Memtest86 vs Memtest Pro vs Orthos

PaulProteus

PaulProteus

PaulProteus

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24 Dec 2004
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458
Hello,

I have run Memtest86 with two sticks of Memory PC3200 at 2-3-2-5 1T for three hours and no errors whatsoever.

Then I ran Memtest Pro and after 10 sec I got errors.

Orthos would not run for more than 6 sec.

All in all, my memory which I received a week ago (RMAed twice in the last two months) is borked by default.

I still could not fully understand how it is possible that Memtest86 did not pick out any errors.

Any comments will be highly appreciated!

Cheers.
 
I'm not sure what Memtest Pro is? is that a windows based app or?

Memtest that boots from a Floppy/CD-Rom is 'mainly' for testing memory, its not very good at picking up errors in the chipset or CPU.

Try changing your memory to 2T instead of 1T and try again.

What memory are you using, what voltage, what CPU, what motherboard, what PSU, throw us a bone :p
 
Big.Wayne said:
I'm not sure what Memtest Pro is? is that a windows based app or?

Memtest that boots from a Floppy/CD-Rom is 'mainly' for testing memory, its not very good at picking up errors in the chipset or CPU.

Try changing your memory to 2T instead of 1T and try again.

What memory are you using, what voltage, what CPU, what motherboard, what PSU, throw us a bone :p
Click to expand...

Hi Big.Wayne,

I relaxed the memory back to 2T but the only change was that now ORTHOS stops after 15 sec instead 6. The memory is at stock voltage, I have not played with it.

The annoying thing is that I have received the sticks Patriot2G3200LLK (2-3-2-5 1T) on Monday. A second RMA and I was assured that it has passed twice their testing protocol. I know that they rely on Memtest86 and in this test I do not encounter any problems. Memtest Pro is running under Windows.

My system:

AMD 64 X2 4800
ASUS A8N Sli-Deluxe (latest BIOS)
2x1Gb Patriot 2-3-2-5
Antec True Power 430 W PSU
WD 200 Gb HDD
2xDVD devices

I know that it is not the system because I have two sticks of Memory XBLK 2-2-2-5 1T that run ORTHOS and Memtest Pro without any glitches.

I am going to aks Patriot to charge their FedEx account as sending these back cost me a fortune, especially when you do it several times without success.

The moral of the story: I think everyone has worked this out by now. :rolleyes:
 
When you say the RAM is at stock voltage, do you mean the motherboard default voltage, or that you have manually set the RAM voltage to the manufacturers recommend value?

Jokester
 
Jokester said:
When you say the RAM is at stock voltage, do you mean the motherboard default voltage, or that you have manually set the RAM voltage to the manufacturers recommend value?

Jokester
Click to expand...

I set the voltage manually at 2.7V which is the manufacturer recommended value.
 
It's very odd that memtest86 didnt pick up errors with the RAM, from your windows tests it would seem obvious that it is the RAM that is faulty but then memtest should have picked it up. Perhaps a clean install of windows might help but that's more a shot in the dark then anything.
 
Darg said:
It's very odd that memtest86 didnt pick up errors with the RAM, from your windows tests it would seem obvious that it is the RAM that is faulty but then memtest should have picked it up. Perhaps a clean install of windows might help but that's more a shot in the dark then anything.
Click to expand...

I will definitely try everything before I enter another RMA (I had enough).

A clean install will take a couple of hours given all the software I have to re-install.

I will give it a shot later today.
 
PaulProteus said:
I will definitely try everything before I enter another RMA (I had enough).
Click to expand...
Yeah RMA is the last thing in a long list.

I'm a bit confused as to what the problem is, which memory is good and which is giving u errors?

Patriot2G3200LLK (2-3-2-5 1T)

Memory XBLK (2-2-2-5 1T)

Try increasing the voltage to see if that helps. TBH if memtest doesn't sniff any evil but orthos is falling over I suspect the issue is maybe the chipset not getting enough voltage, or the CPU not getting enough voltage or perhaps the chipset is getting too hot.

In your boots I would set the memory to SPD/relax it to 3-3-3 and then start again. Patience is a useful tool in these situations :)
 
One thing to try before a reinstall, have you installed AMD's dual core cpu driver. I don't mean the OPtimizer or anything else, just the cpu drivers. Orthos will fail very fast if you don't have it installed. If you can, run 2 instances of Prime with affinity set to each core. If it runs ok, then the dual core cpu driver will get Orthos running properly.
 
Big.Wayne said:
Yeah RMA is the last thing in a long list.

I'm a bit confused as to what the problem is, which memory is good and which is giving u errors?

Patriot2G3200LLK (2-3-2-5 1T)

Memory XBLK (2-2-2-5 1T)

Try increasing the voltage to see if that helps. TBH if memtest doesn't sniff any evil but orthos is falling over I suspect the issue is maybe the chipset not getting enough voltage, or the CPU not getting enough voltage or perhaps the chipset is getting too hot.

In your boots I would set the memory to SPD/relax it to 3-3-3 and then start again. Patience is a useful tool in these situations :)
Click to expand...

PatriotPDC2G3200 (2-3-2-5 1T) 2x1 Gb is the one that causes the problem. I also have PatriotXBLK 2x512Mb (2-2-2-5 1T) that works seamlessly in my system. Can I in this case exclude the chipset being undervolt-ed? It seems to work fine with 2x512Mb but struggles with 2x1 Gb.

My case is a full tower with five fans (three sucking in and two blowing air out). My ambient temps are of the order of 30-35.

This is why when I run ORTHOS with the 2x1Gb and get this errors I think it is all down to the memory. At the same time it does not indicate any problems in Metst86. :confused:

I will follow your advice and will let the system automatically find its best option and try it out. I will see what I could get. I will be patient :(


@ kitfit1. I have installed the Win XP Dual Core driver and with my old kit memory (PatriotXBLK 2x512Mb) I have not had any problems whatsoever.

It only happened after I installed two sticks of matched pair 1 Gb each.
 
Try setting them to 3-3-3-8 2T and see if they run okay at those latencys. It could be the motherboard not coping with the strict timings on a 2GB set.
 
Running memtest for a few hours means nothing.

What you should do is try running memtest looping certain tests.


for example test 5 loops...youll be amazed on what errors youll see that you never saw before...

i cant remember which test were the ones i was running back in the old days..i think it was test 5 and 8...loops.

i used to get loads of errors whereas i never got a single one while running the stock memtest test...

you can use memtest for burning inyour sticks too ;)
 
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