Having Memory Problems - Need Some Advice Please

[nheather]

I'm having problems with a system upgrade which crashes with 'Blue Screen' when running intensive stuff like the game Crysis.

Using the BSOD info I did some research on Google which suggested faulty memory and that I run MemTest.

My memory is 2x1GB Corsair XMS2 800 CAS 5.

So I did and found that Test 7 (Random Number Sequence) mostly fails.

So I then tried to identify the faulty stick by running MemTest with each stick in DIMM1 in turn. All tests passed.

So thinking it may be the socket that is the problem, I ran MemTest with each stick in DIMM3 in turn. All tests passed.

So I have the situation that either stick, in either DIMM socket will pass MemTest, but the two together will fail.

So I thought it may be voltage.

So checking using AbitEQ and Everest, I find that the DDR2 voltage is 1.94V whether I have 1 or 2 sticks. This is correct for the RAM which is nominally 1.9V.

This morning I was all set to buy new RAM but now I'm not so sure the RAM is faulty.

Any ideas what to try next?

BTW - RAM is being ran as SPD settings and stock frequency.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[nheather]

Thanks for the reply.

I've updated all the drivers and the BIOS for the motherboard to latest available.

I ran the two sticks in DIMMS 1&3 at stock DDR2 voltage and it failed Test 7 pretty quickly - not all passes fail though.

So I increased the volatge (from 1.9 stock to 1.95) and left it running last night. This morning I found that it had a total of 19 passes and 14 fails. All failures are on Test 7.

Before I left for work I swapped the RAM over to DIMMS 2&4, set DDR2 voltage back to stock and left it running. I shall report back when I get home.

I must admit to being rather puzzled by this. The memory works individually without any problem but together fails. But it always fails at the same Test - if the memory was faulty I would expected to see failures in at least some of the other tests.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[nheather]

At work, so specs as I best remember

Mobo - Abit IP35
CPU - Intel E6750
RAM - 2x1GB Corsair XMS2 CAS5
GFX - Geforce 8800 GTX 320MB
PSU - 550W. Can't recall the make. It's not one of the well known brands but it's not an unknown generic. It was pretty well reviewed at the time and cost a fair amount (if that's anything to go by). I'll post the make\model when I get home.

Speed - absolutely no overclock.

Memory Settings - Stock 5-5-5-18

Voltages - Stock (although I have played with increasing the DDR2 volts a tad).

Temperature - system temps not reported as high. The memory does get hot running the test - I have absolutely no idea what to expect but was surprised how warm the heat spreaders get. Did notice that the stick nearest the CPU gets much hotter than the other stick. But on the other hand if that is the only stick in place then Memtest passes.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[nheather]

Also Is it only Crysis & the memtest that it crashes on/during ?

Yes so far. It is a new build but so far, if it weren't for Crysis I would have suspected a problem.

So would under-volting work - never considered that.

I'd be disappointed if I have to overvolt because I'm running on stock, not overclocking.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[nheather]

Hi,

Did some more experimentation yesterday and here are the results.

Dropped RAM Ratio to 1:1 so the RAM is running at 666MHz and left voltage as 'Auto'.

Runs MemTest without any problem, BIOS set the voltage to 1.8V.

So put the Ratio back to 1:1.2 (800MHz) and started to increase the RAM voltage

1.9V (voltage claimed by Corsair to be correct) - FAIL
1.95V - FAIL
2.0V - FAIL
2.05V - FAIL
2.1V - PASS

So it runs at 2.1V but this is right at the limit that Corsair claim their memory is rated to and 0.2V higher than what it should run at.

Must admit, I'm not particularly happy running at that voltage especially just to acheive stock (could understand if I were trying to overclock).

What do you guys think?

Cheers,

Nigel