Odd "oops" during boot...

[CTho9305]

I just dropped 4 4-meg SIMMs into my 486 (along with 4 1-megs) and on boot, I got:


<<
VFS: mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Uhhuh. NMI received. Dazed and confused, but trying to continue
You probably have a hardware problem with your RAM chips or a
power saving mode enabled.
INIT: version 2.74 booting
>>



the system continues to boot. it is possible that the ram is bad... but is it also possible that this computer cannot take 4 meg SIMMs? I know that if I only use 4 meg SIMMs, the computer doesn't boot, and if I use the other set of 4-meg SIMMs I get a BIOS error right after post (onboard parity error, or something like that).

Any ideas?

 

[Zlash]

486, I think i've heard of those.

 

[CTho9305]

ok, so i had the other ram seated poorly or something... I tried it again. Both sets of 4-meg sticks produce the NMI error. help!

 

[BlackOmen]

All I've ever gotten with bad RAM is a kernel panic, so you're better off than I ever was. But it also wouldn't be the first time that one bought bad RAM. Basically, I'd say beat the crap out your box and see if any comes out. If it crashes then ditch the RAM, otherwise you're probably safe. BTW, do you have the memory test enabled in the BIOS? If not see if the memory passes.

If things go sour, I have 4-4meg EDO simms around somewhere that I can donate to the cause.

 

[CTho9305]

these are 30-pin. one of my friends had a box of ram and loaned it to me to test / find sizes of. no 72-pin slots on this mobo

 

[Nothinman]

Download memtest86 and let it run for a while.

 

[Zlash]

I bet the rams just not any good being that old hehe.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

He He..Where the 4 meg SIMMS from a MAC? Also, does your 486 need EDO or non EDO ram? That "could" be a possibility.

 

[CTho9305]

well, memtest is running. if it doesn't spit out any errors after a few hours I can assume all is somewhat-well?

its amazing how much the quality of replies at anandtech varies

 

[CTho9305]

it ran for about an hour, then there was a power outage in the dorm... I ran it for another hour and there have been no errors. So it should be working fine, regardless of that message??

thx