Hardware Help

Marc Clifton

jonathan15 wrote: 133 SDram May be memory refresh problem. jonathan15 wrote: and the CD drive just spins away and wont actually read the disks. On a more constructive note, is the master/slave (ooh, not PR) jumper set correctly based on whether the CD drive is on the second IDE or shared with the HD? You know, it may be cheaper in the long run to replace the machine with a something inexpensive but current. Marc MyXaml Advanced Unit Testing YAPO

jonathan15

I was sort of expecting some problems with the memory but i was a bit surprised the CD is causing problems. Both the Cd and Hard drive are on seperate IDE and set to master. I am going to have a look at it tonight to get the specs of the mainboard. I thought if i can get the make/model i should be able to find the full spec on the net. Then i will know if it has a max memory, If there are any bios updates etc. I was just wondering if anyone could come up with some other thinks to look at. Particularly with the CD. Jon

Brian Delahunty

Is it a double sided chip?? Some older, and even some newer, motherboards only read from one side of the chip.. no idea why, but I've noticed it before on older motherboards. The motherboard might not even support 256MB chip in a single slot. The problem with the drive is probably something to do with the master/slave/chip select jumper. Regards, Brian Dela :-) Now Bloging![^]

jonathan15

The 256 chip is only single sided. The old 32 meg chip was double sided. was wondering what the max memory supported may be but sadly donty have any info on the motherboard. I hope to get that later. The jumper on the drive is set correctly though. But i may play with moving it to be a slave on the other ide channel. Jon

Roger Wright

PCs of that era used EDO RAM or DRAM, and there was a variant of SDRAM called PC100. They are not interchangeable, and are not compatible with any modern RAM type. The RAM used must be matched to the chipset on the motherboard, and the best way to find which type is required is to check the motherboard documentation. You can often find this information on the motherboard manufacturer's website in the support section. If that's not available, you should be able to identify the chipset by looking at the part numbers stamped on the chips themselves, then check their respective websites. The Intel 440BX, NX, and ZX chipsets were used on P2 systems, as were the SiS 620 and 630 on cheap, noname boards. Until the RAM works correctly, nothing else will, so there's no point in worrying about the CD drive now. The best solution is probably a new motherboard/CPU/RAM bundle, as none of these chipsets can handle modern RAM or disk drive electronics. "If it's Snowbird season, why can't we shoot them?" - Overheard in a bar in Bullhead City

jonathan15

I may have a 128MB stick of PC100 at home which i could try. I am surprised though that the CD wont work but in a way i supose it should be expected. When that PC was built the idea that you could get a drive that would write at 30 speed and read a DVD disc (what is a DVD disk?) would have been laughed at. Jon

Roger Wright

When that PC was built, a CD reader was an expensive option, if such a thing existed at all. PC100 may work, but I wouldn't bet the rent money. Be sure to remove the old 32MB stick; don't try to reuse it. Mixing speeds on a single bus is rarely a good idea. "If it's Snowbird season, why can't we shoot them?" - Overheard in a bar in Bullhead City

David Patrick

I apologize if this is obvious, but did you install a driver for the cdrom ? A motherboard that old probably does not have cdrom support built into the bios ... of course this may not be an issue depending upon what operating system you are using ( Anything before win2k may be an issue )

pebrian27

Maybe the drive isnt compatible. It happends even in new PC. I have a (52x 24x 52x)speed CDRW drive here that doesnt work on my ECS Socket A(the on that can run AMD Semphron) mobo no matter what I do but works on my MSI Socket 478 mobo. PC133 is backwards compatible with PC100.

Andy Brummer

Another problem will be that he won't have enough CPU power to playback DVD movies even if the drive and the memory start working. It's much better to get a cheap mbd/memory/proc combo.

I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon