Question About Bad Ram

[pmaddock]

Forum members,

I am having a bootup problem with my first computer (this is my first computer and so I am trying to get it going for purely nostalgic reasons). My sister had this computer for several years and told me that it will not boot up anymore. I hooked it up to a monitor and nothing happens. I started switching the ram (swapping slots, leaving out some of the sticks, different combinations), and can not get the computer to consistently bootup. Sometimes the computer boots up, counts down the ram, and boots to desktop, and sometimes I do a reboot and it will not recognize the same ram it recognized 5 minutes ago. I can not seem to narrow it down to a ram, ram slot, or motherboard problem. What do you all think? This is an old Windows 98 SE computer with an AMD processor. The mb takes the old PC-100 ram, I believe 128 mb max. I dropped the computer off at a pc shop nearby my work, and they are going to test the ram and motherboard. I told them that I did not want to invest more than about 100 dollars in this computer since it is so old. If it is the ram that is bad, I would not mind investing about 100 dollars into buying new ram for the computer. I just want to keep the computer going as a memory of my first adventure into the computer world back in 1998. I look forward to reading your replies.

Paul Maddock

[kilgoretrout]

I would also check out the psu. The voltage going out of spec by a failing/marginal psu can cause ram to malfunction and lead to all kinds of erratic problems. Also, run the manufacturer's hard drive diagnostics on the hard drive just to eliminate that as a potential source of the problem.

[pmaddock]

I talked to the shop. They checked out my ram and said that the ram was okay. They think that the problem is in the MB, something to do with a 2nd level cache error. That explains why it boots up inconsistently. Also, your suggestion about the power supply is a good one. I have an extra power supply laying around which I can hook up and see what happens. I hope that the problem is not the MB, because they probably do not make my model anymore for this old computer.

MD

[chuck4456]

"2nd LEVEL CACHE ERROR.........................................." Why not just give us the complete system specs of your old W98 PC?