Can a motherboard corrupt RAM?

[Cyn]

Hey all, just put together a new system with specs as follows:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+(65W) Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor
BIOSTAR NF4UAM2G Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
XFX GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 EXTREME Video Card
500watt PSU
Using old HD, dvd-drive and cd-rw (none of which are SATA)

The first thing I did was reformat my HD, and attempt to reinstall XP. After the reformat, during the installing of XP I kept receiving errors that wouldn't allow me to continue installing. From what I could determine from Microsoft and online, it was RAM errors unable to store temporary data, and thus halting the installation. Now, I ordered A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 originally. I managed to get XP loaded onto my system using the more stable of the 1gb sticks. After that I attempted to install World of Warcraft, and received installation errors. From what I could determine on the technical forums, this was also caused by faulty RAM.

After a couple hours of memtests I received errors stating the A-Data ram could not store temp data correctly and had errors. Both sticks. So I RMA'd them, and have more RAM on the way. In the meantime I'm "borrowing" a couple sticks from CompuUSA. I managed to install WoW ok, but after a few days playing, low and behold, I get random crashes. I ran memtest on this RAM, and again, both sticks are bad and unable to store temporary data..

Is it possible my motherboard (or something else?) is causing my RAM to go bad? Or possibly the DIMM slot(s) are bad? I could understand the bad luck of 2 sticks of paired RAM being bad...but 4 sticks, from different sources, of different brands? ...

I have tried the PNY separately. One stick in the 1st DIMM gives me a blue screen of death upon loading XP. Swapping that stick out with the other loads just fine, and memtest runs without finding errors right away (getting late, didn't let it run long). Whereas before, it would get errors before even beginning the test.

Thanks for reading, hopefully I can get some suggestions!

EDIT: I am not overclocking, and am running everything at factory settings. Is it possible maybe my BIOS is pushing my RAM too hard, thus corrupting it? This CompUSA ram is PNY Optima DDR2 667 1GB (2x512mb) and the BIOS says 1.950v.

 

[dfuze]

What is the ram supposed to be set at (voltage wise)? I don't know the answer, but an educated guess sounds like the board may be supplying too much voltage to the chips. I only have DDR, but I thought DDR2 was rated at 1.8v (could be wrong).

 

[Captante]

It could be an incorrect voltage setting in the BIOS (DDR2 can be rated from 1.8v - to 2.3v), or it could also be that the power supply is giving it too much juice... is it a cheap generic model that came with the case by any chance?

 

[Cyn]

The PSU is is a XION XON-500F8X2-201 ATX Ver2.0 500W Power Supply. It had pretty good reviews, though it wasn't "expensive." I didn't see a way through BIOS to alter the RAM to a lower setting, it only showed 1.950, 2.0 and 2.050 I believe. I may have to get an external program to take it below 1.950 if that is indeed the problem.

I just cannot seem to get this problem figured out. So discouraged in fact, I'm considering in the future not buying my own components...yeah, it's been that much trouble. I get my new RAM today and refuse to install it till I discover the culprit.

 

[Roguestar]

I don't think an external program can change voltages on the motherboard. The DDR2 standard is set for 1.8v but most chips take up to 2.3v and beyond. Could just be that there's something wrong with the motherboard. Try the new RAM today and if it happens again, RMA the motherboard.

 

[Cyn]

Ah. I'd assume the voltages are stock and safe for the system, but I've no idea if something could be wrong. I'm afraid to try the new RAM out cause I'd HATE for it to get corrupted again. I think I'll just RMA'ing the motherboard and and wait to install it. I'd hate to wear out my welcome with Newegg. A few RMA's within a week isn't great, but, not exactly my fault. :disgust:

 

[Cyn]

Well Biostar said to remove the RAM modules and run the Windows repair from the cd. Said it'll fix any possible corrupted registry files/parameters what might be messing with it. Maybe that will work. >_<

 

[Nocturnal]

A bad PSU will kill memory.

 

[Cyn]

Yeah, but if the PSU is killing the memory, can the motherboard remain intact? I'll get done at work soon and can try the suggestions from Biostar tech support, they didn't seem to think the RAM was faulty, but instead was/is temporarily corrupted (or being acknowledged as corrupted) until the parameters/registry is repaired.

 

[Matthias99]

Is it possible my motherboard (or something else?) is causing my RAM to go bad? Or possibly the DIMM slot(s) are bad? I could understand the bad luck of 2 sticks of paired RAM being bad...but 4 sticks, from different sources, of different brands? ...

...have you considered that the motherboard itself may just be defective? Why do you think it's the RAM that is bad? It's VERY unlikely that you have four indepently bad DIMMs.

Yeah, but if the PSU is killing the memory, can the motherboard remain intact?

If the PSU was somehow putting out voltages that out of whack, your motherboard would likely not even boot up. But basically, no, since the RAM gets its juice from the motherboard's power regulation circuitry.

 

[Disophisis]

I'm planning on buying this motherboard today, and this is a fairly interesting story for me. It seems to me that if you've had this much RAM die, it would have to be the motherboard or some outside influence. have you tried taking some of the corrupted RAM and putting it in another motherboard, like a friends, that you know works? If you did that and the RAM worked I think you'd be able to go from there.