1GB of RAM suddenly reads as 256MB

[Jaimie]

Components potentially affected:
Corsair XMS PC3200C2-PT - RAM
Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR - Motherboard

My computer started acting up lately, in the past three days. I put it off as just being a typical slowdown until today when I was listening to music (iTunes) and chatting online (MSN) with Folding@Home running in the background, along with a firefox window, a standard task for me. When the system started showing issues with this as well, especially with a slow in window resize and closure, I fired up task manager to see if there were any amuck processes. To my sorrow, none. However, the physical memory has drastically been reduced to 256MB.

I restarted the computer to see if it were an anomolie (sp), which it was not, as the second reboot showed the same thing. I then reseated my RAM, again, 256MB. I took each DIMM and inserted it individually (running 1 stick instead of 2). DIMM1 showed as 256MB alone. DIMM2 showed as 512MB. Putting both in, in either order makes the total show up as 256MB, instead of the expected 768MB.

Obviously DIMM1 is broken, although MemTest does not detect errors in either DIMM. It seems to breeze through the DIMMs' cycles quickly though, much faster than when the full 1GB appeared.

I have maintained an overclock of 9x270 for the past 5 months, with a divider of 166, to place the ram at around 221Mhz (442 effective) @ 2.5-3-3-7. The overclock has not been unstable, as I would have noticed through Priming and Folding. The other odd thing is that it is Corsair XMS memory, which should not break at these speeds, especially considering that I was running it at 235Mhz (470 effective) @ 2.5-3-3-6 with 9x235 earlier this year, before switching to the present OC.

I have also had issues in the past two months with my sound (card: Audigy 2ZS) popping and getting stuck, freezing the entire system and requiring a reboot sporadically. This symptom leads me to wonder if it is infact my motherboard that is corrupted, as it is unable to maintain stability. Corsair memory suddenly dropping out is highly uncharacteristic of their quality.

For the moment I am using DIMM2 (512MB read), and no overclock. I am highly upset about this situation and request assistance on what to do.

Jaimie

 

[stevty2889]

I would try the stick that is only showing up as 256mb in a differant computer, and see if it gets the same results. If it does, it pretty much means the stick of memory is dead(well half dead at least).

 

[Jaimie]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I would try the stick that is only showing up as 256mb in a differant computer, and see if it gets the same results. If it does, it pretty much means the stick of memory is dead(well half dead at least).

I'll try it on a friend's comp tonight. But why would a stick of RAM, Corsair XMS even, suddenly blow half the stick? And why are the two sticks together showing up as 256MB instead of 768MB?

 

[Jaimie]

Hey, I really could use some help... I'm anxious to get things fixed up.

I'm positive the memory (the one stick) is bad, but I want to know why it went bad, especially considering the brand, and I'm wondering what else went wrong...

Jaimie

 

[Aenslead]

Things just go bad. If you can reproduce the error, RMA them.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
Things just go bad. If you can reproduce the error, RMA them.

He shouldn't RMA them after all that overclocking

I would definitely test the ram out on a different motherboard and see what happens. It sounds like maybe the motherboard is having some issues. What is the psu? Have you enough amps/watts for the overclock?

 

[BillyBobJoel71]

if the sound card makes the popping noises and stuff, than its something heating up most liek the cpu. but make sure rma is your last resort. try everything

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: SuperTyphoon
if the sound card makes the popping noises and stuff, than its something heating up most liek the cpu. but make sure rma is your last resort. try everything

No, make sure RMA is out of the question. He voided the warranty and should eat it. Thats the price you pay for those 1.3fps and the feeling of a bigger e-penis

 

[blckgrffn]

Thank you for that insight. If he wasn't giving it radical voltage, there isn't any reason, in my mind, not to RMA it. Voltage kills, not speed. Would I RMA my ram now? Probably not, but if voltage was under 3V, well, it's corsair XMS. It should be the best as he paid for such, and if it died under "normal" high end use, then it should go back. Just my $.02, by the way, and not words for everyone to live by, obviously

Nat

 

[Aenslead]

VERY few vendors actually have the ability (and equipment) to determine if you used your components unproperly. RMA it. Fvck em' if they can't take a joke!

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
VERY few vendors actually have the ability (and equipment) to determine if you used your components unproperly. RMA it. Fvck em' if they can't take a joke!

I'll tell you after the theif done stole your car. Fvck em' if they can't take a joke! HAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA.

Sorry, the pipe be calling mon

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Thank you for that insight. If he wasn't giving it radical voltage, there isn't any reason, in my mind, not to RMA it. Voltage kills, not speed. Would I RMA my ram now? Probably not, but if voltage was under 3V, well, it's corsair XMS. It should be the best as he paid for such, and if it died under "normal" high end use, then it should go back. Just my $.02, by the way, and not words for everyone to live by, obviously

Nat

He overclocked the ram and overvolted. If the ram isn't under that specific warranty it would be unethical to RMA. He states in his post he was running at 221 memory frequency and even 235 frequency on a 200 rated memory. That is overclocking and at your own risk. (Not that there is anything wrong with that perse but ..) RMA:evil:

Of course I have never performed an illegal or immoral act in my life for I am the Prodigal Son. :roll: :laugh:

 

[Aenslead]

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33

Originally posted by: Aenslead
VERY few vendors actually have the ability (and equipment) to determine if you used your components unproperly. RMA it. Fvck em' if they can't take a joke!

