🚀 go-pugleaf

In message <4l636r$2vo@panix2.panix.com> - kenny@panix.com (Kenneth Crudup) wri
tes:
:>
:>In article <4l3to0$d44@usenet2.interramp.com>,
:>ir003870@interramp.com (Billy Ko) says:
:>
:>>I would think that one of the original OS/2 Engineers and someone whose life 
:>>revolves around troubleshooting OS/2 worldwide would know what they are 
:>>talking about.
:>
:>There's also a good chance that they are choosing their words carefully to
:>avoid support nightmares- there's a lot of hardware out there, and a lot
:>of people who don't know enough about their machines to give them enough
:>detail to get them into more trouble.
:>
:>>"A TRAP0002 error is a hardware error and is usually directly related to
:>>memory."
:>
:>In the contect of memory, it's an NMI (non-maskable interrupt) trap caused
:>by the parity detection circitry determining that what it stored in that 
:>location isn't what it's reading out.
:>
:>>Mismatched memory can often cause these kinds of errors.  Your computer might
:>>have a variety of SIMMs that WERE PRODUCED BY DIFFERENT MANUFACTURERS OR
:>>THAT OPERATE AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS.
:>
:>Notice use of the words "often" and "might".
:>
:>>One thing that I haven't asked is... where did you learn YOUR facts?
:>
:>I started off as a hardware designer. I've done memory system design.
:>
:>I've also put together at least 100 systems for various clients, and in the
:>last 3 years since I've started using OS/2, fully 30% of those systems have
:>run OS/2, on various motherboards, with several different BIOS', and memory
:>of varying speeds, and different manufacturers. The main machine I now do my
:>OS/2 development work on is a 3-year old MB with 16MB of <somebody's> 70ns 30-
:>pin DRAM, and 16MB of <someone else's> 60ns 30-pin DRAM. I have my BIOS config
:>options hand-selected as far as the machine will tolerate, and it has never
:>trapped due to bad memory (normally TRAPs 2 or 3).
:>
:>I will bet my bank account that all these alleged "mismatched memory" and
:>"different speeds" problems are due to *the BIOS being set improperly*, and
:>not due to who or what the manufacturer is, the speed of the memory, or
:>anything else like that. 
:>
:>>I am showing ample evidence to support my claims, along with some creditable 
:>>people who back up my claims.
:>
:>I have to be suspicious of *any* "evidence" by *anyone* who makes the
:>outrageous claim that "OS/2 measures the speed of memory in the first bank
:>and will run the rest of the machine at that speed" as I have seen reported
:>here as a "fact". Ludicrous.
:>
:>OS/2 does not, in fact *can not*, "measure the speed of RAM and run the 
:>memory at that speed". All OS/2 or *any* other OS (be it DOS, NT, *NIX)
:>can do is expect that when it tells the CPU to "go out and get me memory
:>location XYZ", that the MB will *get* location "XYZ" without having to 
:>generate a parity trap (TRAP 0002), or return bad data (which leads to 
:>TRAP 3, D, and E mostly). That's all. It's up to your motherboard, and
:>provided you have your CMOS options set properly *to not expect to
:>say "The data is valid, send it to the CPU" before that is actually true*,
:>you will not get traps (on good memory) no matter *where* it came from.
:>
:>>All you do is argue and refute my claims, but do nothing to support yours.  
:>
:>See above.
:>I have hard-earned empirical evidence that tells me what I should know.
:>
:>	-Kenny
:>
:>-- 
:>Kenneth R. Crudup, Unix & OS/2 Software Consultant, Scott County Consulting
:>kenny@panix.com		CI$: 75032,3044	  +1 617 524 5929/4949 Home/Office
:>16 Plainfield St, Boston, MA 02130-3633	  +1 617 983 9410      Fax
:>OS/2 box: pkenny.tiac.net (when I'm online) Get Warp-ed! OS/2 3.0 is here NOW!

This is a sincere thank you for responding as you did.  Although we still 
have our differences in our opinions, I do respect yours, too.

As a side note, I *do* tend to go along with your belief that OS/2 cannot 
read memory speed, and act accordingly.  But with my limited knowledge of the 
actual ground level hardware workings of a PC (I thoroughly understand 
"upper-level" hardware - the stuff that directly affects users), I had to 
believe that someone with more knowledge and experience in that area would 
know more than I did.  I'll keep my eyes open for anything regarding this 
topic and update myself accordingly, keeping what you said on the subject 
fresh in my mind.

Bill
Team OS/2