Well, I just found that memtest 86+ wouldn't run from the floppy-
boot. I'm fairly sure I've done this correctly. At any rate, I've
invited the seller to replace the chip. I know some people wouldn't
bother, but if you think about how the fella is making 6 quid each
time it seems worth intervening if it's bad stuff, and my finances are
pretty dire anyway. But I will double-check memtest or try
downloading another version or something. I take it the tester
software I used isn't well known. Please do let me know if there's a
third option for testing.

If the seller ignores 2 emails - generously spaced and with a gentle
warning the second time - I'll amend his feedback and buy one 128 mb
chip at a time from someone else.

Thanks for what you've said so far though - always amazed at online
help!

As an aside, as you'd assisted befo after belatedly noticing that
the floppy drive didn't work on this machine I dug out a spare I had
in a drawer. It didn't fit, because of its front panel clashing with
the Deskpro's; then a few days later I had a brainwave - I removed the
front panel from the spare drive and the release knob, and now it fits
and all is fine. I don't know if they're designed to be amendable
like that - though there is just a space at the entrance now where the
original had a flap - but it was good to salvage things.

Lee

On Dec 2, 8:13*pm, "William R. Walsh" wrote:
Hi!

I recently bought some eBay RAM from someone with a
good rep there, 100%.

How many total feedback reports have there been?

I assume this is for your Deskpro EN SFF?

Just now I used Ramtester by a Mark Gathering and it
says about (a fluctuating) 320 mb available there.
*I wouldn't know if that's normal - I'm thinking
as this runs from Windows

Yes, that could very well be normal. Windows is going to use some
memory for itself and whatever drivers/services/user programs are
running, and that simply can't "go away".

You should not have problems with Memtest 86 in either the + or
original versions. Both run fine on my Deskpro EN systems (not just
SFF ones) when booted from CD or floppy diskette.

Then I tried the eBay-bought chip (first in the other
chip's slot and then in the slot it's normally in,
i.e.the first slot was blank), and got the Compaq
beep code for bad RAM (one short, two longer).
Does this necessarily mean it's bad RAM, or not
ideal, or what?

It means there is something about it that the power-on testing does
not like. Usually it's bad sign, although I've seen systems that would
issue beep-code complaints with some RAM and still work fine. You need
to get Memtest working to know for sure.

To know what is making the system unhappy about the RAM, you'd have to
know what the power on test looks for. Without disassembling the BIOS,
it is hard to be absolutely sure. Most power on tests are basic ones,
checking only to make sure that everything is in a reasonable state
before passing control to an operating system.

The maximum amount of RAM you can have in a Deskpro EN Pentium 3 is
512MB. All of mine could tolerate a single 512MB module if that's what
I had to put in there. Your mileage could vary--I don't know that such
modules were available in 2001.

Faster memory should run perfectly at lower speeds--although some
modules just don't like doing that.

According to Crucial.com this machine - Deskpro 886
EN Short Form something or other - should have up
to three 128 mb chips in, though I was happy to go
by what I was told here in this forum, that it
could have two 256mb chips or one 512mb chip.

The maximum is 512MB, no matter how you do it. All of a single 512MB
(probably unofficially supported given the machine's age), two 256MB
modules, or two 128s and a 256 should work. My systems have all three
configurations. Each works fine and has passed an overnight run of
Memtest 86.

I think your new memory should be replaced, or at least tested with
Memtest 86. Although, if Memtest cannot start up with the new RAM in
place, that indicates a serious problem. (Does Memtest work with only
the original RAM installed?)

William