Adding an extra gig gives me 21,000 Memtest errors !

Pinkeyes

Pinkeyes

Pinkeyes

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First time in this part of the forum, so Hi and please help ! :)

Just upgraded my Shuttle SN25P with another 1 Gig Stick from Crucial. Same model as the one it previously had in it.

On their own, both stick function perfectly, but in together and Windows reboots before it gets to the desktop.
I loaded the Memtest CD in it and I get 21,000 errors with the first 15 seconds. (again memtest passes both sticks when fitted on their own)

I understand this could be voltage levels on my board that is causing this. XPC Tools reports the RAM voltage is 2.56 and even when upped in the BIOS to 2.9V - it still reports 2.58

Is this likely to be the case, and is there anything I can do. Do differnet makes / models of memory run at lower voltages ?

Any tips would be appreciated guys. Thanks for reading.
 
does the voltage go up with just 1 stick?

it could well be voltage, could also be a chipset/mobo limitation. try dropping ram to 333 mhz or 400 @ 2T or 333 @ 2t.

(the manual should advise on the boards capability)
 
Amonlym said:
any word on how voltage behaves with just 1 stick?
tried 333 or 2T yet?
Click to expand...

Not tried, I am at work now, but will jump on it when I get home.
I cannot tell how the voltage is with 2 sticks for the same reason as I said earlier. I cant get into Windows to check !
I have a feeling the BIOS does report voltage levels somewhere though so I will take a look and get back to you.

The weird thing is, I am not putting much more drain on the system. 1 SATA HDD, 1 7600GT Graphics and an Athlon 3200 - hardly heavy duty stuff.
My DVD is USB and has an external PSU.

Re: The memory settings, I did try switching between 2T and 1T.
Somewhere I read to set the RAM to 8,3,3,3 - I tried that to without success.

Thanks for checking up on the thread again and I will update later on when I get home.
 
Right - bit of an update.

Voltage levels by default (Auto) report 2.60 Volts. That's with 1 or 2 sticks present.
Upping that to 2.7, 2.8 or 2.9 does change the voltage reading, to exactly that. With 1 or two sticks in.

So upping the voltage seems to do nothing.

Is this indicating this isn't a voltage problem then ??

The RAM has a setting of Auto - when on Manual, I changed the speed from 400Mhz to 333 and 200 Again made no difference. Error City on Memtest.

Thing thats bothering me is will spending more money on a different make of RAM fix this problem, or am I likely to find the same problems ?
The memory has to be non ECC and really is basic bog standard memory..
 
I think I could be onto something here.

The manual specifically states the SN25P does not support Double Sided memory. I assume this means the chips can only be on one side of the stick, not both ?? - is this right ?

I popped to old 256 Meg DDR 400 Sticks in, and Voila, Memtest ran

The 2 sticks I have are Double sided (it supports double sided if only 1 stick is installed)

So it looks like I might need 2 1 gig Single Sided sticks... or 1 2Gig double side...

Does this make sense to anyone ?
 
yes, that seems reasonable.

its not a voltage issue, you are correct. down to a core-logic limitation.
on a few (limited) boards people have managed to run over spec with very very long timings at low speeds etcetc. but then, whats the point.

can you try 1*1gig stick with 1 of your old 256mb sticks? if that works, try and get a 512mb stick (borrow from a friend to test ;)). (should be single sided now-days, if its from crucial they ship single sided 8* 5B-F for 512mb and double sided 16*5-BF chipped sticks. they dont bother with 5B-G if i recall)

crucial are usually very good about returns for things. if you used their compatibility tester then they will definately accept it back. otherwise you may face a restock fee. give them a call and see what they say - they might have single sided 1 gig sticks...
 
Hi again

Yes I did try that. 1* 1gig stick and 1*256mb stick doesn't work either - same thousands of errors in memtest.

2*256 Sticks and it works fine. First time 2 sticks have worked in it tbh.

Thats why I am going down this double sided / single sided road.

The two 256meg sticks have 8 chips on each (but only on one side)
The two 1 Gig sticks have 16 chips on each (8 on each side) - are these double sided ?

Crucial are happy to replace my latest 1 gig stick, RMA - refund.
So if I can find two 1 gig sticks, that are single sided, it may work !
 
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