VOGONS


First post, by r112029

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Hello,

I’ve managed to acquire a system I’ve wanted for some time; a PC Server 330 (8640-ES2 with 2x Ppro200 and 66mhz bus). It fails POST with the beep code 1-3-1 which translates to “1st 64K RAM test failed”. It has 2pcs 32mb modules installed, I’ve tried reseating, cleaning connectors etc to no avail so I guess I have a dead module (or two). Question is, what kind of RAM does this system take? I’ve tried some random pc100 sdram that fits in the slots but that didn’t work. I’m guessing it needs ecc modules, and if so perhaps they need to be in identical pairs? If anyone has any suggestions on what RAM to look for, or generally has any experience with this system, any help would be greatly appreciated! I need some GLquake action on this beast.. 😀

Reply 1 of 5, by Horun

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Buffered ECC 3.3v 168pin DIMM. 32mb, 64mb, 128mb or 256mb. From one of the manuals, it might be able to boot with just one DIMM.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 5, by eisapc

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https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/features-pc-server-330-0
According to this page 128 MB is the max size supported, but support 256MB sticks might be an undoccumented feature.
256 MB do exist but are hard to find, while smaller ones can be easily found in older (Compaq-) servers.
The sticks you are looking for have 9 or 18 chips of the same size and two small ones for the buffering.
Here is an example:
https://www.electromyne.de/RAMs---Memory-Vint … 228469-001.html

Reply 3 of 5, by r112029

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Thanks for the replies and the help!
It’s really unclear in the hardware manual if it should be able to boot on one stick but I kinda hope it can’t, because it seems a bit unlikely that both the original modules should be toast. But if it’s not the ram I can’t really figure out what could be wrong, both CPUs are ok during POST so the system board should be OK then I guess. I’m gonna try ordering 4 new sticks to populate all slots and see if that works.

Reply 4 of 5, by eisapc

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At least for similar Compaq and hp PPro boxes the memory modules does not need to be installed in pairs.
Did you have a closer look at the memory sockets? These caused trouble in some of my machines.
To clean them you can use a piece of cardboard the thickness of the memory PCBs, soacked with isopropylic alcohol.
Some manufacturers warned about mixing tin plated modules with gold plated sockets and vice versa,
but i never experienced problems caused by this combinations in personal.

Reply 5 of 5, by r112029

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I bought a couple of new ram modules and with those installed it passes the ram test during post. But unfortunately it still doesn’t clear post, it gets stuck further on with no signal to the monitor and no beep code. I put a simple post code analyzer card in it and eventually managed to get it to display codes, but none of the codes displayed seem to correspond to anything I’ve managed to look up online, so I’m guessing it’s some proprietary stuff with no openly available documentation. Would be so cool to get this old beast up and running so if anyone has some knowledge on troubleshooting these machines, any help would be awesomely appreciated!