Baffled by my OCZ RAM

KillerCars

KillerCars

KillerCars

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Joined
16 Jul 2005
Posts
83
Hi. Sorry if this turns out a bit long..

I turned on my PC yesterday and it didn't start up and it was just beeping. I have the DFI Lanparty NF4 Ultra-D motherboard, so the diagnostic LEDs showed me it was the RAM... I tried all the different combinations for the RAM to go in the slots and eventually came to the conclusion that one of the sticks works and the other one doesn't. (The RAM I have is OCZ 1GB (512mb x 2) Dual Channel Gold VX EL-DDR.) I e-mailed OcUK, who I bought the RAM off, and I'm waiting for a reply. But I just tried the stick that isn't working in a different PC.. and it seems to work ok, so I tried it in my PC again but I got the same beeping and no starting up until I removed the stick that I thought wasn't working again.

This is so enfuriating. How can one stick of my RAM suddenly stop working just in my PC? And another thing is, if I send this RAM back to whoever, they'll probably test it and find it works even though it doesn't... I would say it's my motherboard but one of the sticks works in it, and they both used to work flawlessly and the RAM is only a few months old.. Can anyone tell me anything about what may be causing this problem because i'm out of ideas... Thanks.
 
You tried running @ stock? Put the 'faulty' stick in the other PC where it works and run memtest on it from www.memtest.org If it fails after about 8 hours full loop (or loop test 5 by following these exact commands from within memtest: 'c' '1' '3' '5' '[Enter]' '0'

That will loop test 5 for you. If any red failures occur, then the RAM is faulty. :).
 
yeah, its voltage extreme, it can go up to 3.5v without voiding the warranty. I was running it at the tested speeds off 2-2-2-8 at 3.2v, but i've also tried them at the default 2.5-3-3-7 at 2.6v and the one stick still doesnt work.
 
Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip) to create a bootable CD.
Download - Pre-Compiled package for Floppy (DOS - Win) to create a bootable floppy.

Extract the .zip file and execute for floppy I think and burn the image to a CD using an Image burner (don't just copy the extracted file to a CD).
 
i've run memtest for 6 hours and it hasn't found any errors yet I don't think.. so what can I do? because it doesn't work in my pc anymore which is the important thing, and now I won't be able to get it replaced because it appears to be working.. :|
 
Sounds like cold boot issue, try putting your good dimm in and setting bios to 2-3-3-7 3v, load windows then shutdown pc... then put in the bad dimm and turn it back on. Note as long as the yellow memory LED is off you dont need to turn off your psu power.

Incidentally, it was the dimm nearer the CPU thats gone right?
 
Ok, I don't know what the hell that did but it's made them work again. Was that something to do with the tested RAM speeds or something coz I know the modules say 2-3-3-7 on them... How come it just suddenly happened? Anyway, thanks mate.
 
It's a long story but cut and short of it is DFI boards only apply 2.6v from a cold boot, it takes a few seconds for the correct voltage (3.3v for example) to kick in.... unfortunatley OCZ VX and Mushkin XP redline can't boot at all with 2.6v, particularly when the timings are set to x-2-x-x. However, setting them to x-3-x-x means they can boot even with 2.6v, and once there up and running u can change it back to x-2-x-x as the correct voltage is now applied.

There is another issue where the dimm nearest the CPU gets permanently damaged as a result of this, but thats unresolved. Damn DFI.
 
Haha, dunno if you still use this or not but, you were right. It permanently damaged the DIMM closer to the CPU since now it won't work at all.

I think it has a lifetime warranty on though so i'll try and get an RMA.
 
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