RAM - Really annoying memory

pop80_uk · 29-09-2006, 13:47

hey Guys and Gals
Im having Ram issues again! After much posting previously on here I decieded to buy some more RAM, two 1GB sticks. So off I go to the crucial site and order away after doing the system scanner thingy and it saying yes this is the RAM you need. So I ordered it, and it came.
And......................both sticks were faulty. Very annoying and very strange, so I ran the Windows Ram tester and it agreed that nboth RAM Dimms were faulty.

Dam'n thats unlucky I thought, contacted Crucial and they sent me out another two dimms. Recieved and one is faulty and the other boots windows then locks. Now this was getting odd and annoying. So I asked crucial isf they had a faulty batch and to also check the RAM was correct for my MB, Crucial came back telling me everything was correct.....hmmmmm.....So now they are sending me out ANOTHER two replacement dimms.

Whats going on here guys?
I currently have two crucial 512MB 184pin 2700 DDR Ram modules which im replacing with two crucial 1GB 184Pin 3200 DDR Ram modules.

Any help advice? Surely all these Crucial modules can not be faulty

**Stuart C** · 29-09-2006, 14:02

Check the BIOS for your motherboard. It may be that it has the wrong version.

nffc · 29-09-2006, 14:02

More likely to be the MB. Try swapping your sticks around in the various slots and running Windows RAM tester in between.

There may be a BIOS update or something you can do to the timings for this. What is the mainboard and/or make and model of the PC?

pop80_uk · 29-09-2006, 15:46

y system is a self build and the details are below:
Computer Manufacturer - MSI (Micro Star)
Computer Model - MS-6533
CPU Manufacturer - GenuineIntel
CPU Family - Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
CPU Speed - 2799 MHz
Front-Side Bus Speed - 133MHz

I appreciate any help or assistance you can offer from
this information?

nffc · 29-09-2006, 21:14

Will look later

Xaccers · 29-09-2006, 21:30

Can your motherboard actually handle 3200 ram?
My laptop for instance has 333 ram, and I installed 400 ram from another laptop, it would sometimes boot, sometimes not.

zinglebarb · 29-09-2006, 21:34

Can you run memtest on it in another machine? sounds to me like the memory controller or bios settings are incorrect is the ram set to spd? if so change it to 266 mhz and if the latency is changable set it to cas 3 if its not already there then try memtest see if the relaxed latency has helped

pop80_uk · 29-09-2006, 23:11

HI
Thanks I will check out thoose BIOS settings and change them, do you think the problem is the BIOS and not the RAM then?
Thanks

zinglebarb · 29-09-2006, 23:12

well its unlikely that so many sticks all fail the other possibilities definately need to be ruled out

Paddy1 · 30-09-2006, 01:06

Agree with Zing... most likely the memory controller. Say hello to a new motherboard me-thinks

pop80_uk · 30-09-2006, 10:05

Will a new motherboard work straight out of the box? I.e Can I connect my old hard drives up to it and it will work OK? or would I need to re-install windows ???

popper · 30-09-2006, 10:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by pop80_uk

Will a new motherboard work straight out of the box? I.e Can I connect my old hard drives up to it and it will work OK? or would I need to re-install windows ???

generally speaking, yes you can just transfer everything over and it will work.

you might find that the motherboard has different chipset and so will need to install drivers for these, the biggest problem is usually MS complaining about the key and you might need to ring up and have them re-activate the copy.

zinglebarb · 30-09-2006, 11:18

well in my experience if you move to a mainboard with a different chipset then chances are the machine will just crash.Your mainboard is sis so try and find either the same board or one with the same sis chipset the sis650 north and 691 south

popper · 30-09-2006, 13:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

well in my experience if you move to a mainboard with a different chipset then chances are the machine will just crash.Your mainboard is sis so try and find either the same board or one with the same sis chipset the sis650 north and 691 south

really zing?, iv never had that problem, and i'v stuck several spare drives with my repair tools on more motherboards than i can even remember now.

and some older drive image pro installs to a spare partition also with no problems other than it finding new devices and installing the drivers needed.

as you say though, its wise to try and find a board thats got the same or nearly the same chipset so as to make life easyer, thats assuming their problem isnt with the chipset/drivers to begin with.

nffc · 30-09-2006, 19:33

I'd just upgrade TBH. You'd be better off with an Athlon X2 or less drastically, a S775 C2D than something on 478.

There is a Bios Update - vn 1.4 - but as it was released 2002/10/28 i'd hardly say it could be the problem as it's only recent, and probably the version you already have. Nothing wrong with trying it though.

Otherwise, you could always reset the Bios defaults, if an option is weird, or a timing wrong somewhere, that will fix it. Again, probably a long shot, but cheaper than a new MB and CPU.

Do suspect this is hardware related though.