Re: testing RAM chips

And even that is not a guarantee. I pulled some from a problem Gorf board
and stuck them in a Galaga. Passed self test every time but every 5 or 10
minutes the game would do something "extra special" or crash. Should I
throw these RAMs away? I hate to keep them but they're not cheap anymore
so I have been hesitant to throw them away too. Maybe they'll work at a
slower bus speed? I know, I know. Just begging for more frustration!

"Clay Cowgill" <vector_clay@hotmail.com>@synthcom.com on 04/24/2000
11:24:08 PM

Please respond to vectorlist@synthcom.com

Sent by: owner-vectorlist@synthcom.com

To: vectorlist@synthcom.com
cc:

Subject: Re: VECTOR: testing RAM chips

The RAM test that a game board runs is a pretty good way to find a bad RAM.
They usually do some bit patterns and whatnot at least. RAMs are best
tested at full speed in the system they're used on-- removing and trying
them on a cheap device tester often won't work. Also, RAMs can have
peculiar failures. They can have sensitivity to patterns or certain areas
being hit-- often sequential reads/writes will be fine but random
read/writes will fail (and vice-versa).

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Received on Tue Apr 25 09:00:56 2000