***Beware - Failing Micron D9 memory***

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Soldato
Joined
4 Nov 2004
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Well after a load of problems this week ive found a thread over at XS with many people reporting their memory failing, that contain micron D9 chips.
I might rave about my TEAM kit, but they are on their last legs. After a hard crash i couldnt get my PC to POST, which was only fixed by using a cheapy pc2-4000 stick out of my housemates dell. My team kit now doesn't POST AT ALL after a CMOS reset and ive just run a quick memtest run to see if they are on their last legs:


Before problems (since september): 4-4-4-8 timings @ 2.25V @ DDR2 -1000 (500fsb on cpu, with 80mm cooling fan over them) = ALL FINE

Since today: At standard settings 3-3-3-8 @ 2.2v @ DDR2-667 = 129 errors after one pass of test 5 in memtest


Check the thread over at XS and it shows it isn't just high voltage and/or heat killing these kits, but many failures are occuring well within recommended voltage settings from the manufacturers. All brands seem effected, even the Cellshock 8-layer pcb kits. I know this is XS with crazy assed people, but quite a number of these kits seem to be failing, and even after i RMA my team stuff, the replacements might degrade in the same way:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=139544

....and another thread explaining how current and drive strengths can affect memory degradation:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=140870
 
I had the same concern with my Crucial 8500 after reading that thread- but I'm fairly rest easy in that they have a lifetime warranty - and 48 hr turnaround for RMAs - so the worst that happens is a 48 hour gap of not using the PC :(

every 8 months or so ?

not too bad

Mark.
 
My second set of 10th Anniversary has started failing the on-boot memory check :(

Apparently they want to replace it with PC5300 Ballistix. :eek: We'll see.
 
It's been a month since I replied in that thread :eek:

Anyway, as mentioned above, the no-hassle 48 hour turnaround for Crucial means I'm not worrying. They replaced both my first PC5300 kits with no questions asked.


Ofcourse if you have to return to a shop, or Taiwan, then you'll be a bit more fidgety.
 
Cob said:
Ofcourse if you have to return to a shop, or Taiwan, then you'll be a bit more fidgety.
Click to expand...

yup, i just bought a cheap 512mb 5300 stick from crucial to keep me going.
 
Quite a few crucial anniversary kits doing this - warned people about it months ago but got laughed at... also seeing a few g.skill 6400 HZ kits going the same way which is sad - mine seem to be fine tho so far... tho thinking about replacing them anyhow as they don't play very nice with my new motherboard...
 
Yellowbeard said:
Just curious, those of you that listed failures here, what MOBOs are you using and what voltages were you running?
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Stock voltages, of course. :D
 
Rroff said:
Quite a few crucial anniversary kits doing this - warned people about it months ago but got laughed at... also seeing a few g.skill 6400 HZ kits going the same way which is sad - mine seem to be fine tho so far... tho thinking about replacing them anyhow as they don't play very nice with my new motherboard...
Click to expand...

Where are you seeing all the Anniversary kits dying?
 
eek.... i have a nice pair of 2x1GB Annis..... dont want those exchanged for 5300 Ballistics if they break, specialy as i bought them back when the price was a fair chunk higher!

Annis should keep their resale value pretty well as they are limited ed. When DDR2 starts ramping down to switch to DDR3, and prices on DDR2 rise as supply drops, i should be able to sell them on quite nicely!

If they dont break that is, but i can get stable 560Mhz+ 5-5-5-18 @ stock 2.2V, which is pretty sweet.

Anyone got a diagnosis of WHY these chips are failing on normal volts? D9 is supposed to be seriosuly good stuff!
 
Big.Wayne said:
Oh no?

My set seems to be working fine still (touch wood!) but I have just been running it at 1.8v
Click to expand...

I had mine on 2.2V, but I would never have known it was failing the RAM test if I hadn't accidentally turned it on in BIOS. It takes ages to boot now, but it is a useful test.
 
Hmmm I'm not sure if this is one or two cases or a mass failure?

The Micro D9 is very popular memory right, nearly all the manufacturers are using them so I would expect to see a few fail, thats the nature of PC hardware.
 
I've never been anywhere near 2.5V so I should be safe enough on that front, but it's a shame as this is excellent RAM and Crucial are being total jobsworths about swapping over *** Anniversary heatspreaders. OK - if I was lied to at Christmas and this RAM really is the same as ordinary PC5300 Ballistix (that is what I'm being told by Crucial) and the only difference is the diamond-cut heatspreaders then why won't they swap the heatspreaders?

I am decidedly less than happy. Crucial are very, very good with straightforward RMA's, but these Anniversary kits just seem to be a nightmare for them.
 
at least they arent being reall cheeky and popping the heatspreaders of your returned ram, and shoving them on Balistics 5300 without telling you!

I'm suprised that crucial are taking the line that "cherry picked" Annis are equivilant to PC2-5300 Balistics..... makes you wonder what all the fuss was about earlier when they marketed them.

You could be cheeky and ask for PC2-6400 or PC2-8500 to replace them..... as their "value" is closer to the limited edition stuff that is brokem.
 
simonnance said:
at least they arent being reall cheeky and popping the heatspreaders of your returned ram, and shoving them on Balistics 5300 without telling you!
Click to expand...

Well, If they are telling the truth and they are the same RAM, I'd be quite happy with that. I rather doubt it though.

simonnance said:
I'm suprised that crucial are taking the line that "cherry picked" Annis are equivilant to PC2-5300 Ballistix..... makes you wonder what all the fuss was about earlier when they marketed them.
Click to expand...

Just marketing nonsense. And I fell for it :rolleyes:

simonnance said:
You could be cheeky and ask for PC2-6400 or PC2-8500 to replace them..... as their "value" is closer to the limited edition stuff that is brokem.
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Actually - I thought I might just exercise my rights and ask for a refund :D
 
Yellowbeard said:
Just curious, those of you that listed failures here, what MOBOs are you using and what voltages were you running?
Click to expand...

Gigabyte DS3 Rev 1.0 and 2.3v.
 
I regularly visit a number of hardware forums and a few IRC hardware channels so I can't link you to any one source of information that would present the information...

While a lot of these people are enthusiasts pushing their RAM quite hard, some people are also more casual users running within safe limits... the motherboards are quite varied - but a lot of them are DFI inf 975 and gigabyte DS boards.
 
WJA96 said:
Actually - I thought I might just exercise my rights and ask for a refund :D
Click to expand...

Prob is, if you bought through OCuk, then the refund should be through them shouldnt it?

And if its past 28 days (which will be with Annis), then they are going to be really unlikely to do it.

Plus, they may try and give you current market value..... and DDR2 prices have hit rock bottom recently.
 
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