[ale] Losing stability

[Charles Shapiro]

Hmm. Welp, a couple nights ago I tried running memtest86+ on it (after
several failed boot attempts) and it looked good for the 30 minutes or so I
had to run it. Looked like a full run would take 2 hours or more.

Last night, I was actually home long enough to try again. This time I had no
failed boots, but memtest86+ failed consistently.

So my current operating plan is to go to MicroSeconds Saturday and buy
another stick of memory, a power supply, and a Socket A motherboard. Then
I'll easter-egg 'em in starting with the memory until I'm convinced I've
found the trouble.

-- CHS


On 10/30/06, Charles Shapiro <hooterpincher at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> My main box at home is having Serious Troubles.  On startup it often will
> hang (no screen output) with the CD light lit steady until I press & hold
> the "off" switch to retry. Other behaviors include appearing to start up and
> then emitting random beeps through the speaker with no screen output, or
> giving random core dumps on various scripts in /etc/init.d.  I've also
> experienced  spontaneous reboots and random hangs/program failures in X
> windows.  The "memory speed" number given in the initial startup screen
> sometimes changes from boot-up to boot-up as well.  The system is a
> home-brew about 4 years old and lightly used; leadtek WinFast K-series MB,
> athlon chip, cheap simple video card, single 512 MB DRAM stick. Processor
> temperatures appear to be within acceptable ranges, at least according to
> the "syshealth" part of the BIOS. I've enabled the full memory test in the
> POST, but so far that hasn't picked up any problems.
>
> I'm thinking that the problem is either memory or motherboard. I've
> removed, air-blasted, and re-seated the memory stick in a new slot without
> change in behavior. At  this point I'm considering getting some new memory
> and, if that doesn't change the behavior, replacing the motherboard.
>
> Does this seem reasonable? The clock appears steady, so I'm assuming the
> BIOS battery is OK, but perhaps that's a factor?
>
> -- CHS
>
>
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