Parity check 10000 \ VOGONS

Parity check 10000

Topic actions

First post, by AdamP

Posted on 2011-06-22, 02:28

AdamP Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 386
Joined: 2009-08-21, 18:12
Location: England

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right place. Feel free to move if necessary.

I have a curious issue with my old Packard Bell Platinum 2030. Sometimes, in DOS, when I press and hold the power button to switch the machine off, the screen is wiped and "Parity check 10000" appears at the top and the machine hangs. When I press and hold it again, it switches off as intended. The curious thing about it is that it only happens in DOS (at least I don't recall it happening elsewhere) and the computer otherwise works fine (as far as I can tell), and it only happens if I input something (I think it may also have happened once when I tried to type something, and it doesn't just happen of its own accord). My question is, what does it mean? It sounds like some kind of RAM problem, but, as I've said, it otherwise runs fine.

Thanks

Reply 1 of 3, by leileilol

Posted on 2011-06-22, 02:43

leileilol Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 12455
Joined: 2006-12-16, 18:03

the only parity error related thing i've ever seen is when you do too much swearing at your computer. Considering it's Packard Bell, it's not really surprising.

long live PCem

Reply 2 of 3, by Tetrium

Posted on 2011-06-22, 09:12

Tetrium Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 9614
Joined: 2010-01-27, 18:53
Location: Netherlands

Maybe it's somekind of system administrator thingy so the machine could have it's (whatever) checked quickly in the field?
If this is the case, then I'd expect some entry in the BIOS making this feature on-offable

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!

Reply 3 of 3, by AdamP

Posted on 2011-06-24, 03:43

AdamP Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 386
Joined: 2009-08-21, 18:12
Location: England

I can't find any parity or admin options in the BIOS. The closest thing was L2 Cache ECC. The RAM seems to be fine; it passes checks from POST, HIMEM.sys, and Testmem. One of the sticks is different and is supposed to run slightly faster (125mhz). I'm wondering if it has anything to do with that.

Thanks

BTW, it happens on DOS 7.1 standalone.

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to General Old Hardware