Need to make a decision.. (RAM or Motherboard?)

Hlebio

Hlebio

Hlebio

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18 Mar 2006
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Right guys, sorry if you are getting bored with me and my problem but a decision has to be made now.

As some of you may be aware I have been having problems with my PC since I built it. Some games seem to cause my PC to just.. turn off. By that I mean the base unit seems to stay as it is, but the monitor goes off and the light flashes on and off like it's on Stand-by. It's happened after my PC has been on a while before I think, but it mainly only seems to happen if I go in to a game having only just turned my PC on, in the morning for example, almost as if the PC has to warm up or something, which is strange and shouldn't happen.....

Normally I just turn the base unit off and on and then load up Windows and the game that just crashed my PC runs absolutely fine.. other times I try and turn my base unit back on and it just beeps at me, pauses and then beeps, pauses and then beeps.. etc (Which I've read on MSI's site means a problem with RAM)

Here are my specs:

AMD Dual Core x2 3800, MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB, 2gb GeIL RAM
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB, NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450w Smart Power PSU

These are the things I've tried..

Updated motherboard drivers.
Updated graphics card drivers and even gone back to previous versions.
Installed the Dual Core fix thing.
Ran Prime95 for 2 and a half hours without any problems reported at all.
Ran memtest for about 2 hours with no errors reported.
Checked my cpu and graphics card temperatures both idle and under load, both are absolutely fine.
Checked the 3.3v, +5v and +12v on my PSU, all seem fine.
Ran one stick of RAM at a time, have yet to see any crashing with one stick of RAM but the crashes are so erratic it's hard to say whether one stick instead of two solves the problem...
Tried running RAM in single channel, when I do this games crash consistently almost straight away..


On another forum someone suggested that, because MSI motherboards set RAM settings to auto by default, I set the RAM timings and voltage myself and see if that works. Do you guys reckon this could work?

I am now pretty sure the problem is either down to my RAM or my motherboard. Assuming running one stick of RAM fixes the problem, is this down to bad RAM or my motherboard not liking Dual Channel? Or maybe something else?

I've noticed that there is barely a difference in the speed things load when running 1 or 2 sticks of RAM, is this an indication of anything? (Yes, I've checked to make sure the RAM is running in Dual Channel)

I've also noticed, while searching for people who have the same problem as me, that a lot of the people in similar situations to me seem to have MSI boards..

I need to either RMA my motherboard OR RAM but I am not sure which one..

Please help...
 
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I was thinking of trying that but I was advised that it's unlikely to be the problem and it's a high risk to take because if something goes wrong it can completely bugger your mobo?
 
Alright guys, as I said games seem to crash most consistently in the morning if I put on a game more or less straight away. Tried that today but with only one stick of RAM in and there was no crash whatsoever.

What does this tell you?

A) The other stick of RAM is bad? (I am going to try a game with that first thing tomorrow morning)

B) The purple DIMM slot on my motherboard, which is occupied when I go Dual Channel, is faulty?

C) My motherboard doesn't like Dual Channel either at all or with this particular RAM?
 
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fornowagain said:
Swap the sticks round and try again, does it start to crash? No then its not the mem.

Either pair of slots should give you dual channel. Or try the pair in single channel and see if it works.

The first thing to try is a bios flash. It’s a normal response to memory compatibility issues. I wouldn't hesitate, yes a flash can go wrong but it’s quite rare, but it can fix issues. I've never had one fail yet.
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for the advice.

I've tried running in single channel and when I do certain games crash consistently everytime... where as when it's in Dual Channel the crashes are erratic.

I reckon I'll try flashing the bios if I put the other stick of RAM in tonight and games aren't freezing tomorrow morning.

earlyflash said:
I know this is somewhat obvious, but have you tried re-seating everything on the board, gfx, etc.

I'd say that RAM is more likely to fail that the MB in my experience.

Did you run memtest from cold in the morning?
Click to expand...

Obviously I've reseated the RAM many times, and I've also reseated the graphics card once, quite recently. I've checked the CPU is in properly and that the heatsink is firmly attached and besides, I managed to run Prime95 for 2 and half hours with no problems which I assume would not be possible if the CPU was not seated correctly or broke.

Haven't tried memtest from straight in the morning, but it's a good idea mate and one I shall try AFTER trying the other stick of RAM on it's own tomorrow BEFORE I flash the bios. :D Should I run memtest with one stick in at a time or both?

Anymore suggestions/advice greatly appreciated.. :)
 
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How much more power is needed with 2 sticks of RAM over 1?

