[rescue] sun3 memory tester?

[Stuart E. Johnson]

I seem to remember that there are jumpers on the backplane that are set
differently for memory boards. I knew there was a reason to keep that old FE
Handbook around...

For  a 3/160, the preferred placement for memory boards is slot 5, then 4,
then 3. The BG3 (Jxx3 and Pxx3) and IACK (Jxx4 and Pxx4) shunts both need to
be IN on those slots.

The memory boards also have jumpers that need to be set to get the memory
ranges assigned correctly. Depends on the type - the 4MB boards are more
complicated.

I'm guessing you've got 4MB on the CPU board and an additional 501-1102 8MB
memory board. These have 5 LEDs on the filler panel. J0302 pin1 is the first
board, pin 2 is board  2. Let me know if I've guessed wrong. If you give the
part numbers and slots I can drop you a line...

Just my $.02, adjusted for inflation...
--
   -Stuart E. Johnson
     sej at gofast.net

> Message: 8
> From: BSD Bob the old greybeard BSD freak
<bobkeys at weedcon1.cropsci.ncsu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [rescue] sun3 memory tester?
> To: rescue at sunhelp.org
> Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 14:17:16 -0500 (EST)
> Reply-To: rescue at sunhelp.org
>
> > since I have salvaged a 4MB memory card from
> > another sun3/160 for my 3/160, the systems is
> > now a bit unstable.
> > Although all 12MB seem to be tested at startup,
> > no error was found yet, but I once had a panic
> > that seemed to point to memory error, and some
> > memory straining applications (like compiling gcc)
> > fail consistently with strange error messages.
> >
> > So, does anyone know of a proper solution to
> > test the system's memory and actually find
> > possible errors?
>
> If you bring it up in diagnostic mode, you can see it roll
> a bunch of ram tests by, and that may help to isolate any
> chip problems.  Diags go out serial A.
>
> GCC will run out of memory quite easily.  12mb is
> pushing it a bit in my hands.  VAX folks are complaining
> about recent GCC bloat on their machines, too.  On a small
> AIX1 box, I had to restart gcc and TeX compilations about
> half a dozen times to get it to complete.  I am assuming it
> was memory related.  The native compiler ran fine. GCC is
> a bloat hog.
>
> SunOS 4.1.1U1 is your friend.
>
> GCC 1.4.2 or 2.5.8 are also your friend.  Hey, its old hardware
> and the early compilers run fine for most things.  Why do you
> really need GCC3.x on a Sun 3?
>
> If the system is unstable, and you have been swapping cards,
> carefully check the card vme connectors.  It is not uncommon
> for corroded connections to make ram funky to play with.
>
> The old connectors sometimes oxidize a bit or get dirty and
> corroded (seat/unseat 5 times slowly to clean the contacts).
> Make sure the cards are fully seated.
>
> One should be careful and never slam the cards into the seat.
> The pins are known to get bent (bad karma and hard to fix well).
> (Been there, done that, etc., the hard way, cussing wildly.)
> If the pins bend not too much, a needlenose plier will fix them.
> If they get really creamed, you may break the pin trying to get
> it straightened out... thus begetting harm of the nightmarish
> kind.  (:+{{...
>
> That is all I can think off offhand....
>
> Good Luck.
>
> Bob