SGI: Hardware

Hi all.
I managed to get a pair of 512Mb kit for my 320 but it seems my troubles with this system are not going to an end any time soon... javascript:emoticon(':roll:')
I installed one of the kits and everything was going ok (no bliking led), I get the boot menu and I let the boot begin. It starts loading win 2k but after the first progress bar (white bar on blue background), when it should go to the win 2k screen, it hangs and I get strange artifacts on screen..
Getting back to the original 256Mb kit everything boots ok while installing the full 1Gb gives me same problem as 512Mb.

Anyone had a similar experience? I'm going to try a new install on another spare disk I have, just in case...

TeoX

despite the general opinion around here of windows being utter unreliable s**t, i can't say i had unresolvable crash problems over the years. in every case it was either drivers or hardware incompatibilities that could be worked around. reinstalls are not the cure to everything (and take a lot of time as opposed to some google hunting).

ok, no experience with sgi x86 boxes here, just general troubleshooting strategies: are you sure that this RAM is compatible at all with your 320, if so, is it confirmed to be working with your motherboard/BIOS ... whatever revision? any special hardware requirements (e.g. different voltage? the 320 is 1998/99-ish, 512 mb sticks probably are not. with those many vendors involved, specifications are ... problematic in the pc world, to say the least)? what about power supply revisions and thermal problems on the 320. possible causes?

windows stresses the hardware quite some on boot. if it crashes there your system might simply be flakey. i know i had it happen to me more than once.

you could also try and test your memory using something like memtest86.

I have a couple of 320's running win2k pro with latest SP with 1 Gb of ram in each one......all the SGI patches/fixes installed.

It could be a MB problem with your 320 not being able to accept 1Gb of ram. If that is the case nothing short of a MB change can fix that.

You might try installing your OS with the memory you know already works. After the OS is up and running install just 512Mb in Bank A and see if your system will boot.....then go from there.

If you are not able to install the OS even with the lesser amount of memory w/o hanging..... problem could be in your disk. I had that problem and I was really pissed....it was an original retail box too!

Richard

Thanks for the replies.

GIJoe: 320 uses proprietary ram, so it "should" be a warranty that this ram works (at least I was sure about this ). I used 'should' because from some google searches, and later also said by Richtom, I could have a mobo problem (not able to use 512Mb kits)..

Richtom: As stated I fear it is a mobo problem: the previous installation boots fine with 256Mb RAM while it hangs with 512Mb or 1024Mb. Do you know if this bug is related to a particular mobo revision?

Thanks again.
TeoX

TeoX wrote: ...
It starts loading win 2k but after the first progress bar (white bar on blue background), when it should go to the win 2k screen, it hangs and I get strange artifacts on screen..
TeoX

It sounds like problems with the RAM-timing.
The 320 on-board-graphics shares the mainmenory with the CPU !

My 320 runs without any problem with 1GB ram.

regards
Thomas

VW 320 MoBos do come up on eBay from time to time so you may be able to pick up a cheap one.

Also, with the prices of VW320 these days you may as well get a whole box with a good mobo if it's cheaper than the mobo on its own.

Later I'll try some banks swapping, then I'll go for a clean install.. just to be sure I have tried everything..
New mobo/new 320 is next option on the list..

Thanks all.
TeoX

TeoX....

The article I read (probably over a year ago) didn't give any mobo part numbers. It just mentioned that some VW 320 mobo's had problems running 1Gb of ram and if that was the problem the recommendation was to replace the mobo.

BTW.......I even had win2kpro running on a couple "hacked" 320 mobo's....006J and 006K.... if I remember correctly. My current two are running on the newer mobo's.

Richard[/quote]

Have a look at the caps on the Mobo, I've had a coule of Mobos begin to misbehave (ECC Errors) and had to replace dried caps out to get them back working.

The sign is the plastic sheath around them has shrunk and will reveal more of the metal on the top.

