Lots of crashing

mindrot · 21 Jun 2009 at 14:10

I've been having a load of problems with my PC and I think they are all memory related (I could be wrong) :confused:

At the moment I'm running 8gb of ram and I'm getting crashes, mostly when I launch Zbrush 3 (especially if I have an audio app running like Winamp or iTunes along side it). Whenever this happens 9 out of 10 times I'll have to re-install Zbrush (as the lisence gets messed up) and all my online logins (i.e. Facebook, Hotmail, etc.) will have to be re-entered. If I remove 4 of the 8gb of Ram I don't seem to have any problems at all. Zbrush seems to launch just fine, etc.

I have run memtest86+ on 4gb at a time and no errors returned.

Here's what I have done in the Bios (v14):

- I've increased DDR Reference voltage to +2%
- I've upped NorthBridge/MCH by 0.1V (from 1.25 to 1.33)
- I've set the DDR2 Voltage to 2.1
- I've set the tRFC to 54 (everything else is on auto)

I also remember reading something a while back about setting the Ratio to 1.1 but I can't seem to find that.

I've also been hearing what sounds like a bit more fan activity since making some of thses changes.

Specs:
- Windows XP 64 (SP2)
- Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
- Abit IP35 Pro Motherboard
- OCZ 8GB DDR2 PC2-6400 (4x2GB)
- Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3...

Sorry for the long story. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is driving my up the freaking wall.

Thanks

RJC · 21 Jun 2009 at 15:20

When I had my Abit it needed 1.41v on the northbridge.

mindrot · 22 Jun 2009 at 19:40

Thanks RJC I'll look into that.

Tuvoc · 22 Jun 2009 at 19:55

Check what speed the memory is actually running at - as you say 1:1 would probably stand most chance of success. A bit slower but better chance of stability. Depending on which OCZ RAM it is, it is unlikely to need 2.1v

mindrot · 22 Jun 2009 at 20:19

Thanks Tuvoc. I'll check that out as well. The RAM is OCZ 8GB DDR2 PC2-6400 Gold from what I remember.

I also just had the PC crash on launch of Left 4 Dead

Tuvoc · 22 Jun 2009 at 20:22

If it is the Vista upgrade gold stuff - I think that only needs 1.8v but sometimes with 4 sticks you do need to go a little higher. Check the specs for the RAM - also what timings it is running at, e.g. 5-5-5-15

mindrot · 22 Jun 2009 at 20:38

I'm not quite sure where to check for the speed of the memory (1:1) in the bios or the actual timings that it's running at. Sorry bit of a noob here

Would the timings be:
CAS# Latency : 5.0 clocks
RAS to CAS Delay : 5
RAS precharge : 5
Cycle Time (Tras) : 18

Tuvoc · 22 Jun 2009 at 20:49

yes - and 5-5-5-18 is probably standard for that memory, that isn't your problem

mindrot · 22 Jun 2009 at 21:00

At the moment I have all of them set to AUTO. I haven't entered any values in there yet. That exemple I used I got off another site trying to find out where the timings are set in the BIOS. The only one I manually set is the tRFC to 54.

I'm guessing they can stay set to AUTO?

Tuvoc · 22 Jun 2009 at 21:05

AUTO might be OK - download and run CPU-Z if you don't already have it. That will show you what AUTO is in fact giving you

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

mindrot · 22 Jun 2009 at 21:09

Thanks Tuvoc. I'll give that a whack

The RAM is http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_vista_performance_gold_4gb_dual_channel

mindrot · 22 Jun 2009 at 21:15

It' saying (in the Memory TAB):

CAS# Latency : 6.0 clocks
RAS to CAS Delay : 6
RAS precharge : 6
Cycle Time (Tras) : 18

:eek:

There is also a Timings table on the Speed TAB listing different frequencies (266MHZ, 333MHZ and 400MHZ).

Also the DRAM frequency is 408.0 MHZ. Shouldn't that be 800MHZ as specified in the above link?

Firegod · 22 Jun 2009 at 21:31

I would try perhaps tRFC = 60.

And yeah, if it's reporting as 408Mhz I would try and manually get that back to 400Mhz to help.

Tuvoc · 22 Jun 2009 at 21:36

mindrot said:
Thanks Tuvoc. I'll give that a whack

The RAM is http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_vista_performance_gold_4gb_dual_channel

OK - that RAM should be 5-5-5-18 at 1.8v

2.1v will shorten its lifespan, I would put it down to 1.9v and manually set 5-5-5-18. And do try tRFC = 60.

400 is it's rated speed, but slowing it down may help

mindrot · 22 Jun 2009 at 21:37

Thanks Firegod and Tuvoc. I'll give those suggestions a try

mindrot · 23 Jun 2009 at 10:19

I've made the changes minus changing the DRAM frequency back to 400.0 MHZ - I'll have to look to see where to do this.

I'll report back in a day or two if there are any issues.

Thanks again for all the help

mindrot · 12 Jul 2009 at 13:47

Still no luck. I'm still getting crashing

I dropped the DRAM Speed down to 1:1.25 (DDR2-680) which puts the frequency down to 340.0 MHZ instead of 408.0 MHZ (1:1.50 (DDR2-816) which is the BIOS default) which CPU-Z was reporting.

I set the voltage back to 1.8 but that didn't help so I popped it back to 1.9.

If I only run 4gb it all works perfectly but the moment I up it to 8gb again it's flakey (well I did that a while ago).

d3m0n_edge · 12 Jul 2009 at 18:18

I too am having troubles getting 8GB to run stable. 4GB is fine, even get them running at 1200MHz (OCZ Blade PC9200).

beefybarn · 13 Jul 2009 at 09:41

Im also having problems with my OCZ ram, same as yours, maybe a duff batch ?.

mindrot · 13 Jul 2009 at 10:58

I dunno. I've tested my sticks with memtest86+ on 4gb at a time and had no errors. I initially used memtest86, which gave errors and froze up every time... so initially I thought my ram was bust, but as it turns out, from what I have read, memtest86 does not like more than 2gb at a time.

I ran the tests with memtest86+ for a round 2-3 hours each.

I''m at a loss :confused: