bad mobo or mem?

U

urizen95

n00b
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Messages
9
How can I verify what my issue is... backstory:

I built a new machine: abit ip35 pro, patriot 4-4-4-12 2.2v 2x1ghz, evga 8800gts 640, c2q 2.4ghz... with this, i had a terrible experience installing windows, memtest ran fine without errors... decided anyway to take out one stick and boot up and it ran perfect, swapped sticks, crashed immediately... i was glad i figured that out.. rmad both sticks, got two new ones everythings great... im currently running win xp pro, but just ordered vista x64 ultimate... so I wanted another 2 gigs of ram... ordered same brand/model and the system was generally ok, but occasionally crashed with new sticks... i took out the first two sticks and played some games repeated with each new stick by itself, seems ok... decided to put all four back in, and run mem test... i ran it twice with errors appearing.. so now im running memtest on the two new gigs without error on the first pass and almost done with the second pass (threw errors on test 5, its on test 8 now).. so it seems these are ok as well... i will be testing the original two next just in case... but i believe they are ok based on the system stability...

is it possible that there is something wrong with the motherboard using all 4 slots? im sick of BSOD's! any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry for the lengthy explanation
 
update:

test 5 in memtest86+ throws errors with all 4 sticks... it does not throw any errors with just two sticks in, regardless of which pair... i tried both pairs in both dual channel slots, so 4 tests total... all passed with two passes... if I put both pairs in, it throws errors... number is always different 1800 one time, 700 another... i even swapped the pairs in the dual channel slots... same thing... what does this mean?
 
Have you checked to see what the memory voltage is set to in the BIOS? I think there's a good chance you'll have to manually set it to 2.2v.
 
CompuDrew said:
Have you checked to see what the memory voltage is set to in the BIOS? I think there's a good chance you'll have to manually set it to 2.2v.
Click to expand...

I manually set it to 2.2v and to 4-4-4-12 as well... i actually reset everything to defaults and the machine wouldnt boot, but i finally was able to get into the bios again and set it back to 2.2v and now it runs ok, im not sure if that was related or not..

its booting with no errors in memtest right now with only 2 gigs... i dont know how to figure this out, it seems as though all the slots on the mobo work fine, and all the memory chips are fine as well.. just not when all four are together
 
another update... it seems as though at 2.2v 4-4-4-12 (manufacturer recommended) it will only run 2 sticks... at 4 sticks it throws errors and becomes unstable... if i let the mobo choose the settings (which is at 1.8v i dont know the other settings) it passes the tests...


how should i adjust timings and voltage to get the most stable/performance and get as close to the recommended settings, cuz i assume in 4 gigs, it can't run that way?

I suppose at this point, this should be moved to the memory forum?
 
ok, it throws errors at 2.2v 4-4-4-12.. but not at 2.2v 5-4-4-12

I have more choices that I can change, but I don't know what they mean.. and I suppose this is the closest i can get, but I don't know what I can do to make it run optimally or this is optimal. i may pose the question in the memory forum soon if I can't find any decent articles on the subject
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top