Why am I mentioning this...well as the 512MB kits are double stacked chips they are going to draw more juice, if the caps are marginal you mayl get the errors you've metioned.

Replacing the caps is a PITA of a job, but may a better option before getting another Mobo on ebay which might end up with the same problem

Hi all.
I did some testing and I discovered that:
1)ram passes POST, also enabling the extended test mode and ECC control.
2)booting in safe mode, it always hangs while loading MUP.SYS. From a search on google it appears that a lot of system with xp or win 2k had this problem.. it seems not so clear where the problem really is. I'll search again for that and surely I'll check the caps: since everything works with 256MB maybe the problem is caps related even in my case.

I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for all the hints.
Bye, TeoX

MUP.SYS????
That was one of the most weird errors I ever had
I still haven't figured out what the cause it, but it's definately weird. A google search gave me a wide range of causes and solutions, and after doing some hardware juggling it suddenly started working.
When I had the error, my system refused to boot windows but booted knoppix fine. So I searched for solutions. I heard thing like a CMOS reset, moving around with IDE cables, moving ram around, even a registry setting about the keyboard.
So search with google on "mup.sys", and you'll find lots of people also having mup.sys problems.

I checked some stuff again this evening.
Caps seem to be in good shape: they are all clean with no signs of leakings or deformations.
I tried to boot from win2k cd but at a certain point the installer hangs exactly in the same way as it did when booting from disk, so Win is not the cause this time.
About the motherboard: the sticker on the mobo says it's a 007B, but hardware inventory says 006J...
Ok now I'm getting really confused about this box..

EDIT: I just found on usenet that other people had this report problem with their mobo (006J vs 007B) and it could end up in PROM seeing the wrong mobo revision.So actually I could have a 007B not working with 1Gb of ram..

Is there someone here on the forum with a 320+1Gb rig that could tell me which mobo rev is using?

Thanks,TeoX

TeoX wrote: EDIT: I just found on usenet that other people had this report problem with their mobo (006J vs 007B) and it could end up in PROM seeing the wrong mobo revision.So actually I could have a 007B not working with 1Gb of ram..

Is there someone here on the forum with a 320+1Gb rig that could tell me which mobo rev is using?

My system board is 117 rev B.
I dont know if this may help you but you have nothing to lose.
After upgrading to 1GB from 512MB (2x256MB) I had problem with random crashes after login in W2k, also sometime memory test at startup (POST) would fail reporting ECC error in particular bank, if I would proceede then system was booting with 768MB enabled and running perfectly stable. Nevetheless quite frustrating... so what I did, moved dimms in different slots of bank, one by one and after quite number of reboots system went stable in particular combination with full gigabyte. It may be easier to fix first bank A then proceede to bank B.
So put your 320 on desk without side cover and have nice long weekend .

OK. I'm disperate enough to spend my weekend in memory slot-swapping..

Thanks for the hint!
Cheers, TeoX

TeoX

You could also do a complete install with 256 ram (since you stated there are no problems with that). After install is complete install all the SGI related software stuff......after that install all the win2k upgrades, patches and fixes. Then if win2k is working w/o any problems go ahead and swap out the memory.

Very often when there is a memory change the blue screen pops up informing you of memory issues. At that point you can continue booting into win2k. After shutdown and/or restarting the blue screen doesn't show again. The blue screen I refer to is the one that shows your system booting pass/fail checklist.......Not the critical error blue screen that says to contact a system administrator.

I have used various motherboards 006J, 006K, 007A, 007B and 117A. As for your motherboard sticker saying 007B and hardware inventory saying 006J....looks like it is a "hacked" 006J. You can confirm this by looking just to the left of slot the VRM slides into.....there is a 16 pin IC chip in U37 space .......and you will see a small wire that has been soldered on the left side of the chip. You will find the info here of what it looks like:

http://www.leupen.com/~remko/sgi/mobo_hack.htm

Hope this helps, Richard