Preserved Topic: physical memory dump (Page 1 of 1)

...i get this so often on my pc that i have thought about tattooing it across my forehead just for fun. after searching 4 salvation i have found that it could be bad ram, bad mother board, bad HD and a ton of other things. has anyone else been through this or have any advice on how to narrow the search for a cure.

yalp... I can help yah.

My method could be costly though. Start by removing your hard drive, cdrom, dvd, floppy, what ever you want to salvage.

Next, paint the insides with rubber cement.

Follow?

Cool.

Next, get some black power... ahh, a cup should do just dandy fine. Put it into a ziplock bag along with a wick or some sparking device. (remote controlled would be super) Now, wrap the ziplock bag up really tight with gaffers tape, or duct tape. I would use gaffers, but not a lot of difference.

Righto!

Now set that puppy in a nice pool of rubber cement and stand a foot or so away and light it off.

This will narrow the problem down a lot for you because you will not have to decide or figure out what exactly the problem is.

oh, and if you cant find any black powder then just light the rubber cement on fire. the black powder is just to make a bright flash of fire to light the cement. Its just a trick of the trade... heh.

                                     

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yeah I never throw away parts I have almost a second computer in parts so I can switch things out.

First just remove the floppy it's extraneous in this day and age.

Then if you have more than one stick of RAM try one at a time.

If you only have one HD then things are more diffucult but you could try booting to a DOS floppy or even one of the mini-linux floppy distro's without your HD plugged in to see if it works like that.

Ultimately if it's not one of those it's probably time for a new mobo.

but all that said my basic mode of troubleshooting whether it's hardware or code is to remove everything one at a time and see what happens



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

what i need is a PC store with a liberal return policy. good luck. i guess the biggest piss off is that it isnt predictable. it is never caused by the same thing twice in a row but once it crashes once you are surely in for more. thanx for the feedback thus far.

PS also tends to freeze up if playing MP3s, sometimes locks tight and just blares the note that its playing when it crashes. almost like a skip in the song only different.

Sounds like either the RAM or the MOBO.

One, or both, could be 'flaky'...or it could be a heat problem...do the problems come as soon as you trun your computer on (or shortly after)? Or do they come after the computer has been running for awhile? If in the later case, then you have a heat problem (which means that some part on the MOBO or RAM is breaking down, and when heated, fails). This could explain why you get no error when you turn your computer on (normally the computer goes through a self-diagnosis on start-up).

In either case, troubleshoot the components as best you can...one of the 'best' troubleshooting methods to use is the 'shotgun' method...where one changes parts out, one at a time, then testing the system. Eventually, this will isolate the failing part...however, one needs spare parts to 'shotgun' with...

Good luck, hope that helps...



[This message has been edited by WebShaman (edited 10-22-2002).]

I have been through the heat part of the problem and now have one big ass processor fan, a case fan, as well as an additional side mounted one so all should be cool on the inside. I will mess with the ram for starters, thanx again.

No, that won't help, and that's not excatly what I meant by a 'heating' problem...in this case, the 'heat' problem is when the particular unit in question that is failing, only does so when it starts to 'heat up', i.e. when it's been working for awhile. You see, when the computer is turned off, the parts cool down (they are not working). After starting the computer, the parts start to work, and thus, 'heat up'. Normally, nothing will happen (everything works fine...the 'heat' is in the normal area). However, as pieces of the computer start to breakdown, heat (any heat) starts to become a problem. At first, the part is cool, but as it continues to work, the part heats, which then results in errors.

One way to test this (going into the realm of a technician and troubleshooting), is to use 'canned Ice', a sort of spray that cools. One sprays this stuff on the suspected part, and then monitors what goes in, and what comes out. However, 'shotgunning' the part (which is easier...) works much better...

No amount of cooling (except maybe immersing the entire computer in liquid nitrogen, or something like that) will help, if that is the case with this type of heat problem.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

Let's see if this works...

A co-worker of mine had a similar issue. He used this System Checker to find out where the problem is. It seemed to work pretty well and couldn't hurt to try.

Hope this helps... and works.

[EDIT] Fixed the URL. Angelfire is stupid. Just click the button that's there. It should be the only button. Sorry about the java intensive stuff. It's my learning page.

GrythusDraconis
"Be careful not to anger the Great Dragon for you are crunchy and taste good with Ketchup" T-Shirt Somewhere

[This message has been edited by GrythusDraconis (edited 10-23-2002).]