Re: need motherboard recommendation
* Mark Neidorff <mark@neidorff.com> [101226 22:56]:
> Well OK. So, this seems to me to be a memory problem. I'm guessing the video
> ram. Whatever memory the 80X25 mode is mapping into has become flaky. When
> you start X, you are using different memory, so no problem. Why didn't ASUS
> solve the problem? dunno. Perhaps, once the MB booted into whatever they
> tested with (X, MS-Win, whatever), the problem isn't apparent. Their bad.
> Also, the problem does not seem to affect the operation of the MB once it is
> booted. So, how much worse is this than annoying?
Thanks, Mark. Your diagnosis makes sense.
If the problem indeed is in the video ram, am I correct in assuming
that I should have no great concern regarding data integrity in the
other systems of the motherboard?
> Of course, you know that you can look at udev and the logs to see
> all the boot messages once the PC is in X. Did I miss something?
No, I did not know that. I have been running Debian for ten years
now, but I never have learned to use the logs.
> Now, for something else that just occurred to me....Are you using
> the same VGA cable when you attach the different monitors to the
> different motherboards? Could it be the cable, or are there
> instances where the cable works properly?
No, each monitor has its own cable. And the lines (horizontal and
vertical, red and green) do not appear with any other motherboard
which I have attached to these monitors.
%%%
The only other possibility which occurred to me is that the difference
in temperature or humidity between the Asus US service facility and my
location may have caused the symptom to disappear and reappear.
For example. Years ago a co-worker was puzzled by a dead short
between two solder pads on a populated circuit board; he expected to
see an open circuit. Several individuals had inspected the board with
a magnifying glass, no solder bridge was visible. It turned out that
the pads in question were used for a large component which had been
soldered by hand. The factory-made board had been flow-soldered and
cleaned. But the pads for the large component had not been cleaned
after soldering, and the pool of hardened rosin was shorting the pads,
despite the fact that, normally, the residue of rosin-core solder is
an insulator and does not need to be removed. Cleaning off the rosin
cured the problem. Something of the same sort may be happening on the
motherboard.
RLH
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