*************************************************************** OPERATORS MANUAL FOR THE MICROCOSM ASSOCIATES MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC, VERSION 1.0 *************************************************************** COPYRIGHT 1979,1980 BY MICROCOSM ASSOCIATES DONATED TO THE "SIG/M" CP/M USER'S GROUP, BY KELLY SMITH CP/M IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF DIGITAL RESEARCH 1.0 DIAGNOSTIC TEST "START-UP" EXECUTION 1.1 THE TEST WILL INITIALLY "SIGN ON",WITH THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE DISPLAYED ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE: MICROCOSM ASSOCIATES MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC VER.1.0 (C) 1979 TOP OF MEMORY=NNNN MEMORY QUALIFICATION TEST IS IN PROGRESS ANY ERRORS OCCURING DURING THE "MEMORY QUALIFICATION TEST" WILL BE DISPLAYED AS FOLLOWS: ERROR AT ADDRESS=NNNN PATTERN STORED=NN PATTERN READ=NN BIT(S) IN ERROR=N,N,N,N,N,N,N,N THE DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAM WILL NOW PROCEED TO DISPLAY THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE ON THE REMOTE SYSTEM CONSOLE: MEMORY TEST IN AUTO MODE (Y OR N)? (REFERENCE SECTION 2.1 C FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION) 2.0 DIAGNOSTIC COMMAND MONITOR 2.1 WHEN THE "-" PROMPT CHARACTER IS DISPLAYED, THE FOLLOWING KEYBOARD ENTRIES MAY BE MADE FOR TEST/DIAGNOSTIC SELECTIONS. A. "G" CAUSES "GO ADDRESS=", ALLOWING EXECUTION OF CODE AT ANY ADDRESS IN ROM/RAM MEMORY. B. "M" CAUSES "MEMORY ADDRESS ", TO ALLOW DISPLAYING ANY ADDRESS IN ROM/RAM MEMORY. FOR EXAMPLE: -MEMORY ADDRESS=NNNN (CR) NNNN=NN (SP) NNN1=NN AA (WHERE "AA" IS AN OPERATOR ENTRY) NNN2=NN ^ (WHERE "^" IS AN OPERATOR ENTRY TO EXAMINE "PREVIOUS") NNN1=AA (SP) NNN2=BB E (WHERE "E" INDICATES "MEMORY ERROR" ON ENTRY) NNN3=NN (CR) - (WHERE "-" IS A RETURN TO THE MONITOR BY CARRIAGE-RETURN) C. "T" CAUSES "TEST MEMORY IN AUTO MODE (Y OR N)?" TO BE DISPLAYED ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE.ENTERING "Y" ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE KEYBOARD WILL CAUSE THE FOLLOWING DISPLAY TO APPEAR: NO MEMORY BLOCKS DROPPED TESTING MEMORY FROM 1000 TO 2000 PASS=0000 TOTAL ERRORS=0000 RANDOM PATTERNS TEST THE TEST WILL PROCEED TO TEST WITH "WRITE SATURATION TEST", "GALLOPING PATTERNS TEST","STATIC CHECK CYCLE","CHECKING DATA RETENTION","GALLOPING COLUMNS TEST", AND "WALKING PATTERNS TEST". THE TEST WILL THEN PROCEED TO THE NEXT 4K BYTE MEMORY BLOCK. A "N" RESPONSE TO "TEST MEMORY IN AUTO MODE (Y OR N)?" WILL CAUSE THE FOLLOWING DISPLAY TO APPEAR ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE: TEST "ALL","SELECT",OR "MONITOR" (A,S OR M)? ENTRY OF "S" ON THE KEYBOARD ALLOWS "SELECTION" OF TESTING MEMORY FROM ADDRESS 1000 HEX TO FFFF HEX,WITH THE FOLLOWING DISPLAY APPEARING ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE: (NOTE: A MINIMUM ADDRESS DIFFERENTIAL OF THREE ADDRESS'S MUST BE UTILIZED BY THE OPERATOR, AND MEMORY MAY NOT BE TESTED BELOW RAM MEMORY ADDRESS 1000 HEX. LOW MEMORY ADDRESS=NNNN (CR) HIGH MEMORY ADDRESS=NNNN (CR) TEST OPTIONS ARE: 01-GALLOPING PATTERNS TEST 02-GALLOPING COLUMNS TEST 03-WALKING PATTERNS TEST 04-RANDOM PATTERNS TEST 05-WRITE STAURATION TEST 06-STATIC CHECK CYCLE TEST ENTER TEST NUMBER(01,02,03,04,05 OR 06)=NN ENTER PATTERN (00-FF)=NN TEST IS IN PROGRESS PROGRAM TEST EXECUTION BEGINS AT THE TWO DIGIT ENTRY FOR "ENTER PATTERN (00-FF)=" BY DISPLAYING "TEST IS IN PROGRESS". ENTERING "A" FOR "ALL",AUTOMATICALLY BEGINS EXECUTION BY DISPLAYING "TEST OPTIONS ARE:",ASSUMING THAT THE TEST ADDRESS RANGE IS FROM 8000 HEX TO BFFF HEX. ENTERING "M" FOR "MONITOR",CAUSES EXITING TO THE COMMAND MONITOR (SEE SECTION 1.1 FOR DETAILED EXPLANATION OF OPERATION),AND WILL PROMPT WITH A "-" CHARACTER TO INDICATE MONITOR MODE. 3.0 RAM MEMORY TEST ERROR MESSAGES A. RANDOM PATTERNS MEMORY TEST MEMORY ERRORS OCCURING DURING THE RANDOM PATTERNS TEST WILL BE DISPLAYED ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE AS FOLLOWS: ERROR AT ADDRESS=NNNNN PATTERN STORED=NN PATTERN READ=NN BIT(S) IN ERROR=N,N,N,N,N,N,N,N NOTE, THAT ON TRANSIENT/DYNAMIC TYPE ERRORS, THE PATTERN STORED MAY MATCH THE PATTERN READ AND NO BITS WILL BE IN ERROR. THE ERROR DETECTION LOGIC OF THE TEST SOFTWARE IS SUCH THAT ANY IMMEDIATE MISMATCH IS DETECTED BUT THE ERROR CELL STATE IS NOT SAVED. SUBSEQUENT SOFTWARE PROGRAM DELAYS LATER, THE ERROR CELL ADDRESS CONTENT IS AGAIN EXAMINED FOR THE MISMATCH TO BE DISPLAYED, BUT THE CELL IS NOW CORRECT. THIS INDICATES THAT A TRANSIENT/DYNAMIC ERROR HAS OCCURRED. THE TEST SEQUENCE IS AS FOLLOWS: 1. RANDOM DATA PATTERNS ARE WRITTEN THRUOUT THE 4K BYTE CELL MEMORY BLOCK. 2. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE READ. 3. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE COMPLEMENTED. 4. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE READ. 5. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE ALTERNATELY WRITTEN WITH 55 HEX AND AA HEX. 6. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE READ. 7. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE COMPLEMENTED. 8. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE READ. 9. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE WRITTEN WITH ALL 1'S. 10. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE READ. 11. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE COMPLEMENTED. 12. ALL 4K BYTE CELLS ARE READ. B. WRITE SATURATION TEST MEMORY ERRORS OCCURING DURING THE WRITE SATURATION TEST WILL BE DISPLAYED ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE AS FOLLOWS: ERROR AT ADDRESS=NNNN READ BACK NN ,EXPECTED NN THE FAILURE TYPE REVEALED IS SLOW SENSE AMPLIFIER RECOVERY DUE TO SUSTAINED "CHARGING" OF 0'S OR 1'S ON THE SENSE AMPLIFIER CIRCUITRY. THE TEST SEQUENCE IS AS FOLLOWS: 1. WRITE A "BACKGROUND" PATTERN OF ALL 0'S IN A 4K BYTE BLOCK REPEATEDLY FOR 100 WRITE PASSES 2. WRITE ALL 1'S IN A 4K BYTE BLOCK FOR 1 WRITE PASS ONLY. 3. SEQUENTIALLY READ ALL BYTES IN THE 4K BYTE BLOCK. 