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Can't run on 512 ram

U

UnfaTeFuL

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 23, 2002
Messages
460
For some apparent reason, my comp isnt stable at when it reads 512 ram. It freezes during XP loading, freezes in Memtest, crashes while surfing on the internet, BSOD in all 3d games, and BSOD while idle for 5-10 minutes after WinXP successful loads.\

I also would have trouble starting the computer, where the moniter is blank and has no signal.

But, it doesn't do any of the above if I just put in one 256 stick. I did around 20-26 hours of memtest on the sticks and it seems fine. So that pretty much rules out ram problem, or not.

Temps are 54C (CPU) and abour 49C (System) when it first boots up. CPU temp may be quite hot, but I don't see how that relates to ram problems. However, I did move my comp into a room that is quite hotter than the last.

My specs are in my sig. Is it that my computer is crappy because, all the parts are generic instead of quality name brand?
 
Could that be a dual channel system? If it is, you might have to disable that.

Anyway, either way, I think that differences in the chips can cause them to sort of conflict so that it won't work right. Try raising latencies, lowering any mem clock overclocking you might have, etc. First just try setting things really slow and see what happens (heck, set the thing to 100 if you have 133 or the equivalent of whatever you are running, just to see if it works.)

BTW, that system temp is rather high for just booting up. Mine starts in the mid 30s.

Anyway, this may not help, but it's just an idea and better than nothing I guess.
 
It's a nice new thing that many systems are starting have (now that I look at your signature, I suspect your system isn't so different from mine and far too old to have dual channel.) What it does is effectively split the part that handles memory in two, one for each chip (hence the dual.) This way, you can be writing to one chip while reading from another or whatever. Ideally, you can even have it reading from one while seeking on another for absolute maximum efficiency. In practice, it may not show a gigantic improvment, but it's a simple enough idea that's easy enough to implement and will definitely make an improvement. The system requires that the chips be VERY similar. They have to run with same timings and everything. Often you have to get them together just to be sure. This is why they are now starting to sell "dual channel kits" which basically are just two chips guaranteed to be enough the same. Anyway, with this system, two smaller chips are more efficient than one larger. And example of a system capable of this is the NF7 that I'm getting.

I still think that even on a non dual channel system you can get problems if they are too different though. Especially if they were made for different timings. If so, you'll have to use the larger of the two.
 
both sticks are the same 256. I don't really want to get a single 512 or 1 gig when I have two good working 256.
 
Hrm, most systems have 3, a few even 4 slots. Have you tried putting the second stick in a different slot than you have been?

I'm starting to run out of ideas other than just some weird conflict.

EDIT: Well, maybe the chipset is getting too hot. Just for kicks, temporarily open up the case and stick a large fan a bit away blowing in (make sure it's far enough to prevent EMI from being a real risk. Those things put out some serious interferance.) I remember I used to have issues with my system freezing once the chasis hit 45C or so, but that was really because I had crappy "value" ram. Since in your case it makes a difference if you have one or two, I'm wondering if it's similar, but the chipset rather than the memory itself. It's probably not quite hot enough for that, but, then again, I'm really not sure at all. I wouldn't know for sure since even at home with no air conditioning I kept mine below 45 or so, plus different motherboards are made differently. (I live in Alabama, so it's pretty hot here.)
 
Yeah this system has 4 DIMM slots. I've tried all of them and one stick works fine in all, but not two. Is it that two sticks make the system too hot? or ram has no play in overheating a computer?
 
It MIGHT be possible that addressing more ram is enough more work for the chipset. At least, that's what I'm wondering. If that guess were true, opening it up and setting a big fan blowing in would probably make it stable long enough to tell for sure that was the issue.

For one thing, when you say only one works, is it one of the two in particular, or either one just as long as it's one at a time?
 
Sounds like a faulty stick of RAM. Get memtest86 and run it with the faulty stick in. It should come up with a host of errors. But just looking at your problem, it sounds like bad RAM.
 
