From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 16 17:52:06 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0F7F316A4CE for ; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 17:52:06 -0800 (PST) Received: from mx05.ca.mci.com (mx05.ca.mci.com [142.77.2.25]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 034FA43D35 for ; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 17:52:05 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from mykroft@mykroft.com) Received: from mykroft.com (black.mykroft.com [205.205.25.114]) by mx05.ca.mci.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1DC8D251D2; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 20:52:04 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <3FDFB6C6.3010907@mykroft.com> Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 20:52:06 -0500 From: Mykroft Holmes IV User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.5) Gecko/20031007 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: paul van den bergen References: <200312171241.43249.pvandenbergen@swin.edu.au> In-Reply-To: <200312171241.43249.pvandenbergen@swin.edu.au> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: FreeBSD-questions Subject: Re: hardware testing - e.g. memory - on old hardware X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 01:52:06 -0000 paul van den bergen wrote: >Like most geeks[1] I have a pile of roting hardware at home... Someone >yesterday mentioned (vaguely) about utilities for testing hardware - >especially RAM - but presumably this could be extended to other hardware - >that would >1) tell you if it is OK. > > This is possible, as long as the old hardware supports the RAM you are testing. With the evolution of RAM standards over the last few years, and the incompatibilities even among straight SDRAM (PC66/100, High-density chips not supported on older systems) it may not do you any good. >2) isolate and by some mechanism make unusable sections of memory perminantly >damaged. > > No Can Do. If there's bad sections, you toss the DIMM/SIMM/Module. >I figured this would be quite usefull for redundant hardware (where age and >lack of replacement parts might tempt one to hold onto hardware as long as >possible) > >anyone have any idea if there is such a beasty? > > > > >[1] I have a theory about geeks.... there are geek-wannabes, geeks, ubergeeks >and Gnurus... and the process is progressive and non-linear.... > > > Adam