• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Toshiba T3200SX Parity error and crashing problems

falter

falter

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
6,573
Location
Vancouver, BC
I dragged out my T3200SX for some Empire action - and it seems now to run for random intervals before crashing. A crash typically is the screen goes blank and it becomes unresponsive. Usually powering off and on does the trick. Every now and again it crashes with a parity memory error. So I opened it up - it reports 5MB of RAM, but there are just 4 30 pin simms. Two in Bank A, Two in Bank B. I have tried swapping them around and just populating Bank A to see if I can nail down a bad chip, but it seems to crash no matter what is installed.

One thing I didn't think about - does it matter which chip is where? ie with parity are certain chips 'even' or 'odd'? Or are they just parity and they take whatever side they're plugged into?

Pity this thing doesn't run reliably.. I forgot what a nice machine it is to work with!
 
Can you share pictures of the simms in question? Would help to figure out whats going on... I've seen weird situations when people tried to use MAC ram in a pc, and comes up with a strange memory total. Also could have 1mb onboard, so 5mb isnt out of the question.
 
I'll get some this aft. They are Kingston simms and I think they have Toshiba chips on them. Thanks for the response! I was reading through a service manual I found and if I'm correct there is actually a soldered 1mb base RAM installed. That would explain why the RAM expansion comes up to an odd amount. Ugh why would they do that? They had tons of room.. could have made the system RAM removable SIMMs too. I guess I'll have to run the diagnostics and hope it scopes out approximately where the issue is.
 
Here's the RAM.. the 1mb soldered and the 4mb on SIMMs.

The thing is just totally acting random now - CPU errors, parity errors, black screen, no post etc..
 

Attachments

  • 20230325_093853.jpg
    20230325_093853.jpg
    309.7 KB · Views: 14
  • 20230325_093847.jpg
    20230325_093847.jpg
    381.9 KB · Views: 14
Thanks Dave. I'm not sure.. these are just what the machine came with. I've tried running it with none of the SIMMs installed but same deal. I think my problem is either main system RAM or something on thr motherboard.
 
I know without the ram installed, still have problems. Can we see back of the ram to see if its been modified to work?
 
I have similar issues with my T3200SX with no SIMMs installed. Worked one day, and now I get memory errors, black screens, crashes. :(
 
Mine seems to be totally random.. it can work for several hours.. then it won't boot at all. I think there is some soldered in system RAM with these right?
 
falter said:
Mine seems to be totally random.. it can work for several hours.. then it won't boot at all. I think there is some soldered in system RAM with these right?
Click to expand...

Yeah, there is 1MB soldered to the RAM daughterboard. I did try swapping out the RAM daughterboard with another and had the same issue. ?
 
I didn't have another board to try unfortunately.

I have found with these Toshibas sometimes it comes down to loose connections or solder joint problems. I have a T5100 the video display corrupted on.. reseating the video board was all it took to resolve it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top