🚀 go-pugleaf

On Fri, 20 Nov 1998 00:35:03 GMT, stephens@no-fixed-abode.com (John
Stephens) wrote:
>On Wed, 18 Nov 1998 16:06:35 -0500, corn <aq038@detroit.freenet.org> wrote:

>>Make sure that you are using EDO Simm memory.  

I think that advice has to be situational, rather than generic.

>>I use to experience the same kind of problem whenever my external 
>>cache was turned on.  I found out purely by accident, that they 
>>shipped my motherboard with non-EDO memory.  

Was this about 2-3 years ago, when "486DXn or Pentium-100?" was the
question?  In those days, EDO cost more, and several price heroes were
boasting "Fast Page Memory!!" to save (them) money.  

Yep, FPM is slower.

In my experience, mobos that pre-date EDO will NOT work with it, but
EDO-capable mobos will work with FPM - as long as you don't mix FPM
and EDO within the same bank.  

There are also issues concerning mixtures of form factors and
voltages.  Generally, 8-bit and 32-bit SIMMs often can't be used at
the same time, SDRAM DIMM and EDO SIMMs can't be used at the same
time, and 3.3v DIMM cannot be used with SIMMs as the latters' 5v data
signals can blow the former (if not 5v-tolerant).

Memory isn't quite as generic as one might expect; some "lame bland"
systems can't even use standard RAM (requiring proprietary stuff, even
when the form factor is identical), and several mobos have fine print
on single- vs. double-sided SIMMs, whether the higher-capacity SIMMs
should go in the higher or lower banks, whether you can use a bank of
2-chip SIMMs with a bank of 9-chip SIMMs, etc.

It's no wonder that folks get superstitious about RAM; "never mix
SIMMs from different vendors or batch numbers" and all that.

>Go to a GOOD brand of 60 nsec EDO. Some of the CHEAP stuff that you can get
>in Internet auctions just does not perform properly.

;-)

BTW I never really understood the single-sided vs. double-sided SIMM
thing, except that it isn't about chips on both sides of the board or
the SIMM edge contacts being split up (corresponding contacts on both
sides are joined within the socket anyway, which is why they are SIMMs
and not DIMMs).  Explanations welcome, please!