9.2 Memory fails to register

Originally posted by Shatrat@Apr 11 2005, 03:04 PM
It might also be one of the function keys.* I generally just bang on every key on the upper 1/3 of my keyboard until the BIOS comes up.
Im pretty sure thats what all the A+ certified tech gurus do.

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Thanks to both of you.
I can't tell you how many times I've rebooted, holding the delete key down and then banging on
every key imaginable.

No matter what I do it doesn't make a ****ed bit of difference: the BIOS screen comes up
momentarilly, disappears and then the Adaptec card takes over and continues the boot.

However it has happened so many times that I've been able to get a quick glimpse of the
BIOS screen and I'm pretty sure that that only 1.5GB of the 2GB that I installed are being seen.

I'll investigate that tomorrow when I can keep my eyes open and will report back.

Thanks again fellas.

You could also try memtest86 run from a DOS boot diskette or from Grub if you have it installed.

Originally posted by harryc@Apr 12 2005, 06:30 AM
You could also try memtest86 run from a DOS boot diskette or from Grub if you have it installed.

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harryc:
I don't have anything in DOS or from MS but can I find memtest86 in the 9.2 CDs or DVDs ?
And how do I run it?

Download it from memtest86.com and create a DOS boot floppy. You might be able to get to it from the SuSE install CD, I do not recall.

http://www.memtest86.com/

Originally posted by harryc@Apr 12 2005, 11:33 AM
Download it from memtest86.com and create a DOS boot floppy.* You might be able to get to it from the SuSE install CD, I do not recall.

http://www.memtest86.com/

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Sorry to have taken so long to reply, harryc, but I've had an unbelievable night and day.

First I checked the distro menu for memtesti86 and located it. The screen said to insert DVD #1,
which I did and checked "OK". Then a screen came up which said that program wasn't on DVD #1.

Then I decided to check the hardware. I pulled all 4 RAM chips from their sockets and carefully
reseated them,: then I rebooted.

Then the machine crashed. The screen said: "kernel panic not syncing: VFS unable to mount root fs on unknown block. (0.0)" Afterr a very long time, I was finally able get it booted up using the YAST system repair pkg.

The firdt thing I did was to check the memory in the system info window. It showed 1 GB.
Of course I had installed 2 GB.
When I first installed an extra 2 GB on top of the original 2 GB, only 1.5 GB were seen. Now that I had carefully (I thought) ireinstalled all 4 chips, only 2 (1 GB) were seen.

This is where the RTFM says: slit your wrists.

If I were you I would try each stick one at a time, then try one working stick in each of the slots.

Also, memtest86 isnt something you install. It is something you run at boot instead of booting into linux. You can get it on its own disk, it also comes on knoppix, and I believe it is one of the options when you boot up the SuSE install disc.

Originally posted by Shatrat@Apr 12 2005, 07:31 PM
If I were you I would try each stick one at a time, then try one working stick in each of the slots.

Also, memtest86 isnt something you install. It is something you run at boot instead of booting into linux.* You can get it on its own disk, it also comes on knoppix, and I believe it is one of the options when you boot up the SuSE install disc.

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I've done exactly that and I find that my machine now has 1.98GB of maiin memory. Case closed.

Thanks to all you guys for your invaluable assistance, but I wish I knew what made my machine crash yesterday.

Larry