I'll tell you after the theif done stole your car. Fvck em' if they can't take a joke! HAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA.

Sorry, the pipe be calling mon

What? you're no John Travolta fan, are you? Anyways... my point was that I REALLY doubt they could determine that it was OCed. They'd need bad-ass equipment for such diagnostics.

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Thank you for that insight. If he wasn't giving it radical voltage, there isn't any reason, in my mind, not to RMA it. Voltage kills, not speed. Would I RMA my ram now? Probably not, but if voltage was under 3V, well, it's corsair XMS. It should be the best as he paid for such, and if it died under "normal" high end use, then it should go back. Just my $.02, by the way, and not words for everyone to live by, obviously

Nat

exactly. saying he voided the warranty by running it too fast is ludicrous. ram won't die that way, it just won't boot. so long as you didn't fry it with a ridiculous amount of volts, rma it.

that is after being sure its the ram and not your mobo.

 

[Jaimie]

I have not overvolted the RAM, I ran it at the specified specs of 2.8V. The CPU is not overvolted either, by BIOS settings (1.5v), however, CPU-Z reports it at 1.6v constantly, no idea what's going on there, as it won't let me lower voltage through the BIOS when I try, it automatically jumps in CPU-Z. My power supply is a Fortron Blue Storm 500W dual rail power supply.

That's the power situation.

 

[rise]

did you try other ram?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

The RAM was ran out of spec, whether voltage was added or not, the warranty is void and it would be a very unethical thing to RMA even though they cant tell if you OC'd it or not. Its just WRONG!

 

[Munky]

I've read a bunch of warranty statements on RAM, and I haven't seen anything mentioned about running it at higher speed than rated. AFAIK, as long as you stay in the specified voltage, it doesnt matter what speed you run it at.

 

[Jaimie]

I'm not interested in what the RMA policies are, I know that part of the responsibility is my own, despite not running out of voltage specs. All I want to know is:

What went wrong?
Why did it go wrong?
Which component(s) is/are bad?
What do I need to start worrying about financially?

Jaimie

 

[rise]

have you tried the ram in a different board, or different ram in your board? it could be your mobo or ram or who knows what. you need to trouble shoot it.

and radicaldreamer, please, be logical. thats like saying i voided the warranty on my 6600gt by trying to run maxed settings it couldn't handle. its not going to damage it, its just not going to work.

 

[Aenslead]

Originally posted by: Jaimie
I'm not interested in what the RMA policies are, I know that part of the responsibility is my own, despite not running out of voltage specs. All I want to know is:

What went wrong?
Why did it go wrong?
Which component(s) is/are bad?
What do I need to start worrying about financially?

Jaimie

You clocked the piece more than it could.
The memory went wrong.
Your memory's bad.
You don't: RMA it.

 

[cbehnken]

Originally posted by: Aenslead

Originally posted by: Jaimie
I'm not interested in what the RMA policies are, I know that part of the responsibility is my own, despite not running out of voltage specs. All I want to know is:

What went wrong?
Why did it go wrong?
Which component(s) is/are bad?
What do I need to start worrying about financially?

Jaimie

You clocked the piece more than it could.
The memory went wrong.
Your memory's bad.
You don't: RMA it.

Listen dude, it's up to him whether he wants to try and RMA or not. You are not the judge and jury of anyone here, so stop acting like it.

He only asked what may be causing this problem, not whether he should send it back.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

There are hundreds of things that could have went wrong, the one that stands out the most is overheating of the memory module caused premature failure

 

[Jaimie]

OK, Sorry to ressurect an old thread, but I don't feel it's necessary to create a new topic, considering this is continuing discussion.

I was able to test my memory in a different computer last night, and both sticks read as the intended 512MB, and combined it was 1024MB, exactly like it should be. The sticks both passed MemTest86+ on both his computer and mine (although the one stick read as 256MB).

This narrows down the problem to either my motherboard or my CPU. My motherboard is rather cheap, a Soltek, so that may affect that. However, my CPU is an Athlon 64 2800+ and the memory controller is on die. Whenever I used his RAM it showed as the intended total amount of 512MB. The odd thing about the situation is, again, I have no stability errors in Prime95 (1-6 hours), and through running Folding@Home 24/7.

I suppose the solution now would be to find someone with the same socket as me and place my RAM in there first to see if that works, and then place my CPU in that motherboard. If it turns out correctly there, I should be able to assume that my motherboard is shot, if not my CPU is shot, if my logic is correct.

If it is only my motherboard I will probabally purchase a DFI LanParty UT nForce3 250Gb. If it is my chip I am less certain on what to do...

I know that it is my responsibility to replace both of these parts with my money, considering I voided the warranty through overclocking. This is NOT a thread discussing RMA policies and consumer ethics. I know what's right and what's wrong to do to a company, and I know that I myself will be paying for any new components I must get.

Does anyone have any speculation or ideas?

Much appreciated,
Jaimie

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Have you tried incredibly relaxed timings on the two dimms? Perhaps setting 2t 3-3-3-10 etc. Even setting the ram down to PC2700 levels to see if that works at default cpu specs?

I would then lower the cpu divider down to 7 or 8 to lower cpu frequency (and stress) and test with normal PC3200 settings. If it works perfectly at the lower cpu frequency than perhaps the cpu overclock hurt the memory controller within the cpu.