DRAM refresh failure

[Clifford R. Wind]

I'm getting a single beep from an AMI bios'd mb on bootup, which I believe
indicates a "DRAM refresh failure". But the machine appears to be working.
Just what would the symptoms be of such a problem, what causes it, and what,
short of chucking the mb out completely, would cure it?

Thanks much.

Clifford R. Wind
Holt & Company

[Michael Vernier]

you are supposed to get a single beep on boot up. It tells you everything is Ok.

[Lothar Blome]

In article <mjholt.22...@halcyon.com>,

mjh...@halcyon.com (Clifford R. Wind) wrote:
>
>I'm getting a single beep from an AMI bios'd mb on bootup, which I believe
>indicates a "DRAM refresh failure". But the machine appears to be working.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>Just what would the symptoms be of such a problem, what causes it, and what,
>short of chucking the mb out completely, would cure it?
>

I guess I don't see what the problem is.

Lothar H. Blome / "It was long ago and it was far
U.S.L. / I R Technician / away and it was so much better
Lot...@usl.edu / than it is today" --Meatloaf
< All the usual disclaimers apply, your mileage may vary >

[Derrick Nguyen]

>In article <mjholt.22...@halcyon.com>,
> mjh...@halcyon.com (Clifford R. Wind) wrote:
>>
>>I'm getting a single beep from an AMI bios'd mb on bootup, which I believe
>>indicates a "DRAM refresh failure". But the machine appears to be working.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>Just what would the symptoms be of such a problem, what causes it, and what,
>>short of chucking the mb out completely, would cure it?
>>

I'm experiencing the same problem and the maching appears to be working fine too.
Please let me know if you ever find any solution to cure this problem.

Thanks in advance,
Derrick

[Robert Sears]

dng...@rcp6.elan.af.mil (Derrick Nguyen) writes:

>Thanks in advance,
> Derrick

I thought all computers beep once on powerup. At least every computer I
have used does. This single beep is used to test the speaker!

[Patric Schirrmann]

Derrick Nguyen (dng...@rcp6.elan.af.mil) wrote:
: >In article <mjholt.22...@halcyon.com>,

: > mjh...@halcyon.com (Clifford R. Wind) wrote:
: >>
: >>I'm getting a single beep from an AMI bios'd mb on bootup, which I believe
: >>indicates a "DRAM refresh failure". But the machine appears to be working.
: > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: >>Just what would the symptoms be of such a problem, what causes it, and what,
: >>short of chucking the mb out completely, would cure it?
: >>

: I'm experiencing the same problem and the maching appears to be working fine too.
: Please let me know if you ever find any solution to cure this problem.

: Thanks in advance,
: Derrick

Hm, I think there is no problem. The one beep at the startup is pretty
normal. All computers with AMI Bios (don't know about other bios's), that
I used, did this at bootup. Hm, I'm convinced it has nothing to do with
'DRAM refresh failure'; perhaps when your system would halt, you would have
such a failure.
After thinking a while about this, I'm pretty sure, that every PC I
switched on, did this beep on bootup, even the XTs 10 years ago.
Could this be or is it just my imagination?

And when your computer runs fine, why would you cure a problem, that isn't
there?
Patric

(pat...@ik1mv2.kfk.de)

[Eberhard Burr]

Clifford R. Wind (mjh...@halcyon.com) wrote:
> I'm getting a single beep from an AMI bios'd mb on bootup, which I believe
> indicates a "DRAM refresh failure". But the machine appears to be working.

DRams have multiplexed adress lines and there are several ways to do
the multiplexing. So if your Setup allowes to change it, there may be
incorrect setting and your Computer cannot access Ram th way you've
specified. In order to still work it will switch off page-mode-adressing
and then work at slightly lower speed. Try altering the settings of
page-mode and, if available burst-mode-refresh Option. A very good
description of how different Ram-types work has been in German Computer
Magazine c't lately. This Magazine frequently translates articles
of Byte; so maybe you find this one in january or february Edition of
Byte...

> Just what would the symptoms be of such a problem, what causes it, and what,
> short of chucking the mb out completely, would cure it?

--
Eberhard Burr *** eMail uh...@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de

[William Cole]

Clifford R. Wind (mjh...@halcyon.com) wrote:
: I'm getting a single beep from an AMI bios'd mb on bootup, which I believe
: indicates a "DRAM refresh failure". But the machine appears to be working.

: Just what would the symptoms be of such a problem, what causes it, and what,

: short of chucking the mb out completely, would cure it?

: Thanks much.

: Clifford R. Wind
: Holt & Company

It's definetly not a DRAM refresh problem. If your DRAM wasn't getting
refreshed, your system wouldn't run. Ignore it. My system beeps at me 4
times everytime I boot it up. I think that indicates a timer or some crap
not working, but I can't find anything wrong with my system. I ignore it.

Billy
wpc...@cts.com

[Mike]

In <PsiilG0d...@goofy.iaccess.za> da...@goofy.iaccess.za (Dale

Nurden) writes:
>
>In article <mjholt.22...@halcyon.com>,

>mjh...@halcyon.com (Clifford R. Wind) wrote:
>> I'm getting a single beep from an AMI bios'd mb on bootup, which I
believe
>> indicates a "DRAM refresh failure". But the machine appears to be
working.
>> Just what would the symptoms be of such a problem, what causes it,
and what,
>> short of chucking the mb out completely, would cure it?
>

>All AMI BIOSes beep once, almost at the same time as they display that
>block of system information at the top of the screen. If this is the
beep
>you're referring to, you have nothing to worry about - it's perfectly
>normal. If you are getting a single beep *in addition* to this, then
there
>is probably something wrong, though exactly what I cannot say.
>
>-Dale
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
> __|__ DALE M. NURDEN This is my NEW sig
> | Pinetown, South Africa Hope you like it!
> | da...@goofy.iaccess.za (or da...@iafrica.com, for some
silly reason)
>------------------------------ Hierdie sig is nie in Afrikaans
beskikbaar nie --

Maybe its just me but i'm getting bored with this dram failure message
everwhere. One beep is NORMAL He has had a dozen people tell him this.
If it was a refresh error it would not run. Please let this die.
--

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____________________________________________________________________________

[Dale Nurden]

In article <mjholt.22...@halcyon.com>,
mjh...@halcyon.com (Clifford R. Wind) wrote:
> I'm getting a single beep from an AMI bios'd mb on bootup, which I believe
> indicates a "DRAM refresh failure". But the machine appears to be working.
> Just what would the symptoms be of such a problem, what causes it, and what,
> short of chucking the mb out completely, would cure it?

All AMI BIOSes beep once, almost at the same time as they display that
block of system information at the top of the screen. If this is the beep
you're referring to, you have nothing to worry about - it's perfectly
normal. If you are getting a single beep *in addition* to this, then there
is probably something wrong, though exactly what I cannot say.

-Dale

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