Memtest + RAM issues

Hi all - sorry to resurrect an old thread. I got hold of a set of G.Skill 2x1GB PC-8500 sticks to run memtest with some different memory. Unfortunately memtest still fails (latest memtest), very quickly with the voltage set to 2.1v and stock timings of 5-5-5-15 (everything else set to factory defaults, except the processor voltage). Im running F@H as a stability test of the RAM now, and will probably do a prime blend run, but am worried about the motherboard (i very much doubt two sets of memory could be faulty).

However, the errors i get on memtest are quite strange. It reports the bad memory as 000000000MB, and identifies the good and bad 'err bits' as the same thing (last run, good: dfdfdfdf, err buts: dfdfdfdf). This seems a little counterintuitive to me - could it be that memtest is not fully compatible with the memory controller on the p45 chipset? I have scanned the changelog on the memtest website, and cannot see any specific entry for p45, although it does have changes such as 'update for x38, x48...' ect listed. memtest also does not recognise the timings/speed of the RAM. Sound like a problem to anyone (memory gurus!)?

[Aside: Vista still feels pretty snappy with 2gb of memory installed - maybe of use to some!]
 
Not much help but I've found Asus motherboards of recent vintage to be very choosy about what manufacturers sticks will work in them, I had all kinds of problems with some OCZ 8500 stuff that ran fine elsewhere but just would not play in my Asus m/b
 
I heard this too - i went for the corsair/g.skill stuff because it does seem to be pretty much waht all p5q users use. Both are listed as being fully compatible (all slots filled) with the motherboard, whereas (almost) no OCZ RAM is for example. I must admit i am starting to think that it may be a memtest issue only. I have been running the F@H client for 5 and a bit hours now, and although its not using that much RAM, it seemed to find weaknesses with the corsair stuff pretty quick. Im gonna try and stick the corsair stuff back in tomorrow and give it a little more volts, then give it a prime run - hopefully this should give a better impression than memtest alone.
 
hi i'm also having a very similar issue to this. p5q-e motherboard and corsair 8500 ram. i get occasional blue screens and tons of errors in memtest. i have 2 sticks of memory and get errors in both of them. have also tried upping the voltage but doesn't seem to make a difference
 
cheers I think i might try this bios update just wanted to ask a quick question first though? Were you getting lots of errors in memtext before you flashed? Just want to try and make sure its the same issue as me :)
 
Right - update time. I think i have cracked it. I swapped the old corsair stuff out for some g.skill memory, and, as it turns out, am back to using the corsair.

Im pretty sure that instability issues in vista itself were caused by slightly undervolted RAM. I had heard that the board overvolts like a madman, and so wanted to be careful with the RAM voltage, but i guess that it was not enough. Perhaps this (fairly) widespread information needs to be looked at again. I upped the voltage a few notches on saturday morning and since have run F@H for 24hrs+. Whilst im sure this probably is not as good a test as prime, it achieves more, and to be honest the fact that this was not working in the first place was the cuase of the problem.

As for the memtest issues, this one is a little strange. I spent quite a while on google and in the end found some people using the p5q motherboards also having some issues with memtest. I cannot remeber where i found the information (on some godforsaken forum somewhere else!), but it was suggested that disabling USB legacy support/removing any USB hubs at startup would provide a solution, and that the fault was to do with the BIOSes. I did this tonight - unplugged a USB hub/keyboard and disabled USB legacy support in the BIOS, and ran memtest 2.01 from a bootable cd. The test ran for ~2.5 hours, completed three and a half passes, and did not find a single error. Since the memory could barely make it through two passes before (and the g.skill failed almost immediately) i am inclined to think that this is enough of a run to prove that the problem is a BIOS/USB issue (i'll let F@H be the judge of any long term instability). So, thats my fix, if anyone is interested. I'll see if there are any long term issues, and im keeping the G.Skill RAM in case something does go wrong, but for now i think its back to folding!

@BlackAle - this is something that may be fixed by Ket's BIOSes (im sure they are fantastic - he has clearly put in a lot of effort and i appreciate the support he has given the community) - however, since the issue seems to be memtest exclusive for me (for now), im going to stick to the official BIOSes released by ASUS.
 
right I'll try upping my volts a bit more tonight. If your machine is stable now please can you let me know what voltages you've got your NB and RAM set to? I have mine at 1.3 and 2.2 and its still unstable...

thanks for the info on memtest (has put my mind at ease a bit!) Am pretty sure the errors are a load of rubbish tbh - I get errors every 10 seconds or so when running it and if it was really that error strewn then I'm pretty sure my machine would be blue screening every couple of minutes not once a day or so!
 
No probs - everything was set to stock when running the tests over the weekend, so i cannot say for sure that the memory will be stable when overclocked. I was using BIOS 1406 for the p5q-dlx throughout - i have not tried with other BIOSes (although may revert back to 0803 at a later date). I had all voltages set to auto (with the exception of the cpu voltage, which i set to the VID), and increased the memory voltage to 2.16v (note: i did not try any other values for windows stability testing - took a i guess and it paid off). This survived the weekend running at 5-5-5-15 @ 1066 MHz (as i said, all stock). However, i am a little worried that this may be a tad too high (after overvolting), so i will look to minimise this when i have more time. However, for the moment, it works. When previously clocked to 3.3 Ghz using an FSB of 367, i had the NB voltage at 1.2v. However, i will probably increase this a little (maybe up to 1.26) to help cope with any extra strain (and from what i have read, this seems to be quite safe).

As for the memtest errors - try disabling legacy USB and removing any USB hubs. If you dont get any errors, this could be the source of your problem (on memtest at least - i have no reason to belive that this should affect windows stability). However, your problem (errors every 10 seconds) does seem a little more severe than mine (only a few errors), so i would try a good prime run with everything on auto except for the dram voltage.
 
great thanks. i will try this all out tonight. If its still unstable then I think I might have a faulty motherboard. When I'm getting BSOD I'm also getting graphics fragments all over the screen which is a bit weird! (like you get when the GPU is overheating - its definately not overheating though!), so it may not even be the same problem. I have tried everything in the BIOS set to auto with the DRAM volts at 2.2 and it was still unstable so perhaps its something more serious :(
 
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