RAM trouble.

Syth

Hi all. I hope you can help me with a problem I'm having with my new computer.
Things crash a lot, especailly firefox. It segfaults loads. I thought it was my
ram, so i ran memtest on it. It passes all test up to #7 fine, except for #5. I
get about 140,000 errors on it. Yikes.

I bought this PC kit from Komplett
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=301143&cks=PRL
The RAM is "Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB Unbuffered, Non-parity, 64Megx64, CL2.5" (http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=117212&cks=SER).
My mother board is "MSI K8T NEO-FSR Mainboard socket 754 K8T800, SATA/ATA, GbLAN, ATX, SOUND" (http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=122995&cks=SER)

When I ran Memtest, I got loads of errors on test #5. I ran it many times. Here is some of my results:

Started test 5:
Pass       |    1    |    2    |    3    |    4    |
Num Erorrs | 134,128 | 267,699 | 400,726 | 534,141 |
Restarted test 5:
Pass       |    1    |    2    |    3    |    4    |
Num Errors | 132,363 | 264,568 | 397,372 | 530,394 |
Restarted test 5:
Pass       |    1    |    2    |    3    |    4    |
Num Errors | 132,254 | 263,956 | 396,264 | 528,481 |

Notice that it find different number of errors. Is that important?

I've been reading around and one thing that comes up is the speed of the RAM.
How do I find out my RAM's speed? What speed should it be at?

I wrote down some of my BIOS stuf that looked important. Here it is:
Cell Menu
Current CPU Clock = 2010 MHz (greyed out and unselectable)
Current DDR Clock = 200 MHz (greyed out and unselectable)
High preformance mode = Manual
Aggressive timing = Disabled
DRAM drive strength = Normal
Dynamic Overclocking = Disabled
Speed Spectrum = Enabled
HT Frequency = 4x
Cool 'n' Quite = Disabled
Adjust CPU FSB Frequency = 200
Adjust AGP Frequency = 66
CPU Voltage = CPU Default
Memory Voltage = Auto
AGP Voltage = 1.50 V
There is a submenu called DRAM Configuration, the contents of whicha re as follows:
Max Memclock (MHz) = Auto (The options for it are Auto,100,133,166,200)
1T/2T Memory Timing = 2T
CAS# latency (Tcl) = Auto
Min RAS# active time (Tras) = Auto
Row prechage time (Trp) = Auto

I haven't changed any of these setting since getting my new PC. I never touched
my BIOS.

Could it be the speed of my RAM? Could it be faulty RAM? Could my RAM be fine, and the problem be something else? If so how could I find out what it was?

Ciaran500

The only thing that I can see there that could cause problems is "Memory Voltage = Auto" The mobo could undervolting the ram. Try setting it to 2.6 or 2.7.


Your ram is PC3200 (400mhz) could you get a lend of some ram to see thats at fault?

leeroybrown

TBH if I ran Memtest86 for a week an got one solidary error I still wouldn't be happy. Tweaking voltages, etc only buys you so much extra stability. It should work with the board (once you set it to PC3200) straight out of the box.

The best thing to do is to get a friend to do you a favour and memtest your RAM in their PC. The only way you'll know if it's the board or the RAM is to test the RAM in a known reliable machine. I had a similar problem with a PC I helped a friend buy/assemble and I ended up having to RMA the motherboard as the RAM was fine and the board (probably the Northbridge) was dodgy.

Syth

leeroybrown wrote:

TBH if I ran Memtest86 for a week an got one solidary error I still wouldn't be happy.

But if you ran it once and got 140,000 errors...

leeroybrown wrote:

(once you set it to PC3200)

Do you mean set something on my BIOS to PC200? How do I do that? I didn't see anything like that anywhere...

I've set the memory voltage to 2.6, now to see what happpens...
I will also see if I can put the RAM in another PC to test it.

leeroybrown

There should be somewhere in the BIOS where you can set the memory clock (and possibly timings).

Current DDR Clock = 200 MHz

That's right for PC3200. It should just work if the parts are OK.

Syth

Well I set the memory voltage to 2.6 and I than ran memtest86 again to see if things would change. Alas no. Still thousands of errors. I ran memtest86 for various voltages and got errors, but the starnge thing is that the amount of errors varied depending on the voltage.
For 2.50V it was around 120,000.
For 2.55V it was around 128,000.
For 2.60V it was around 130,000.
For 2.65V it was around 133,000.
For 2.70V it was around 129,000.
Does that signify anything?

Firefox has crashed a few times since I changed the voltage, so that clearly didn't solve it. Would it matter if I reduced the speed of the memory? Beside from trying it in another PC, is there anything else I should/could do?

Lockup

Try this K8T support forum. They might have a solution..

http://forum.msi.com.tw/board.php?boardid=24&sid=b7658a830eab680688f87e1b4bf3279c

Syth

OK, strange thing. I set the RAM speed to 166 MHz, and I reset the voltage to Auto. I then reran memtest86. Not a single error. I ran the standard test 7 times and memtest couldn't find a single error. That seems promising. It's still to early to say if programmes will segfault. Plus it doesn't mean there are no errors, just that memtest couldn't find them. However the fact that the errors it could detect no seem to be gone is reassuring. But if the ram should work at 200 MHz, how come I get errors at that speed, but not at 166 MHz?

Ardent

Is the 512 RAM all one stick or is two 256 sticks? If so, you could try seating the second RAM stick in another slot, I had stability issues and this worked for me.

Akula

I want to try running this test on my pc?

Created the boot disk. What are the standard commands to get the normal test.

leeroybrown

But if the ram should work at 200 MHz, how come I get errors at that speed, but not at 166 MHz?

Either the RAM or the Motherboard (probably Northbridge) is faulty. It's only natural that the problem will become more serious as the clock rate increases and stops if you reach a low enough rate.

My friend's motherboard (incidentally also an MSI board) also worked fine at PC2700/DDR333 speeds but failed at PC3200/DDR400 speeds.

My original suggestion still stands:
Test the RAM in another PC3200/DDR400 capible PC (or test your PC with some known good PC3200).
If your RAM fails in the second PC or the other RAM works in your PC RMA the RAM.
If the RAM passes in the second PC or the other RAM works in your PC RMA the Motherboard.
Manufacturers normally RMA without question once you demonstrate that you've adequately tested the problem.

leeroybrown

Akula wrote:

I want to try running this test on my pc?

Created the boot disk. What are the standard commands to get the normal test.

Just boot off the boot disk. I can't remember if memtest86 automatically starts testing on boot or not, but if it doesn't just select the standard options.

Syth

Ardent wrote:

Is the 512 RAM all one stick or is two 256 sticks?

Just the one stick.

Akula
Just put the disk in and restart. The standard test will start automatically and run until you stop it.

leeroybrown
Firstly, I've seen RMA all over the place. What does it mean?
Second, when you say test it on another PC, does that mean run memtest on it?

My old PC was a laptop. I looked inside it and the RAM is weird. It's only half the length of my new RAM. So I'll have to try my RAM in another PC.

leeroybrown

RMA = Return Merchandise Authorization (it's the standard term for returns - when you've been buying h/w long enough you'll have seen tons of RMA numbers)

Yes, I mean to memtest the RAM in another (working PC3200 capible) PC. That's the only way you'll be able to tell if it's a dud board or dud RAM.

Laptop's use SO-DIMMs which are smaller for obvious reasons (200 pin SO-DIMMs for DDR and 144 pin SO-DIMMs for ordinary SDRAM).