> On Sat, 24 Jan 1998, CyberPeasant wrote:
> 
> > Bad memory? 
> 
> Must be... I got 1.2g booted on it with just the 32MB card in it. 
> Methinks one of the 8MB cards is dead.  (It's got 32+8+8.)  I also
> reseated the processor module, and that seems to have helped.

the other response about not mixing and matching modules makes a lot
of sense, now: the lack of single bit errors in the cache/cathe/cafhe
display suggests overlapping memory. (I have 20/20 hindsight.)

> > Swap SIMMs around? -- Scary note: DEC certifies their simms and simm
> > sockets for about 6 insert/remove cycles.]
> 
> Does anybody know how careful I should be about this?

Well, I thought I could supply a direct quote, but I can't find the
reference now. But I did see this in some DEC spec sheet or manual.
The number of allowed insert/remove cycles was a single digit
decimal integer.

This caused me immediate fear, since I have been playing "Happy Pierre"
with SIM swapping in other (wintel) machines.  

The possibility of problems becomes evident when one looks at a
used SIM -- you can often *see* where the socket has dug into the
little tin/gold pads on the pcboard of the SIM. I can believe that
this could wear out.  The DEC pub. I saw seemed to be talking about
the *sockets* wearing out, too [shudder]. SIM sockets are not exactly
Zero-Insertion-Force. (Although you don't need a rubber mallet, 
(I wear one on each foot) like I once used to insert a Unibus card in a VAX).


> > BUT ... never throw away a Decstation unless it has been run over by
> > a steam roller... Somebody covets/needs those parts. Like me...
> 
> In that case I was recently given a 5000/200 which looks like it was
> stripped for parts...  the power supply is missing a fan, and everything
> that was screwed in (including the posts for the RAM lockdown and all the
> ports on the back) are gone.  The case has a hole cut in the front of it
> for god-knows-what purpose.  

The savages! Goths! Probably did it to drain the bit bucket. A
cybernetic trepannation.

>                             If anybody in Portland, OR wants it, they can
> have it.

That old gentleman sounds like it's seen some better days.  Could
the CPU module be useful to upgrade a slower 5000? On 3100's there's
an Ethernet ID chip that is "scarce".

Dave
-- 
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       --== There are Greeks in that horse! I can hear them! ==--