Both sticks are fine. Either stick of ram runs fine with memtest. The problem is it won't run with BOTH sticks in the slots.

I might try getting a 512 Crucial PC 3200
 
If all else fails, yes, get one chip that does more. You do understand that 3200 would be rather wasted on a KT266? Lol, I ended up I ended up in that situation myself since the PC2100 sticks I had worked in my dad's computer, but the PC3200 he had didn't and for some reason he just didn't care at the speed loss. Of course, PC3200 does mean that whenever you upgrade in the future, your memory will not need to be upgraded right away, nonetheless, in the meantime you are running memory made for 400MHz at considerably less. I mean, the memory will perform just fine, no less than PC2100 probably, and the memory will no longer be a weak point in ocing the FSB either (I can get mine up to 155 or so now, but the PCI and AGP are locked, so even though the memory is fine, the system begins getting unstable.)

Anyway, try getting that chasis temperature down as soon as you get a chance and let me know what happens. I'm still thinking that heat could be related because 49C is pretty darned high for a chasis. Even this cheap peice of crap did a little better before I ghetto modded it down to the 30s. Besides, get the chasis temperature down and usually the CPU temperature drops a bit, allowing for a bit more overclocking maybe (unless you already have it about maxed.) I could easily be wrong about the temperature being the issue, but, what's the harm in trying? Within reason, lower is always better.

EDIT: BTW, my AC has been off the entire time I was outside and it got quite hot in here. My system is all the way up to 36 and cpu up to 43 (and it's raised up to 1.667GHz with an upped voltage and an only semi-decent cooling system.)

Speaking of which, you don't have any overclocking do you? If so, lower it until done testing. And be sure to try raising memory latency just long enough for testing purposes. Once you get it all figured out, start testing for a good stable oc.

EDIT2: Just noticed that you have a 350 generic PSU. See if you can find at least a 400 for generic or, better yet, a good reliable brand in at least 350. Power issues can be related as well. My system got unstable when I drew too much power, though mainly I just had too much stuff in general.
 
Yeah, I've blamed overheating for all my comp problems so far with 90% agreement among those who looked at it too. I might have to switch to water cooling, since I've already spent 90 bucks on fans/heatsinks/etc. and weeks on trying to cooling my comp.
 
If your case is like the cheap peice of crap I got, then your problem isn't the number of fans. The trick with opening it and putting a fan is a great temporary test thing to see if it's really heat related, so definitely see about that first. As for more long term solutions, you can either break down and get a REAL case, or you can break out some thread and tape and tame those wires. If you are using flat HD and floppy cables, switch to rounded (the floppy cable you can just bend and wrap, but the hd is ultra-sensitive and will most likely have no end of troubles that way.) In particular, get some of the thick cables like those from the power supply to the MB taped and/or tied down. Also, placement and direction of fans is terribly important to temperatures. For example, there are these nice little flat turbine fans you can buy that take up a PCI slot. I put one of those blowing out the back of my case at the very bottom to get some of the air that doesn't really flow in that area, but not TOO much since the stuff at the top of the board is most important. Also, I originally had drilled a ton of holes and put a 4" fan (really just a radioshack fan screwed into the side.) Now I've borrowed a page from Intel's book and I moved the fan up to blow about where the CPU is and temperatures dropped quite a bit. (Ok, they don't have a fan, merely a big pipe to help get more air to the CPU from outside of the case, but this works too and gets some of the surrounding area as well.) Also, the PSU generates a bit, so I made a ghetto mod by taking two of those plastic things that block off the holes in the front by cutting a fan sized hole in there and super-glued the two together. While I was at it, I unscrewed the USB plugs from the hub that goes in a PCI slot from my motherboard, cut a few small holes, and now I have USB on the front of my case too. I think that fan probably made the biggest difference, at least with my previous PSU (this new one I got is a lot better.)
 
49ºC is your case temp? Something is really wrong there. Even in my apartment on a hot Texas summer day (100ºF +) with now AC running, and just a single case fan, my computer does not get that hot.

