got a doozy of a problem

There are 12 replies in this Thread. The last Post () by supercars.

    Hi guys I will try and make this short
    some short while ago I upgraded my spec , I now have a dual drive pc with a 320 Gb Seagate sata 11 with vista and a 160 GB WD with xp... F11 boot to choose,at the same time I fitted 4 x 512 sticks,matched from Crucial giving me 2Gb dual channel ram on Asrock P4V88 MB


    now the doozy
    For the last 4 weeks it has all ran perfectly in fact if you look thro the forum you'll find I may be one of the few running Crossfire MP on Vista ( with a little expert help from the forum. )
    then 4 days ago I booted up on xp and halfway thro setting the d/top up it froze had to power down to restart, got a little further d/top ok services running,log onto mail ok ,start reading mail and it crashed,powerdown again reboot 4 times, it would get to the welcome page and freeze,so I moved to the other drive,started Vista,again got to welcome page then froze after that I couldnt even get to bios just a black screen ... mucho horro, swearing and tapping of feet etc.
    I spent all that day trying to figure out the problem/solution,
    tested drives one by one including my 3rd storage drive which has xp on and none would work so on the basis of 3 failures unlikely dismissed that as reason
    power unit working ok I had it running with just 1 drive and 1 dvdwriter hooked up and with all units as well no failure there
    swopped GFX card with old one which is still ok,still no joy
    then I got to the RAM,the last thing I'd seen was the post page and all the ram showed up as detected all 4 sticks anyway I removed them all,laid them in order as they came out and tried them one by one surprise !!! no 1 stick ok booted up fine xp and vista started ok same with all the sticks all Aok repeated for each socket
    so then I started fitting them back in pairs then 3 then all 4
    this is the result
    all sticks Aok all sockets Aok
    if I fit 1 its ok... if I fit any 2 it fails ... if I fit any 3 its fine ... if I fit 4 it fails
    it seems it will only accept single channel ram it will not accept dual channel at all
    like I said it has been running fine for quite some time,until now
    running 3 sticks for 24 hrs plus no failure at all even vista is running sweet.I've been all over the web trying find answers,most I found on the exact problem were no help really
    I have updated bios by 2 versions but that has not helped
    so Im throwing it over to you guys and sorry that was as short as I could be

    8)

    All those moments will be lost in time , like tears in rain . Time to die.

    Did you try every stick independently? In other words, did you try each stick by itself in 1 slot? Also are all 4 sticks identical in speed/capacity/manufacturer? If you did not try all 4 by themselves, you may have 1 bad stick. However, last time I had Windows diagnostics tell me I had bad memory (one or two of 4 identical sticks actually "failed" the diagnotic test), it was actually due to a RAM failure on my graphics card. I replaced the card, and all was solved. Hope this helps ?(

    My rig: i3-4130 Core Duo (3.4Ghz), Gigabit GA-B85-HD3 mobo, 8Gb PC1600ram, Samsung 2x 80Gb SATA RAID, Intel Integrated graphics, 3 optical drives, 23" Asus HD monitor + peripherals


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    thanks for the reply all info is welcome


    I have checked all the sticks 1by1 in each of the 4 sockets and all are fine as for Graphics card its a new N7600GS and its working ok just ran SFRU as a tester cos its heavy and it ran fine no problem


    8)

    All those moments will be lost in time , like tears in rain . Time to die.

    Through BIOS, force the memory timings to more relaxed ones, then fit all mem modules and see if it works. Also let us know the default memory timings for single module and the ones you eventually tried with.

    in my experience this kind of problems are mostly caused by damaged memory sticks. such a stick could let the computer boot but produce trouble later. it could even let the comp boot in single channel but not in dual channel.


    you can use a memory tester to check the ram (each stick)...


    -google for memtest or memtest86 or use any linux cd (boot from it and type memtest as it asks you for boot)... i think vista has also some kind of memory tester available from vista cd (google for vista memory diagnostic tool)-


    however, as you say it fails if you fit any 2 sticks, maybe its caused by a damaged mainboard


    look at the mainboard, and pay attention to the capacitors (the small cylinders attached everywhere)... check if some of them are swelled or leaking fluids... if so then probably its time to replace that mobo


    if no error is shown in memory or mobo you can disable the dual channel mode (force single channel) in bios, but its a bad business...


    ...as both the mainboard and the memory support dual channel they should work in dual channel... i mean, if they dont work fine just go where you bought the stuff and ask them about warranty...


    good luck


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    i would suggest warranty, too, since it's new equipment.


    anyway, u should do the following, if u wanna b sure memory modules r ok, mobo is ok, proc is ok:


    1. download goldmemory (goldmemory gives much better results and has more test algorithms than memtest, by far); make a bootable floppy or cd with it, for testing purposes,
    2. set bios to defaults; if any, select memory timings to: by speed/spd, or auto,
    2. detach everything but graphic card and stuff u need to make computer boot for test of memory and mobo,
    3. stick one by one memory module to the same memory slot, running goldmemory for each other,
    4. stick one of memory modules that passed the previous test to one by one of other memory slots, and run goldmemory for each of them,
    5. that will give u full info about which memory module and/or memory slot doesn't work; there should not be a memory module/memory slot combination troubles, so u don't have to test that one,
    6. if everything works, try the former tests by two memory modules in two slots, changing both the modules and slots and utilizing both the dual and single channel configs,
    7. finally, if no errors, use goldmemory to test configs on all four memory modules, and try different configs too; if u have all four modules of same specs and manufacturer, be sure to make at least two different configs with this one, and mark the modules so u can make difference between them.


    if u organize this testing, u could do it in a few hours, depending upon system specs. b sure not to mix testing steps, or u will get no dependant info.


    anyway, as far as i can tell based upon my experience, and since u did flash bios: did this trouble started happening before or after a bios flash? sometimes they make a serious mistake when building a new bios version, affecting only certain memory module models.


    btw, u should check capacitors on mobo, since they might be the problem too, but i guess u've got a sincere power supply and power company, so this should not be happening. :)

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    - Li Po

    When you buy memory you should buy it all at the same time, and make shure there all a mached set.
    If you buy it like 2Megs then later buy an other 2Megs you can get a slight mismach between the to sets.

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    Quote

    Originally posted by RECO
    When you buy memory you should buy it all at the same time, and make shure there all a mached set.
    If you buy it like 2Megs then later buy an other 2Megs you can get a slight mismach between the to sets.


    Crucial will garranty that it supports your system/mobo. I bought 8GB of RAM there, 2GBx4 and it works a treat on my gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 mobo. I highly recommend them

    thanks guys
    I will run the various tests and adjust the settings as have been suggested
    and let you know how I get on :)

    All those moments will be lost in time , like tears in rain . Time to die.

    Hi guys
    done as much mem testing as I'm going to , altered timings etc done all that , as I said physically all sticks and sockets are running fine absolutely no problems at all.



    the problem lies in the command to go to dual channel and the bios update did not fix that , I am researching this now .


    so for the moment I will continue running 3 sticks single channel
    be seeing you
    ;)

    All those moments will be lost in time , like tears in rain . Time to die.

    u must have done something that did trigger dual channel not working, since it worked weeks before that, and i dnt think ur mobo simply broke.


    if u didnt update bios before dual channel stoped working, try to remember what have u done in those days.


    or simple use warranty.

    We sit together,
    The mountain and I,
    Until only the mountain remains.
    - Li Po