Jim

As a fan and follower for many years of your images, discussions, and the fractal cats, maybe here is a way I can give a little back.

Both the error beep code and the diagnostic light display say you have one or more bad memory modules or a bad memory slot on your motherboard.  Just reseating them is not going to fix them.  Here is what I would do to figure out what is really wrong.

Remove all the memory modules.
Pick one memory module and put it back in the first slot on the motherboard.
Turn on the computer and run it.  If it fails soon that is the bad module or bad slot.  Turn off the computer, remove that memory module and mark it as suspect and put another module in the same slot.  Turn on the computer and run it again.  If it fails again you probably have a bad motherboard slot.  If it does not fail again you probably have a bad memory module.
If you don't get a failure on one memory module, add a 2nd module in the 2nd slot and repeat the process until you get a failure.  If you get a failure on the 4th module in the 4th slot, remove the 4th module and put the 3rd module in the 4th slot leaving the 3rd slot empty to identify if there is a bad slot or bad module.  

When done you have the following choices:
- You have one bad module.  You can run without it or go buy a replacement.  Memory keeps getting cheaper and cheaper so this option is pretty easy to just go buy a replacement.
- You have one bad slot.  To fix that you would need a replacement motherboard and those are either nearly the price of a new machine from Dell or no longer available.  Here the choice of just going without the slot on the lesser amount of memory may be the best option.

Hope this helps.

Donald P. Egen
Chief Scientist
Patricia Egen Consulting, LLC


Jim Muth <jamth@mindspring.com>
Sent by: fractint-bounces@mailman.xmission.com

10/26/2011 06:38 PM
Please respond to
Fractint and General Fractals Discussion <fractint@mailman.xmission.com>
To
fractint@mailman.xmission.com
cc
Subject
[Fractint] Fractal computer trouble






Fractal fans:

As I have been reporting the past few days, the main 2000mhz
fractal computer is out of action and I am using the 200mhz
backup machine.  I am posting this list of symptoms hoping that
someone on the list with more computer knowledge than myself
might have an idea of what ails the machine and what if anything
might be done to fix it.

When I first turn on the machine it starts up normally and runs
for a few minutes.  Then a blue screen with white characters
appears.  The message says there is a problem and windows is
shutting down to prevent possible damage.  The message says to
try restarting the machine, but when I try, the machine is
locked up.  When I cut the power for a minute or so, the machine
beeps 1-3-2 and the normally all-green lights on the back panel
turn (left to right) amber,amber,green,green.  Nothing else
happens.

But if I keep the power shut off for a couple hours, the
computer will again start up normally, only to go dead in a few
minutes, with another identical blue screen.

The following is some technical information that appears on the
blue screen.  It is beyond my understanding.

STOP: 0x0000008E (0xc0000005,0xBF80232A,0xB797DC14,0x00000000)

win32k545 - Address BF80232A base at BF800000, Datestamp4341deff

Hopefully, I have copied all the characters correctly.

The machine is a Dell dimension-8400 series about 8 years old,
running WindowsXP Professional.  Any help would be appreciated
and would also promote the fractal cause.

P.S. I have already tried reseating the memory cards.


JIM



_______________________________________________
Fractint mailing list
Fractint@mailman.xmission.com
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint