After some brief browsing, I don't think I've seen anyone try this. For those A1XEs (regardless of processor) that have problems with trying to run multiple sticks of RAM, has anyone looked to see what bus speed they were running them at? I think the default is to run them at 133 MHz, but has anyone tried dropping that to 100 MHz to see if it would make the system work with both sticks plugged in?

I'm suspecting some of the compatibility issues might be a timing issue. I know the new A1 setup I got from Nerp will work fine with either the registered RAM that he sent with it or with the Crucial (Micron) registered RAM that I had from my old one, but not with both plugged in (don't get any errors, just get a total system hang after Workbench and all startup programs are done loading).

Just realized I never tried it with the slower buss speed.

So I'll be experimenting with this over the weekend, but wanted to know if anyone else has tried this?

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@DWolfman

I got a 512MB stick of PC133 ram from my old PC working in the A1 last night, but only by dropping the speed to 100MHz. It withstood the memory test application (which ran for several hours). At 133MHz, I couldn't even get a UBoot screen.

Anything is possible :)

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Doing stupid things for fun...

@DWolfman
I have 2 working 512M modules but I can't remember which one,
and they work at 133MHZ, here in italy, there are some people that
have 2 1G module working correctly.

P.S. A1 XE-G4

When I had two G4-XE:s both with the same 512Mb stick, one couldn't work with two (for 1Gb in total.) I found that weird back then but realized that there is no need for more memory and that Only Amiga Makes This Possible. (Or someone related to it in anyway).

@DWolfman

Check this out, right at the top:
http://intuitionbase.com/comphard.php?category=1

I have an A1-XE G3. I am running two sticks in it right now at 133MHz. They are the Micron server RAM sticks.

At 133MHz, I have a 1GB memory stick in each slot, giving me 2GB RAM.

It's always worked fine AFAICT. Well, without AltiVec, you need sometihng to feel better about.

I don't know if it lets my machine boot okay, but cause trouble futher upstream in operation. Since my machine was subject to freezes. It's mostly stable now, and most freezes are rebootable or are loss of PS/2 input devices. Though total lock ups can still happen.

That said, the last RAM I had was an unreg 256MB stick, that failed with memtester within two minutes of testing. But in operation the machine was perfectly stable! Even with Linux.

Last edited by Hypex on 21-Aug-2009 at 12:14 PM.

@DWolfman

I have 2x256Mb running at 100MHz and it's stable here. I used to have a lot of crashes with gcc before I turned it down to 100MHz.

Last edited by zerohero on 21-Aug-2009 at 12:15 PM.

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Common sense - So rare it's almost like a super power

@DWolfman

It's been my experience that XE motherboards vary. Some months ago I had three XE motherboards side by side with different CPU modules and memory DIMMs to swap in and out.

I found that the performance of a set of components varied with the motherboard, regardless of the CPU or memory DIMMs plugged into it. In other words, it's probably dependent on the Articia northbridge and the VIA southbridge fitted to the board.

Some XE motherboards can support two DIMMs (there are people who swear that two DIMMs work in their machines), some (all that I have tried) don't work reliably with two DIMMs. Some DIMMs will work in some machines but not others.

It all comes down to luck. Try it and see if it works OK. Boot the OS with no startup-sequence, run memtester from the CLI and see what you get. If it can run for 24 hours with no errors, it is probably OK.

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tony

Hyperion Support Forum: http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz/index.php

@thread

Well, looks like I'm stuck at 512 MB for now.

I can get it tow work with both sticks if I set the buss speed to 100 MHz, but then I can't get a high enough multiplier to get it back to 933/1000 MHz like I'm running now. Not willing to give up the extra speed, so I'm running with one stick for now.

Since I've read of others using Crucial RAM (like the one I'm using now) having good luck with two sticks, I'll look to get another stick of that when I can afford it. Current price is US$109, though, so it will be a while.

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@tonyw

Quote:

Some XE motherboards can support two DIMMs (there are people who swear that two DIMMs work in their machines), some (all that I have tried) don't work reliably with two DIMMs. Some DIMMs will work in some machines but not others. It all comes down to luck. Try it and see if it works OK. Boot the OS with no startup-sequence, run memtester from the CLI and see what you get. If it can run for 24 hours with no errors, it is probably OK.

After reading the two topics here and the one over at Amigans.net, I decided to give it a try. I found some Infineon server memory on eBay and put it in my XE. So far, it's running with both sticks, total of 2GB, without any trouble.

I'll believe it's really OK after it's been running for a while longer. Memtester didn't run into any problems, though.

Paul

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Builder of Frankenthousand, the monster A1000
The Young Frankenthousand A1-XE G4
X5000

@DWolfman

I have never been able to run two sticks in my A1-XE. Tried a number of different sticks and combinations but none worked reliably.

I have one 512MB stick that works fine now.
Clocking down to 100MHz and loose 25% speed is not an option for me. I run at 933/133 with SetA1 giving another 50MB/s or so. Doubling the memory isn't worth loosing that speed IMO

I rarely run out of memory, but if I do, it swaps :)

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> Amiga Classic and OS4 developer for OnyxSoft.

@Deniil715

I've always wondered if SetA1 can be used to tune an A1 so it doesn't freeze. Or is less likely too.

I thought the problem with the 2 RAM banks on the AmigaOne-XE was a power related problem. As in that the amount of power needed to run 2 RAM banks can not be delivered by the system and only in certain exceptions this works.

But it's anybodies guess I think. That's what you get if a motherboard is created by people that don't do it daily and even then sometimes they mess things up.

What I do hate though is the choice of south bridge they used. If they would have had at least a little bit of interest in what went on in the PC world they would have known the VIA 686B was a problematic chip. IDE performance was lowered by 20 to 30% on PC's also to make DMA reliable.

Since then I have a real problem with Amigans that don't even look at other platforms to see whats going on.

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AmigaOne-XE G3 OS 4.
A4000 PPC
A1200 PPC

My system is weird.

When I got the machine, it was using a 128MB PC100 stick in slot 1 (J3 according to the manual), but running at 133MHz, without instability. In slot 2, the machine was not stable at 133MHz.

I found a 512MB PC133 stick in my old PC which I tested. It didn't work in either slot at 133MHz, but does work in slot 2 at 100MHz.

Quite amusing really. One PC100 stick that runs at 133MHz and a 133 stick that only runs at 100MHz

Since then, I've discovered that both sticks work simultaneously at 100MHz.

I think I should bite the bullet and actually get some proper registered ECC PC133 for it.

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Doing stupid things for fun...

@PulsatingQuasar

You seem to have forgotten that the VIA 686B was used because it was the only southbridge available that the manufacturers would supply in small numbers, ie a couple of thousand.

No other SB manufacturer offered them in small quantities. Other manufacturers only built them for their own motherboards and refused to supply the chips or any documentation.

There just wasn't any choice for the SB or the NB. There was no Northbridge commercially available for the PPC, the Articia was the first.

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cheers
tony

Hyperion Support Forum: http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz/index.php