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From: dmoyer@oiscola.Columbia.NCR.COM (Dan Moyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.periphs,comp.windows.misc
Subject: ATI 386sx crashes with memory failure msg- WHY?
Keywords: ATI, Windows, SCSI
Message-ID: <390@oiscola.Columbia.NCR.COM>
Date: 11 May 91 04:03:01 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: NCR/OISD Columbia
Lines: 86

I have a IBM clone using a ATI 386sx motherboard that inexplicably
crashes.
 
I've asked the question to the manufacturer, the dealer, and some
knowledgable people I know, and have not been able to solve this one.
I'm hoping someone on the net has had this problem and knows the
solution, (or at least knows that there is no solution to it- at least
that would be better than wondering if it can be fixed.)
 
PROBLEM:
 
When I exit Procom, and the turbos switch is set to 20mhz, frequently
the system will crash.  When switched in 16mhz mode, this problem
rarely, if ever, occurs.
 
 
When in Windows enhanced mode, the system will crash.  In this case,
there seems to be now particular cause.  It appears to usually occur
when a disk I/O is starting.  But it can also occur just when the
mouse is moved.   Sometimes the screen will go blank and display an
error message (below), sometimes the system is just hung.   When switched
to 16mhz speed, Windows will still crash, though less frequently.
 
 
When exiting Procomm, the display goes to 40 wide character mode,
and the following message is displayed:
  INTERMITTENT MEMORY READ ERROR
  SYSTEM HALTED
 
 
HARDWARE:
 
ATI 386sx motherboard.  circa mid 1989
 
ST296N scsi drive and ST02 controller card
 
Paradise Basic VGA
 
Serial/parallel board  COM1 IRQ4   COM2 disabled.
 
internal modem         COM2 IRQ3
 
bus mouse board             IRQ5
 
 
The BIOS chips on the ATI board are labelled:
 
 
  ATI Inc  AMI BIOS V2.02
  Copyright 1987, 1988  AMI 386sx BIOS
 
 
The ST02 controller card has a ROM chip labelled:
  Seagate ST01/02 BIOS   V3.0
                          001
  Copyright 1989 Seagate
 
The Paradise VGA card has a chip with the part # 62-003137-061  WDC '89
 
 
When I boot up the machine, I get the following displayed:
 
386-BIOS Atronics International  Version 1.11  Sept 1989
 
Seagate SCSI BIOS Rev 3.0.0  Copyright 1988 Seagate
 
4M of RAM on the motherboard  70ns speed.
 
 
In the config.sys, I removed all TSR's and any disk cache stuff, and
Procomm will still crash when exiting.
 
 
As far as Windows, I put in the minimum- smartdrv.sys and himem.sys,
trying to keep system config as simple as possible.
 
 
Has anyone had problems similiar to this?   Appreciate any help you
can lend.
 
Dan Moyer
 
dmoyer@oiscola.columbia.ncr.com
 
803-739-7681  work