I would definately look into the heat issues, can you post a pic of your case and setup? This might explain some things.
 
I recently installed an additional 90 gig HD. When I did, I had to untangle all the wires. Could it also be that extra HD is taking up too much power?

I would also suspected that I didnt put enough or correctly thermal paste when I installed the heatsink last summer. It made no change in temperature when I installed the thermaltake 800 from a generic AMD heatsink that came with the computer.
 
Your CPU is a little warm, but, then again, it's within 10C of the chasis, so really it's not doing so bad. Get that chasis temperature down and the CPU will follow inevitably. The CPU will always stay a bit above chasis when air cooled.

As for the HD, yes it can be drawing more power and all, and powering two chips of memory is more than one. I still think heat is the factor, but, if you worry about too much power usage, make sure you are only using the number of fans you need. You said something about a whole bunch of them, but, even I get by with 5 case fans, and that's counting the turbine fan at the bottom and 4" fan on the side. I don't know how many you have, but you said you spent $90, and I know that it shouldn't cost near to that much even if you bought them all at radioshack, aka ripoff central. I have it set up with one in the front at the bottom blowing in, another near the top of the front, also blowing in, the 4" side fan is lined up to point almost directly on the CPU and chipset, and it's blowing in as well. All the rest blow out. I know you might think I have 3 in but only two out, but remember the PSU is blowing out as well and I think this kind of forces it to take in more of the cooler air (for it.) Regardless, I played around with every setup I could think of, drilling holes here and there even, and this is what I finally ended up with. Even when I put another fan somewhere, the difference is so minimal I can't tell.

Anyway, have you opened the side yet? I'm really interested to see the results from that. I know it sounds like a simple silly solution, but you might be surprised how high heat is a factor in this. I'm not going to leave you alone until you do it. d-: Heck, even if you don't set up a fan blowing in through that opening, that still can help cool it just opening the side. I know it's not a good permanent solution, but it will let us find much better just how much heat is a factor in this.
 
could it possibly be two 'Generic' sticks of ram trying to work in sync with each other in dual channel, you do realize that if they arn't both the same speeds/clocks you will have big problems in DC moode, turn off dual channel in the bios and try to run from there, other than that get new memory... lol
 
devo5676 said:
could it possibly be two 'Generic' sticks of ram trying to work in sync with each other in dual channel, you do realize that if they arn't both the same speeds/clocks you will have big problems in DC moode, turn off dual channel in the bios and try to run from there, other than that get new memory... lol
Click to expand...

KT266 never had dual channel that I know of. We went over this part already though. That was my first thought.

It has to be heat. 49C chasis is pretty darned high, even allowing for programs that detect incorrectly.
 
the system temp is around 40C, not 49, the CPU is at 61-63 when not idle. The two sticks of ram are exact duplicates of each other, no difference.

KT266 has no dual channel support.
 
Hrm, you said 49C chasis and 54C cpu in your first post. Well, that CPU is definitely more than a little warm if it's in the 60s and could conceivably be producing errors. I don't know that it could really make such an obvious difference how much ram you have in there, but, either way, you really need to get that temperature down a bit, if nothing else, to prolonge the life of that thing a bit more. 40C isn't so bad for the chasis though, so unless it has no cooling whatsoever on the chipset (mine has a cheapo heatsink, but still it's enough to get the FSB up to 155, so it works) I guess chasis temperature isn't the issue after all.

When I ran my 1800+ at ~ 1.667GHz it ran around the area of 45C absolute maximum, and that when extremely overworked and with my AC broken. My current CPU is a little warmer, going up to 45C with the AC actually working, but I've raised the vcore and gotten it up to 1.667GHz too, so that's to be expected from a tbird. The XPs should all run cooler at stock speed, so I believe yours would work about the same way (plus there can't be much difference between the 1800+ and the 1900+ surely.) I guess get the CPU temperature down and see if this keeps up.
 
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