Bad memory or BIOS issue? Help pls.

[sn8ke]

Hello,

First off thanks for any help anyone can offer.

I'm having problems after adding RAM to one of my systems.

Now first the more important specs:
ASUS m2nbp-vm csm motherboard
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (windsor)
512mb corsair ddr2 533 (pc 4200) attempting to replace with matched pair of 1GB Corsair ddr2 667 (pc2 5300)
E-Mu 1616M Sound card + sync daughter card
GeForce 7300GT OC Pci-e
XP Pro sp2

Now the problem:
I figured it was time to upgrade that machine with a couple of gigs of RAM so I matched the motherboard up with the best RAM option over @ corsair.com using their configurator and purchased the RAM from trusty ol' Newegg. I installed the RAM in dual channel mode (A1 and B1 - the yellow slots) upon receiving it and the RAM showed up in Windows, everything was smooth. I loaded up a system intensive game (Company of Heroes in this case) to test it out and everything was great for a few minutes, then a crash. I got a sound stutter and immediate reboot; no BSOD or errors in event log. This happened every other time as well after a few minutes.

Naturally I removed one stick of RAM leaving only 1 stick in A1. I got the same crash and a new "CMOS checksum error" upon the reboot. I swapped it out for the second stick and it would not boot at all. I then tried this same second stick in B1 and it worked great. No rebooting in Company of Heroes or Call of Duty 4.

I tried running both sticks in dual channel mode again, this time using A2 and B2 (black) but it would not boot and just returned a "CMOS checksum error".

I am now running the second stick in B1 along with the original 512 stick in B2 (I know about the underclocking, it's just temporary) and it seems to be running smooth.

So, is the first stick just dead? Is there something i'm doing wrong or missing here? Any advice or known fixes?

Things I have tried:
1. BIOS
That system's BIOS had never been updated, it was using the original from 2006. I read on the motherboard FAQ about the DDR2 RAM issue and upgrading to the latest BIOS to solve this issue, so of course I did that using the EZ Flash. I am now running the latest BIOS (1101.BIN).

2. The RAM and channel swapping I mentioned above.

3. Getting drunk (which I still am!

4. I read about the manual setting of voltages in the BIOS for RAM when having issues with several ASUS boards and certain RAM (Link to FAQ). Would this be something to do, or is it just more likely dead RAM? If so, what would be the best settings? I don't have much experience with that in particular.

Thank you for any assistance!

 

[n7]

http://www.memtest.org/ < - burn to CD; test.

And if the voltage for the new RAM is rated more than 1.8v, you need to manually set it in the BIOS.

Test one DIMM at a time initially.

 

[Elixer]

While you shouldn't have to do this, you could also clear your CMOS. Then you would have to enter the settings again in BIOS.

I wouldn't test the DIMMs one at a time though. I think you should first test them in pairs, and then, if you have errors, to start seeing which DIMM it is.

 

[sn8ke]

Thanks guys.

Yeah I forgot to mention I already tried to test the RAM, but ran into problems...

1. Obviously I can't test it if it doesn't even boot up with the RAM like I mentioned.
2. I could not get memtest86 or memtest86+ to run at all. Upon booting up with memtest and attempting to run it I get the error "you cannot run memtest86 if the system already is in protected mode". No idea what this means or how to fix it, and searching google didn't prove too useful.

I also tried Windows Memory Diagnostic from MS, but got a different error. I can't remember exactly which error, but it didn't even start the program.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: sn8ke I am now running the second stick in B1 along with the original 512 stick in B2 (I know about the underclocking, it's just temporary) and it seems to be running smooth.

So, is the first stick just dead? Is there something i'm doing wrong or missing here? Any advice or known fixes?

Sounds like you have 1 failed module. If it is more convenient to you, you can RMA with your vendor. Or, you can RMA directly with us using the link below.

http://www.corsair.com/helpdesk/default.aspx

 

[sn8ke]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard

Originally posted by: sn8ke I am now running the second stick in B1 along with the original 512 stick in B2 (I know about the underclocking, it's just temporary) and it seems to be running smooth.

So, is the first stick just dead? Is there something i'm doing wrong or missing here? Any advice or known fixes?

Sounds like you have 1 failed module. If it is more convenient to you, you can RMA with your vendor. Or, you can RMA directly with us using the link below.

http://www.corsair.com/helpdesk/default.aspx

Hey thanks for chiming in Yellowbeard, always nice to see that sort of thing.

Yeah I was leaning 95% toward a bad module as well but just wanted some confirmation before I go through the hassle. Out of all the RAM i've ever bought, this would be my first dead stick! I guess it's about time, that's a pretty amazing lucky streak I think.

Would I have to send back both sticks even though 1 of them seems to be fine? How does it work with Corsair exactly?

BTW, the good module has been running in the system for 48 hours solid now. Still couldn't get memtest to run and i'm not sure why, but i'm assuming that stick is fine.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Typically, you have to disable Legacy USB Support in the BIOS to run Memtest on most ASUS MOBOs as Memtest conflicts with this setting.

If you bought the modules as a matched TwinX pair, return both so that you get a matched and tested pair in return.