Is it possible that my PSU can handle one stick okay but once I add another my PSU can't take it and dies?
 
Being advised that for my rig I'll need atleast 20A on the +12v but I've only got 15A.

This person talking sense?

Again, I don't really understand how that'd work because everything is running fine with one stick of RAM, another stick surely can't be taking up enough power for my PSU to crash..
 
Will running Prime95 be a good test for them under load or would I be better off running 3DMark05 then checking them straight after?

Let me know and then I'll test and post up the results.

Cheers.
 
fornowagain said:
Download S&M, not much can load the dual core CPU and memory like this app, at least not as easily.

http://www.overclockers.ru/softnews/19982.shtml

Set the loading to 100% on both cores and run the CPU(FPU) test and watch the voltages. Then try 3mark06 but you will have to log (speedfan) the voltages, because you can't look at the voltages after the program finishes. I'd use a multimeter plugged in a molex, its the most accurate way. Do you have one?
Click to expand...

I don't no...

But I'll try that S&M and let you know what my voltages are.
 
Ran the CPU test with full load and I didn't see any changes in voltages at all really..

When it started the second and final (I think) faze of the Power Supply test, where the VGA heating thing popped up, I got this..



But I think that is down to a crash in the software rather than something wrong with my PSU right?

Here is a pic of my voltages mid way through..



I wasn't supposed to fill those bars to the top under threshold right?
 
Right, I am now about 80%ish sure that BOTH sticks of RAM work absolutely fine when run seperately on my system. I didn't see a single crash running one stick yesterday and haven't seen a single one with this stick today...

When they are run together, single or dual channel, I get the problems..

Done memtest on each stick on it's own and let the test run 3-4 times with no problems..

I think it's either down to a faulty motherboard or compatibility problems perhaps which a bios update might fix??

If I try and flash the bios and it goes wrong, will I still be able to RMA the motherboard?

Because right about now flashing the bios is about the last thing I can try before sending the mobo back and going for an Asus one probably...
 
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Do you have to have a floppy disc drive? I don't have one on this PC ..

And also, when I've discovered which board is mine do I only need to download the top latest bios? I assume that one would have all the previous bios updates included with it, although I wanna make sure first...
 
Okay mate, haven't flashed my bios yet..

Decided to give 2 sticks of RAM in dual channel another go and within 15 mins of a game the comp restarted.. :(

Weird thing is though that everytime it restarts, I load my PC back up, put the game back on and it's fine... :confused: Why is that? I even bumped it up to an incredibly high resolution to see if it would crash but it didn't!

Anyway decided to give my RAM a few more volts, just the next option up, nothing major... Will have to wait until tomorrow really until I know if it's done owt, because as I say, once my comp has crashed once it bizarrely tends to be absolutely perfect for the rest of the day.. :confused:

If the voltage thing doesn't work and neither does flashing the bios then it's RMA time..

Only problem is I am not sure what? The RAM? The Mobo? Or maybe even the PSU, which would require me to return the case too... probably just easier to buy another PSU and then try and sell the other one off somewhere... Arrrrrrggghhhhh.
 
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Alright something new..

For the first time ever my PC restarted when I was just on the desktop, not in a game! I was listening to some music and chatting on MSN when suddenly the sound looped on the song for a couple of seconds then a blue screen came up (couldn't read it, only stayed up for about 2 seconds) then my monitor went in to stand-by mode..

I turned my base unit off and then back on and it did the old 'Beep...............Beep...............Beep...............Beep' (which as I said before, is a RAM problem according to the MSI site). I turned my base unit off once again and removed one of my sticks of RAM and booted up my PC and got an error that said the PC had just recovered from a serious error, then when I clicked Error Report I got this,

untitled8iv.jpg


So I am assuming the blue screen I saw comes up everytime it crashes in games too but I just haven't seen it because of the game covering it..

This tell anyone anything more?

Again, it's either RAM, Motherboard or PSU related and I need to find out so I can do something about it...
 
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Alright, going to flash the bios right now. :D

If that goes wrong I'm throwing this out the window and purchasing a gameboy.

Assuming Bios doesn't fix owt, which I think will be true, what do you suggest I try replacing first?
 
:eek: Someone on another forum found me this when I showed them the error..

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q315335

Are we finally getting somewhere??

Going to stick the other stick of RAM in now and see if the bios flash did anything.. I doubt it.

Then I'll run memtest one final time with both sticks in Dual Channel for 4-5 hours and then I think it's RMA time UNLESS memtest reports no errors AND I see no crashing in games before tomorrow afternoonish..
 
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