advice on memory memtest/memtest86+ failure on p5q pro

[jackone]

I am putting together a system with a p5q pro mobo and 4gb (2x2gb) of patriot 6400elk ram. Computer did not boot, so I did memory tests. 1 ram stick failed the tests, the other is good when testing the sticks individually. The good stick passed the test on all four dimm slots. Ran at stock speed, memory voltage set at auto and also 2.00 volt manufacturer's spec. So RMA'ed the ram.

Ran to same store, and bought 2 more identical patriot sticks, 1st stick passed the test in all 4 slots, 2nd stick passed the test in the first slot, did not test the 2nd stick in the other slot. But at least they pass the test individually running at single channel (chanel). BUT with both sticks on the board, instant failure of memtest, no matter the slot configuration (1/3, 1/2, 1/4, etc..). And can't boot up past the welcome screen, just error out, and restart.

Is it memory error for the second set of ram sticks or mobo error? At this point, I don't know whether the ram sticks just don't work in dual channel mode OR that the Mobo is having an issue with having 2 ram sticks.

TIA for your advice.

BTW, the p5q pro ide controller (marvell chips) don't support booting from IDE hard drives (or using of IDE HDD), 2 cd/dvd burners can work, but not HDD. You must use a sata hard drive. I hope this info would save some people the trouble and wasted time.

 

[n7]

Is everything set properly in the BIOS?

vDIMM?
Timings?
Frequency?

You might want to bump on NB voltage; 1.3v won't hurt anything, but it should help stabilize things if it's too low (you can lower later).

Keep in mind vDIMM overvolts by about 0.08v on the P5Qs, so if you are needing say 2.1v, you should be setting 2.02v, & etc.

 

[jackone]

Thanks for the reply n7

my settings were
vDIMM = auto and then 2.00v
timings = auto detect at 5-5-5-15 (factory specs)
freq = auto



I will run your suggestion and bump the NB voltage to 1.3 (what is the default voltage for this board?).

Also, I had the vDIMM at auto, and then retest at 2.00, should I had set it at 1.92 to start?

 

[n7]

What is AUTO frequency setting the speed to?

I'd set the divider manually.

 

[jackone]

Originally posted by: n7
What is AUTO frequency setting the speed to?

I'd set the divider manually.

I am not sure I understand the terminology, but my ram is ddr2-800, so I assume that auto was running at 800mhz. Also, the picture that I took of the memtest86+ screen showed that it was "RAM: 400mhz (DDR800).

I will try to manually set to to ddr800 to see what will happen.

thanks for the suggestion.

 

[n7]

Well, that's fine.

I just don't really trust AUTO settings.

If AUTO is setting it to its rated speed, that's okay.

Try loose timings initially.

5-5-5-18 with TRFC (Row Refresh Cycle Time) set to 60.

 

[RallyMaster]

Have you updated the BIOS on your board? Before a BIOS update, my Q6700 + 4GB of Corsair Dominators would NOT pass a single test in Prime95 and would error out within 15 minutes in OCCT Linpack on stock settings for both CPU and memory. I have since updated the BIOS and, it's Linpack and 3 hours Prime95 stable.

 

[jackone]

Hi, just a quick update. I was able to get the mobo to boot using n7's suggestions. Played around with the settings. Bumping the NB voltage (1.32) allowed the comp to boot, but later found out that one of the ram stick errorred out intermittently. Anyway, thanks to n7 suggestion, it is running stable at 3.5ghz (1.39v, q6700) at 425FSB 8x multiplier, ddr2 5-5-5-15 timing. As other websites have reported, using a quad core, this thing wont hit 500FSB even with a low multiplier.

I think the default/auto NB voltage was just set too low, it needed a higher NB voltage to kick start 2 dimm slots. This is somewhat surprising since every other default/auto voltage setting is set at high.

Also, it came with bios version 1407, I updated it to the 1613 bios, no diff.

Thanks again n7 for pointing the way.