Soldato
Apologies all, this is going to be a bit of an essay as I’m now completely baffled about what's causing it, but I’ll try and keep it short.
Basically I purchased this system in June 08 -
CPU - Q6600
Motherboard - Abit IP35 Pro XE (running latest 11 bios)
Ram - 2x Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 BL2KIT12864AA663.8FE4 2x1GB (so 4GB total)
GPU - BFG 8800GT
PSU - Corsair TX650
OS - Originally XP64, now Win7 x64
Everything was peachy for about a year (ran everything stock, 'auto' timings and voltage - according to Memtest86 the timings were 5-3-3-15 when set to auto), then I started to get a number of BSOD's (forgotten the actual errors) under XP64. I rebooted, popped in the Memtest86+ CD and after an hours or so it started spitting out errors left, right and centre. So i went through all four sticks of Ballistix, did 3/4 passes on each, nothing. Put the system all back together and it appeared to run ok. Even ran Prime for 5/6hrs, nothing.
Fast forward another year (start of last year some time) or so and i started to get BSOD's again, this time under Win7 x64. So I did the same, rebooted the system, ran Memtest86+, nothing. All Ballistix sticks seemed to check out. Thought it was odd so did a Google for other memory testers and came across MemTest for Windows. Ran that in safe mode and it started displaying errors. Did a check all of the sticks and found one stick that would produce errors in all Dimm slots on the motherboard. Put the other 3 sticks back in, ran Prime and the system seemed to run perfectly with 3GB.
And the system stayed that way (probably should have RMA'd the dodgy ram) until a week or so ago, when I started to get BSOD's again with the 3 remaining sticks. Again I did the same, rebooted, ran MemTest86+ and MemTest for Windows, found errors. Went through every stick, nothing. Up to now the system had been completely stock so I thought I’d try the recommended timings 3-3-3-12 and up the voltage to 2.1v (heard conflicting reports that the ram runs either at 2.1 or 2.2v and IP35 boards over volt etc).
After this everything seemed peachy again, ran both MemTests and Prime, nothing.
Then three days ago I start getting BSOD's again with IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and MEMORY_MANAGMENT errors. Did the same as before, ran MemTest86+ with all sticks and it founds errors - 2000 odd. Likewise with MemTest for Windows.
So I decided to go through all four sticks again testing them on MemTest86+ (3-4 passes) and MemTest for Windows using the auto timings/voltage, 5-3-3-15 @ 1.8v and the recommend 3-3-3-12 @ 2.0v, 2.1v, and 2.2v timings. The three remaining sticks showed no errors. The dodgy stick that I pulled a year earlier seemed to run fine with 5-3-3-15 @ 1.8v but push the voltage a notch higher, or tighten the timings and the system would lock at the bios (IP35 error display, on the board, showed a C1, 27, or 50 error). So i'm assuming this stick is definitely dodgy with it not doing the recommended timings.
So I tried all four of the sticks in each Dimm socket on the motherboard. Again, nothing.
So I stuck a stick in Dimm 1 and another stick in Dimm 3, ie: Dual Channel @ 3-3-3-12 2.1v and boom, both memory testers showed errors, 2500 odd. Lowered the timings and voltage to 5-3-3-15 @ 1.8v, errors still showed.
So I tried Dimm 2 and 4, again dual channel thinking it might be an issue with the motherboard, nothing! Tried a range of timings and voltages, again nothing.
Thought that was odd, went back to Dimm 1 and 3 thinking that I’d still have errors there - nothing.
Errors on the remaining three sticks appear to be completely random and if I do get errors then sometimes I’ll show in MemTest86+ and not MemTest for Windows and visa versa.
So I am 110% completely baffled by this.
Is it the Ballistix that is at fault? Is my motherboard causing the issues?
The only idea I have is lack of airflow around the ram. But the sticks certainly aren't hot to touch (feel like a warm cup of tea at most) when they are running at 3-3-3-12 @2.1v.
