(no subject)

[dolari]

I am so so so so so stupid.

So damned stupid.

I tested the motherboard with memory and without when I was trying to figure out what was failing on the system.

I never bothered to test the memory chips individually.

I have three sticks of memory, two PC2100 256MB chips and 1 PC2700 512MB chip. I took out the PC2700 stick to see what I could slavage for my parents computer and...well...the system came right up, no blue screens, no reboots. I'm tyoing this enty on it right now.

Sure enough, plug the PC2700 on it in on it's own without the PC2100 chips, and you get one long beep. Bad memory.

I should have checked the chips individually first - I never did, just checked it for beep codes with and without the full memory. I'm a doof. THIS is why I've been Level 1 tech support for ten years.

But now I'm down to 512MB...not comic killing, but comic delaying.

Comments

[hemlock-martini.livejournal.com]

You're not stupid. I refuse to hear that.

[audaciousd.livejournal.com]

W00ty for revived zombie computer!!

And, of course, Stretch Monster.

[soltice.livejournal.com]

You are not stupid. Everyone makes mistakes like that because a possibility doesn't occur to them or they fail to check something. I've done that myself a number of times.

I remember a few months ago I spent nearly two weeks tracking down a programming bug. I practically ripped the thing down to assembly code and I couldn't figure out why it crashed. Do you know what the problem turned out to be? The word "unknown" was misspelled in the database. Every time the blasted thing crashed, I had to reload that database and would have seen the misspelling. And I didn't notice it for almost 2 weeks!!!

At least memory is a lot easier on the checkbook than a new box. I can check my local sources for a sale if you like.

[drkbish.livejournal.com]

Eh, don't beat yourself up over it. You wouldn't believe how many times I've overlooked the obvious when trying to fix an issue. A perfect example would be a few weeks ago when our main fileserver kept crashing due to overheating. I went to the colocation on a Sunday to get it fixed, and noticed it was a tad warm in there, but didn't think much of it as I'm very insensitive to temperature changes. I called HP, they determined it was the mainboard, and had someone out within a couple of hours to replace it.

I went home, and two hours later, it crashed again. I drove back, got to the colocation... and when I entered saw another customer there with one of the colocation's techs. Turned out my put-aside observation was the key: it was 95 degrees in the datacenter!

I felt a bit stupid then, too. Like I said, we all miss the obvious sometimes. :-)

Hey -

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

but it's better than buying a new motherboard!

[kisai.livejournal.com]

about 50$ on eBay for 1GB PC2700 modules. Not too bad, but shipping can sometimes be a rip off.

All I have are SODIMM 256MB modules of PC2100 and PC4200, so that's probably no help to you. I'm sure there must be a pile of 256 modules out there since so many OEM systems come with 512 in 2x256 arangements.

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

I managed to find two cheap 1GB sticks. The machine is running pretty sweet now, although I wish I knew why I still had a 400MB swap file.

[labrat78.livejournal.com]

Naw you aint stupid, far from it.
I think its more like after a while we stop thinking of the obvious and tend to overlook it, I know I do all the time and feel like a total idiot when I finally do get the thing right.


Yay and hugs to you.

think of the money you'll save now.

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

Yer not stupid.

Just low on memory.

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

Would you mind throwing me an EMail when you get a chance? I need to ask you about something and I've forgotten your Email.

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

email sent

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

EMail sent

[chaoticset.livejournal.com]

184 or 200 pin?

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

184 - and I now have new memory. :)