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540c not enough free memory error

pcamen

Well-known member
I've got a 540c in very good shape with 20MB ram.  It seems that most programs give me the "not enough free memory" error.  For example, running fetch 2.12.

IMG_5317.jpegIMG_5316.jpeg

It is running 7.6.1 and the OS is only using 3 Megs and change, so memory is definitely not an issue.

The memory control panel does not have a 32 bit / 24 bit setting. 

Any ides why this is happening? 

 

pcamen

Well-known member
Is there some kind of memory test I can do?  Not sure if this model tests the memory on startup or not. 

 

pcamen

Well-known member
I tried swapping out the 16MB board for an 8MB one to see if that might be the issue and nothing changed. 

I tried booting with extensions disabled, no change.

I tried swapping the processor board for another (that sweet full 68040 I picked up last week ... HELLO 550c mod), no change.

Doesn't seem to be a hardware thing.  I'm going to try swapping a different drive in. 

 

jeremywork

Well-known member
I tried swapping out the 16MB board for an 8MB one to see if that might be the issue and nothing changed. 

I tried booting with extensions disabled, no change.

I tried swapping the processor board for another (that sweet full 68040 I picked up last week ... HELLO 550c mod), no change.

Doesn't seem to be a hardware thing.  I'm going to try swapping a different drive in. 
Glad you got that 550c board! 

I've seen this symptom before, but never nailed down exactly what causes it. In my case though, it may have been related to damaged resource forks, or damaged/non-ideal disk format. If you have a running Appletalk share, try running the apps from the mounted share rather than the 540's boot drive. I only found one similar case online, and in that case it seemed the file was on a damaged section of a floppy diskette. - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4092030?answerId=18887689022#18887689022

You can also run the memory test in Apple Personal Diagnostics. In my experience it's only accurate under System 7 only though. Might also try turning off Virtual Memory to see if anything changes...

 

pcamen

Well-known member
Yea, I think you are on to something there.  I popped in another hard drive and it had the same version number of Fetch on it which ran fine. 

There may be a wrinkle in my new 550c board.  The video is showing some odd coloring with that processor board in.  I wonder, does the processor board also have the video chip(s) on it?

Now for some reason I can't write to an external SCSI2SD v6; I wanted to copy the version of fetch from the one hard drive to the other and swap them again.  I've been bumping up against these strange issues with SCSI2SD's lately where they won't work properly.  Gonna try and disable termination and see if that helps.  I already updated the firmware to the latest. 

 

Byrd

Well-known member
I'd suspect a flaky OS install or the hard disk.  Do you have virtual memory running?

Video shouldn't be affected by the new CPU by any means; but perhaps the video cable was slightly dislodged when you installed the new CPU.

 

pcamen

Well-known member
Ah, must be a flakey LCD cable.  I switch to greyscale and it had a distinct greenish tint.  I went to take a picture with my phone and moved the screen a bit and the tint disappeared.  Now the screen is periodically glitching. 

The SCSI2SD problem is strange.  I ran into the same problem with another 540c that had an internal SCSI2SD and with some versions of firmware for the internal SCSI2SD it would make it impossible to write to the external one without issues.  In this case, I can copy from the external one just fine, but when I try to write, I get a disk error.

On a lighter note, spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to debug why the ethernet was not working on the 540c and then discovered that my virtualbox a2server was not running.  Then spent another few minutes until I realized that I didn't have the a2servers instance on a static ID after all.  Doh!

Regarding the memory issue with Fetch that started this thread ... I'm pretty sure it is a corrupted binary.  I re-downloaded the same files from my a2server and they work fine. 

 

MrFahrenheit

Well-known member
I would say your out of memory error is likely a corrupt application.  Do all applications have that error, or just that one ?

 

pcamen

Well-known member
I think you are right.  There were more than one but they were all off the SCSI2SD device.  I think that device for some reason isn't working properly and is corrupting files, as well as the inability to write to it. 

 

Crutch

Well-known member
As has been implied but not sure if you looked into, if you have a bad HD and are running virtual memory, you could get out-of-memory errors.  Try turning off virtual memory and see if that helps.

Also nice score on that 550c board.  I have an upgraded PPC 550c and wanted to pick that up to restore it to original state ... went back the next day and it was gone.  Glad you got it!

 

pcamen

Well-known member
@Crutch yea I got the error first without virtual memory turned on, and I've since swapped out a different hard rive.  I was able to copy the same executable to the machine via appleshare and it worked fine, so I think the SCSI2SD have issues unfortunately and is corrupting files that are on it. 

Yea, I've been looking for a full 040 for a while.  There's been discussion back and forth about whether it really makes any difference, and the reality is probably not, but there is just something about having a machine maxed out as far as it can go that appeals to me.  And the price was quite reasonable given everything that was included in that auction. 

 

pcamen

Well-known member
I think that the SCSI2SD issues are a problem with the v6 firmware.  I was previously having problems with the v6 and another 540c and had identified it to be a v6 firmware issue that was introduced after firmware version 6.2.5 (which worked).  I ran into the same issue today on another 540c and a v6.  I upgraded the v6 to firmware version 6.3.2 and it solved the issue.  I'm going to go back and test this same update with the other 540c and v6 combo. 

 

dan.dem

Well-known member
I faintly remember having had same error messages back in the old days.

I cured it with increasing the preferred memory setting for an application. I suggest giving fetch 1.5 MB or so.

However, this may be more effective when switching off virtual memory - as nearly every pro user did in 68k-times since Apple's virtual memory was usually very slow considering the slow (built-in) SCSI-interfaces of the time. Keep in mind that your system now uses a 21.5 MB (your virtual RAM-size) swap file on your startup volume.

So I am not sure if increasing the memory setting will cure your problem.

As similar had already been suggested: Try to redownload the application from an online source.

You may try enabling/disabling RAM-test at startup in the memory control panel (cp). You have to press a modifier key when opening the cp to access this setting, Command likely. So, not sure if this was implemented in System 7.6.1.

Do you have any third party virtual memory software running (likely RAM doubler)? Not sure they are fully disabled with the usual "extentions off" boot setting.

Next would be booting off an external SCSI-drive for testing. I think your System 7.6.1 is a good choice for any 68x040-Mac.

Good luck with your very nice PowerBook!

 

pcamen

Well-known member
Hey @dan.dem thanks for your help.  I'm pretty sure I've definitively identified the problem as corrupt files due to a version of the SCSI2SD v6 firmware that is incompatible with the PowerBook 540 series.  Backing the firmware down to 6.2.5 and everything works perfectly.  But with newer versions of the firmware, I can't copy to the device, and files copies from it are corrupt with the above problem if they launch at all.  Once I downgraded, the same files copied over worked fine.  

 
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