Again, apologies for the essay post but I’m at the 'head banging brick wall' stage. So any ideas, suggestions would be much appreciated!
Basically I purchased this system in June 08 -
CPU - Q6600
Motherboard - Abit IP35 Pro XE (running latest 11 bios)
Ram - 2x Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 BL2KIT12864AA663.8FE4 2x1GB (so 4GB total)
GPU - BFG 8800GT
PSU - Corsair TX650
OS - Originally XP64, now Win7 x64
Everything was peachy for about a year (ran everything stock, 'auto' timings and voltage - according to Memtest86 the timings were 5-3-3-15 when set to auto), then I started to get a number of BSOD's (forgotten the actual errors) under XP64. I rebooted, popped in the Memtest86+ CD and after an hours or so it started spitting out errors left, right and centre. So i went through all four sticks of Ballistix, did 3/4 passes on each, nothing. Put the system all back together and it appeared to run ok. Even ran Prime for 5/6hrs, nothing.
Fast forward another year (start of last year some time) or so and i started to get BSOD's again, this time under Win7 x64. So I did the same, rebooted the system, ran Memtest86+, nothing. All Ballistix sticks seemed to check out. Thought it was odd so did a Google for other memory testers and came across MemTest for Windows. Ran that in safe mode and it started displaying errors. Did a check all of the sticks and found one stick that would produce errors in all Dimm slots on the motherboard. Put the other 3 sticks back in, ran Prime and the system seemed to run perfectly with 3GB.
And the system stayed that way (probably should have RMA'd the dodgy ram) until a week or so ago, when I started to get BSOD's again with the 3 remaining sticks. Again I did the same, rebooted, ran MemTest86+ and MemTest for Windows, found errors. Went through every stick, nothing. Up to now the system had been completely stock so I thought I’d try the recommended timings 3-3-3-12 and up the voltage to 2.1v (heard conflicting reports that the ram runs either at 2.1 or 2.2v and IP35 boards over volt etc).
After this everything seemed peachy again, ran both MemTests and Prime, nothing.
Then three days ago I start getting BSOD's again with IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and MEMORY_MANAGMENT errors. Did the same as before, ran MemTest86+ with all sticks and it founds errors - 2000 odd. Likewise with MemTest for Windows.
So I decided to go through all four sticks again testing them on MemTest86+ (3-4 passes) and MemTest for Windows using the auto timings/voltage, 5-3-3-15 @ 1.8v and the recommend 3-3-3-12 @ 2.0v, 2.1v, and 2.2v timings. The three remaining sticks showed no errors. The dodgy stick that I pulled a year earlier seemed to run fine with 5-3-3-15 @ 1.8v but push the voltage a notch higher, or tighten the timings and the system would lock at the bios (IP35 error display, on the board, showed a C1, 27, or 50 error). So i'm assuming this stick is definitely dodgy with it not doing the recommended timings.
So I tried all four of the sticks in each Dimm socket on the motherboard. Again, nothing.
So I stuck a stick in Dimm 1 and another stick in Dimm 3, ie: Dual Channel @ 3-3-3-12 2.1v and boom, both memory testers showed errors, 2500 odd. Lowered the timings and voltage to 5-3-3-15 @ 1.8v, errors still showed.
So I tried Dimm 2 and 4, again dual channel thinking it might be an issue with the motherboard, nothing! Tried a range of timings and voltages, again nothing.
Thought that was odd, went back to Dimm 1 and 3 thinking that I’d still have errors there - nothing.
Errors on the remaining three sticks appear to be completely random and if I do get errors then sometimes I’ll show in MemTest86+ and not MemTest for Windows and visa versa.
So I am 110% completely baffled by this.
Is it the Ballistix that is at fault? Is my motherboard causing the issues?
The only idea I have is lack of airflow around the ram. But the sticks certainly aren't hot to touch (feel like a warm cup of tea at most) when they are running at 3-3-3-12 @2.1v.
Again, apologies for the essay post but I’m at the 'head banging brick wall' stage. So any ideas, suggestions would be much appreciated!
