[ale] Losing stability

[Calvin Harrigan]

Charles Shapiro wrote:
> 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
> <mailto: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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Seems like an expensive route.  Why not just start with the memory?

Calvin...