4. WRITE A "BACKGROUND" PATTERN OF ALL 1'S IN A 4K BYTE BLOCK REPEATEDLY FOR 100 WRITE PASSES. 5. WRITE ALL 0'S IN A 4K BYTE BLOCK FOR 1 WRITE PASS ONLY. 6. SEQUENTIALLY READ ALL 4K BYTES IN THE 4K BYTE BLOCK. C. GALLOPING PATTERNS MEMORY TEST MEMORY ERRORS OCCURING DURING THE GALLOPING PATTERNS MEMORY WILL BE DISPLAYED ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE AS FOLLOWS: ERROR READING OTHER CELL TEST CELL=NNNN, OTHER CELL=NNNN PATTERN STORED=NN PATTERN READ=NN THE "OTHER" CELL (WRITTEN FROM A BACKGROUND PATTERN OF 0'S OR 1'S) HAS BEEN DISTRUBED BY WRITING INTO THE "TEST" CELL. ALTERNATELY,THIS MESSAGE MAY APPEAR: ERROR READING TEST CELL TEST CELL=NNNN, OTHER CELL=NNNN, PATTERN STORED=NN PATTERN READ =NN THE TEST CELL HAS BEEN DISTURBED BY WRITING INTO SOME "OTHER" CELL. THE FAILURE TYPE REVEALED IN EITHER ERROR MESSAGE INDICATES EITHER UNSATISFACTORY ADDRESS TRANSITIONS BETWEEN EACH CELL AND EVERY OTHER CELL, SLOW SENSE AMPLIFIER RECOVER, OR DESTRUCTION OF DATA DUE TO NOISE COUPLING BETWEEN CELLS WITHIN A COLUMN. THE TEST SEQUENCE IS AS FOLLOWS: 1. A "BACKGROUND" PATTERN OF ALL 1'S IS WRITTEN INTO A 256 BYTE PORTION OF A 4K BYTE BLOCK OF MEMORY. 2. THE COMPLIMENT OF THE TEST CELL IS WRITTEN INTO THE TEST CELL, AND ALTERNATELY THE TEST CELL IS READ AND EVERY OTHER CELL. 3. THE TEST CELL IS WRITTEN TO IT'S ORIGINAL STATE. 4. THE NEXT SEQUENTIAL CELL IS TESTED AS IN STEP 2 AND 3. 5. A "BACKGROUND" PATTERN OF ALL 0'S IS WRITTEN INTO THE SAME 256 BYTE PORTION OF THE 4K BYTE BLOCK OF MEMORY. 6. STEPS 2,3, AND 4 ARE REPEATED. 7. STEPS 1 THRU 6 ARE REPEATED FOR THE NEXT SEQUENTIAL 256 BYTES IN THE 4K BYTE BLOCK. D. STATIC CHECK CYCLE. UTILIZED IN THE MEMORY TEST AUTOMATIC MODE ONLY, A STATIC CHECK CYCLE WILL OCCUR AS FOLLOWS: ANY FURTHER MEMORY READ OR WRITE OPERATION IS TERMINATED FOR ONE MINUTE. AFTER THIS DELAY TIME, THE LAST STATE OF MEMORY TESTING PATTERNS FROM THE GALLOPING PATTERNS MEMORY TEST IS READ FOR THE 4K BYTE BLOCK TO TEST FOR POSSIBLE ERRORS DUE TO RETENTION LOSSES. THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE WILL APPEAR ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE: CHECKING DATA RETENTION ANY DATA RETENTION ERROR DETECTED WILL BE DISPLAYED ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE AS FOLLOWS: DATA RETENTION ERROR AT ADDRESS=NNNN EXPECTED "00" DATA, READ BACK NN E. GALLOPING COLUMNS MEMORY TEST ERROR MESSAGES ARE IDENTICAL TO THOSE DISPLAYED FOR THE GALLOPING PATTERNS MEMORY TEST. THE TEST SEQUENCE IS AS FOLLOWS: 1. A "BACKGROUND" PATTERN OF ALL 1'S IS WRITTEN INTO A 64 BYTE BYTE PORTION OF A 4K BYTE BLOCK OF MEMORY. 