🚀 go-pugleaf

kozu0003@gold.tc.umn.edu (John T Kozubik) writes:
>Why is this happening?  How can I prevent it?  what should I do when it
>does this?

Go into your BIOS and turn off memory parity checking.  It won't
fix what's causing the problem, but it won't give you the error.
Did you just get new memory?  Some memory doesn't support the parity
bit and using it will cause this problem.  Just disable the check.

-DanD


-- 
# Dan D   (KD4IGW)   dand@cscns.com   IRCNICK=Installer
# IBM BL3X-486 75MHz + OS/2.  Non-Microsoft, NO INTEL INSIDE!
#  Vique's Law:
#   A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle.

In article <kozu0003.769894089@gold>,
John T Kozubik <kozu0003@gold.tc.umn.edu> wrote:
>Why is this happening?  How can I prevent it?  what should I do when it
>does this?

A parity error simply means that the contents of some memory location
did not correspond to a "legal" value for your system.  Parity checking
is a simple but useful means for detecting otherwise "silent" errors
that could nonetheless corrupt your data.

Since your "Summary" line suggests that your PC was not doing this
before, I'd say there are two likely reasons for it.

(1) Sometimes the contacts between chips and their sockets "loosen up";
try reseating your memory chips, carefully (don't bend the pins -- this
is very easy to do by mistake, and a real pain to correct -- if you 
break a pin, you'll have to replace the chip).  That might correct the
problem.

(2) You might have a bad memory chip/module.  If so, once you locate it,
you can replace it.

If your "parity error" message contains a numeric string (could be a
combination of digits 0-9 and letters a-f, since it's frequently 
expressed in hexadecimal), this is identifying the memory location
of the error.  Depending on your PC and configuration, this should
point you to the offending chip.  Otherwise, there's the tried and
true method of swapping two chips at a time until the location moves.
Then you know it's one of the two, and you can swap each of this,
in turn, with another chip to determine which one it is.  Clearly,
if you have the necessary info for your system, using the address
is the preferred method.

You might get more response to this question if you posted it in a 
more suitable newsgroup, like maybe comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc.

-- 
Ken Bell  (kenbell@panix.com  -or-  syklb@nasagiss.giss.nasa.gov)

In article <kozu0003.769894089@gold>,
John T Kozubik <kozu0003@gold.tc.umn.edu> wrote:
>Why is this happening?  How can I prevent it?  what should I do when it
>does this?
>

A parity check is simply a means of detecting errors in data transmission.
Commonly, the bits contained in a byte (which can represent a data item such 
as a numerically coded ASCII character or a simple number), in memory, on disk,
over a network, etc, are counted.  Then it is determined whether this count is
odd or even.  From this an extra bit (the parity bit) is then added to the byte
indicating whether the bit count is odd or even (1 or 0) .  Upon reception,
the bits in the byte are then recounted, the count is then determined to be odd
or even, and this result is then compared with the transmitted parity bit.  An
error would indicate that the parity did not match and that the data received
is flawed.   While this is not a full-proof method of error detection, it works
a large majority of time and is among the simplest methods.

As to your problem, I expect this error being reported is only related to your
PC and not to a modem, etc.  It is very likely that you have a bad memory chip
somewhere which is causing the parity check error while data is being trans-
ferred in memory.  Usually a code will accompany such an error and can often
point you to the set of memory chips (SIMM board for example), where the error
was detected.  I suggest you determine from either a tech manual or from a
technical support outlet which memory board is the culprit and replace it.
Another method is to swap out successive memory boards with a known good memory
board and see which board when removed, takes away this problem. 

One other possibility is that there may be bad electrical contacts between the
system boards and the computer.  All that may be necessary to fix this problem 
is to simply remove all the boards (not just memory, taking care to handle them
only by the edges to avoid finger prints and/or static discharges), clean the
copper contacts (an eraser does a good job), then carefully reinsert all the
boards, making sure of good electrical contact.

I hope you find this useful.

In article <kozu0003.769894089@gold> kozu0003@gold.tc.umn.edu (John T Kozubik) writes:
>Why is this happening?  How can I prevent it?  what should I do when it
>does this?

This has been happening to quite a few computers over the last week or
so.  The partial solar eclipse affected the earth's magnetic field, thus
realigning some cells in the cheaper memory chips.

If you turn your computer so it faces North, that should fix it.

 - Fred

--
Tom Liehe                                   Sr. Development Engineer
Storage Technology Corporation                 Phone: (303) 673-7653
2270 South 88th Street                           FAX: (303) 673-2568
Louisville, Colorado 80028-0001      email: thomas_liehe@stortek.com

In article <fredxCqFLG9.8w8@netcom.com>, fredx@netcom.com (Fred Ecks) writes:

!>This has been happening to quite a few computers over the last week or
!>so.  The partial solar eclipse affected the earth's magnetic field, thus
!>realigning some cells in the cheaper memory chips.
!>
!>If you turn your computer so it faces North, that should fix it.
!>
!> - Fred
!>

  Would that be true North or magnetic North?

  Actually I had this problem until I attached a large electro-magnet to the
side of my computers case thus faking it out as to what direction it was
really facing... try it 8^).

  Alan

In article <1994May27.103521.24137@nntpd2.cxo.dec.com> a_davison@csc32.enet.dec.com writes:
>
>In article <fredxCqFLG9.8w8@netcom.com>, fredx@netcom.com (Fred Ecks) writes:
>
>!>This has been happening to quite a few computers over the last week or
>!>so.  The partial solar eclipse affected the earth's magnetic field, thus
>!>realigning some cells in the cheaper memory chips.
>!>
>!>If you turn your computer so it faces North, that should fix it.
>!>
>!> - Fred
>!>
>
>  Would that be true North or magnetic North?

Magnetic North, of course!  It's the magnetic field that disrupted the
memory's parity bits, therefore the machine must face Magnetic North.
Geez, don't you understand the science of the matter?

>  Actually I had this problem until I attached a large electro-magnet to the
>side of my computers case thus faking it out as to what direction it was
>really facing... try it 8^).

A permanent magnet will do the job nicely.  The electromagnet wastes
energy.  All the new "Green PCs" use permanent magnets.

 - Fred

>In article <kozu0003.769894089@gold> kozu0003@gold.tc.umn.edu (John T Kozubik) writes:
>>Why is this happening?  How can I prevent it?  what should I do when it
>>does this?
>
   It is the check you get from the government when they discover that
   they didn't pay you enough for growing wheat.

In article <fredxCqFLG9.8w8@netcom.com> fredx@netcom.com (Fred Ecks) writes:
>If you turn your computer so it faces North, that should fix it.
> - Fred

    Don't you deliver packages or something like that?