From owner-freebsd-hardware  Sun Sep 15 01:21:54 1996
Return-Path: owner-hardware
Received: (from root@localhost)
          by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id BAA09271
          for hardware-outgoing; Sun, 15 Sep 1996 01:21:54 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from dns2.noc.best.net (dns2.noc.best.net [206.86.0.21])
          by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id BAA09265;
          Sun, 15 Sep 1996 01:21:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from shellx.best.com (shellx.best.com [206.86.0.11]) by dns2.noc.best.net (8.6.12/8.6.5) with SMTP id BAA24785; Sun, 15 Sep 1996 01:21:45 -0700
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 01:21:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Amanda Chou <achou@best.com>
To: "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" <michaelv@MindBender.serv.net>
cc: questions@freebsd.org, hackers@freebsd.org, hardware@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Q: Tyan Tomcat I with > 64MB RAM 
In-Reply-To: <199609140341.UAA04018@MindBender.serv.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.SGI.3.93.960915010309.26333B-100000@shellx.best.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

On Fri, 13 Sep 1996, Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com wrote:

> 
> >Has anyone used Tyan Tomcat I with more than 64MB RAM? We ran into some
> >weird problems; it works fine when we just put 64MB EDO RAM, but it got
> >panicked at booting or some other random time when we put more than 64MB
> >EDO RAM. We followed the manual and changed its jumper setting, added one
> >more 32K X 8K SRAM; we changed the Award BIOS to make it able to recongnize
> >the memory up to 512MB; we added an option so it'll work with 128MB RAM.
> >Any idea?
> 
> I'm not sure I followed everything you just tried to say.

Oh, what I tried to say was that we tried _everything_ to make Tyan TomcatI
motherboard to be happy with memory more than 64MB.

> However, have you tested the memory by itself to make sure you don't
> have a bad chip?

Yes, we did; I replaced one bad SIMM.

Actually we solved the problem already, and the solution is fairly simple
(but not terribly obvious). I got those 8 16MB EDO RAMs from two different
places: Fry's and Chip Merchant. Fry's get their chips from different
suppliers, while Chip Merchant get theirs only from one place. As soon as
we put Fry's RAM in lower banks and Chip Merchant's in the higher banks,
bingo, it started working! 

The lesson we learned is: try to get all your memory made from the same
factory if you try to build a system with more than 64MB RAM.

Amanda