seat SIMMs into J11 riser, using J1 (A1) and J3 (B1). Make sure the SIMMs are correctly oriented.

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/T3.html#H097075

    https://www.ardent-tool.com/complex/Install.html

    Power up. Report.
    Ozzuneoj wrote:
    92F0161 Processor Card with DX2 50Mhz and 41G96361 ROM
    20MB (8+4+4+4) RAM on one memory card

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)