SiSoftware Sandra Read Me! document

SiSoftware Sandra - The Diagnostic Tool, Q & A Document

This document provides some frequently asked questions about Sandra. Please read the Help File as well!

Q: Sandra does not recognise my chipset.
A: Let us know so we can support it in the next version.

Q: The memory bank arrangement is incorrect!
A: While the total size of the memory may be correct you may be confused by the arrangement. This is because Sandra shows you the logical Chipset bank arrangement, not the physical memory module arrangement - which may or may not be the same depending on the specific Chipset.

While the BIOS may show you the real arrangement, this is because it is customised for your particular board, thus it knows the memory slot no/width and Chipset. Sandra does not have such a mapping for each particular board in order to generate the same information.

Say a computer has 4 slots and 8MB in the 1^st bank (slots 0 and 1) and 16MB in the 2^nd bank (slots 2 and 3), 24MB in total. Sandra shows 8MB in bank 1, 3 and 4. This is correct as it gives 24MB in total.

Q: Sandra reports that the SMBus controller of VIA 596/686 Bridge is disabled but other programs like MBM work! Why is that?
A: Unfortunately, it is not a bug in our software, but in the BIOS itself. While Sandra 8.27 or later contain a work-around, the proper way would be to fix the BIOS.

Only Windows NT4/200X are affected, not others.
The SMBus I/O range is not reported by the BIOS (no entry in Windows Device Manager) and it is not included in the PCI Bridges I/O forward range.
Thus, the I/O range is part of ISA lengacy instead of PCI address range (as it is a PCI device). When Sandra tries to map it as PCI, the request fails.
Other programs like MBM do hard/direct IO which does work since the SMBus I/O range exists even if it is mapped incorrectly. Since Sandra uses the kernel API, the request fails.

Q: Sandra displays incorrect information about my AMD 760/MP chipset.
A: Update to Sandra version 8.21 or later.

Q: Sandra displays incorrect information about my Intel 850/860 chipset.
A: Update to Sandra version 7.52 or later.

Q: Sandra displays incorrect information about my VIA KX133/KT133(A)/KM133 chipset.
A: Update to Sandra version 6.60 or later.

Q: Sandra displays incorrect information about my ALI Apollo V chipset.
A: Update to Sandra version 5.0 or later.