2. THE COMPLEMENT OF THE TEST CELL IS WRITTEN INTO THE TEST CELL, FOR THE CURRENT TEST COLUMN. 3. TEST CELL ROW'S ARE READ BY ALTERNATELY READING THE TEST CELL AND LOCATIONS +64 ADDRESS'S FROM THE TEST CELL (E.G. TEST CELL +64 (N), WHERE N=1,2,3,.... ,63). 4. READ THE TEST CELL, THEN WRITE THE TEST CELL'S COMPLEMENT INTO THE TEST CELL, SO THAT IT IS IN IT'S ORIGINAL "BACKGROUND" STATE. 5. READ TWO CELLS FOLLOWING THE TEST CELL FOR REFRESH CHECK. 6. REPEAT STEP 5 FOR ALL CELLS OF THE CURRENT TEST COLUMN, AND EVERY OTHER COLUMN (E.G. READ CELLS 3,6,9,....63; 2,4,9,...62; 1,4,7,.....61; ETC., ETC.) 7. REPEAT STEPS 2 THRU 6 FOR ALL COLUMNS. 8. WRITE A "BACKGROUND" PATTERN OF ALL 0'S FOR 64 BYTES IN THE 4K BYTE MEMORY BLOCK. 9. REPEAT STEPS 2 THRU 7. 10. REPEAT STEPS 1 THRU 9 FOR THE NEXT SEQUENTIAL 64 BYTES IN THE 4K BYTE MEMORY BLOCK. ALL FAILURE TYPE REVEALED INDICATES EITHER UNSATISFACTORY ADDRESS TRANSITIONS BETWEEN EVERY CELL AND THE POSITION OF THE CELL'S ROW, DESTRUCTION OF STORED DATA DUE TO NOISE COUPLING AMOUNG CELLS IN THE SAME COLUMN, OR REFRESH ERRORS. F. WALKING PATTERNS MEMORY TEST MEMORY ERRORS OCCURRING DURING THE WALKING PATTERNS MEMORY TEST WILL BE DISPLAYED ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE AS FOLLOWS: ERROR AT ADDRESS=NNNN READ BACK NN, EXPECTED NN LAST ADDRESS WRITTEN WAS NNNN, PATTERN WAS NN THE TEST SEQUENCE IS AS FOLLOWS: 1. WRITE A "BACKGROUND" PATTERN OF ALL 1'S FOR 256 BYTES IN A 4K BYTE MEMORY BLOCK. 2. WRITE THE COMPLEMENT OF THE TEST CELL INTO THE TEST CELL. 3. READ THE REMAINING 256 BYTES, IN THE 4K BYTES OF THE BLOCK. 4. READ THE TEST CELL. 5. WRITE THE COMPLEMENT OF THE TEST CELL BACK TO IT'S ORIGINAL "BACKGROUND" STATE. 6. REPEAT STEPS 2 THRU 5. 7. WRITE A "BACKGROUND" PATTERN OF ALL 0'S FOR 256 BYTES IN THE 4K BYTE MEMORY BLOCK. 8. REPEAT STEPS 2 THRU 6. 9. REPEAT STEPS 1 THRU 8 FOR THE NEXT SEQUENTIAL 256 BYTES IN THE 4K BYTE MEMORY BLOCK. THE FAILURE TYPES REVEALED ARE INTERNAL MULTIPLE ADDRESS SELECTION,DESTRUCTION OF STORED DATA DUE TO NOISE COUPLING WITHIN A COLUMN,AND SLOW SENSE AMPLIFIER RECOVERY. G. OPERATOR ERROR MESSAGES ANY NON-HEXIDECIMAL KEYBOARD ENTRIES ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE WILL BE PROMPTED WITH A "?" CHARACTER, AND A RETURN TO THE COMMAND MONITOR. ANY ATTEMPT TO TEST "OUT OF RANGE" OF ADDRESS SELECTIONS WILL PROMPT WITH: INVALID MEMORY ADDRESS TESTING OF MEMORY IS NOT ALLOWED BELOW ADDRESS 1000, OR ABOVE FFFF, ALSO THE LOW MEMORY ADDRESS MAY NOT BE GREATER THAN THE HIGH MEMORY ADDRESS, ANY ADDRESS RANGE FROM 1000 HEX TO FFFF HEX MAY BE TESTED .HOWEVER, A MINIMUM DIFFERENCE IN ADDRESS OF 3 IS REQUIRED DUE TO THE "PUSH/POP" METHOD OF MEMORY TEST BY THE RANDOM PATTERNS MEMORY TEST ("PUSH AND POP" INSTRUCTIONS ARE UTILIZED FOR MEMORY ACCESS'S BECAUSE THESE TWO INSTRUCTIONS PERFORM THE FASTEST ACCESS OF MEMORY). .