EPoX 8RDA+, Barton 2500+, 2x512 Kingston Valueram 2700, GF3 Ti 200 - UNSTABLE!

[cvb]

I guess the subject tells the story... The system is extremely unstable under Win XP - random reboots, weird problems - for example I can't install my joystick drivers. Also, new nvidia drivers (41.09 or 40.72) for the video card kill the system - windows would not start up, so the only way I was able to have it run at all is with my original video drivers from the CD.

I tried running a memtest, but my system rebooted after about 30 minutes (yet no errors were found during the process).

Tried using one stick of RAM instead of two - doesn't help.

What can it possibly be?

 

[Blain]

Follow this thread, it may help you.

 

[cvb]

I was following that thread and my only conclusion is that I probably should blame my RAM? 3DMark2001SE freezes on the second test with RAM at 166 and passes the test (ever so slowly) at 133. Should I return my RAM to newegg?

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: cvb
I was following that thread and my only conclusion is that I probably should blame my RAM? 3DMark2001SE freezes on the second test with RAM at 166 and passes the test (ever so slowly) at 133. Should I return my RAM to newegg?

That's exactly where my system would give up too. And if you run Prime95, it would probably barf on you before you hit the 10th iteration of the 1024k FFT test. The last 3 digits of the test that ALWAYS crashed were 577 and it was the 7th iteration IFRC. Anyways, the RAM is not defective, at least in my case, as it was running in turbo mode, fastest timings manually set, PC2700 on my Epox 8K3A+. I know the memory is good for it but it just won't do it with my new board.

So, I found a sweet FSB (150MHz in my case) and ramped up the multiplier to 15x for a grand total CPU speed of 2250MHz. That's a 520MHz overclock with the system running in dual channel DDR with a GB of RAM. I'm not going to complain anymore but I will be watching for what turns out to be the best memory for this board (that I can afford) and I'll purchase 2x 512MB of it. Until then, my system rocks.

 

[cvb]

I tried to install 41.09 nvidia drivers and windows would not boot up again (even at 133 RAM, 1.775 vcore, 2.77 vdimm). What is that? I'm not even trying to overclock anything. I just want to have my brand new board to work at a prescribed speed - 166 FSB, 166 RAM, etc.

This is the weirdest experience I have ever had with AMD/nvidia...

 

[Megatomic]

I think it's a timing thing with our memory sticks. I really do. It's not that the sticks are bad but they are just not able to operate the way we want them to on this board. Makes me sad but I am dealing. I really wanted to run 166/166 as well but I'm settling with 150/150 for now. I may buy some more Mushkin memory soon and sell this Kingston to people using Intel boards.

About the drivers... I can't explain that. I don't even use detonators other than the 30.82 set. I have found them to be superior in games and 2D even if they lose to the 4x.xx detonators in 3DMark2001SE.

 

[cvb]

Did you try to play with timing on that memory? What are the "Kingston-recommended" timings?

I'm seriously thinking about returning the whole setup to newegg if I can't find a solution within a week or so...

 

[Megatomic]

Yeah, I adjusted the timings to the most relaxed that the board offered. It made no difference. At DDR333 the memory won't run on this board.

If you're going to return stuff, see if you can return the memory and get some of the stuff the other people here are using successfully on their 8RDA+ boards. I would NOT give up on a Barton and nForce2 board.

 

[Iron Woode]

I installed Winxp and then the drivers from the cd and then once my NIC was working I installed the newest drivers from Nvidia. Its all working great.

you could try a new BIOS.

 

[webley]

SeekingTao, that's very helpful what you said about the problems with running at 166 FSB on an 8RDA+. I'll try underclocking my PC2700 Crucial to 150 MHz as you did to fix a frequent crashing problem that I've tried hard to fix (reinstall OS etc). When you had problems at 166 FSB, did you get BSODs? I was getting lots of IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and various video driver errors.

 

[webley]

cvb said:

I just want to have my brand new board to work at a prescribed speed - 166 FSB, 166 RAM, etc. This is the weirdest experience I have ever had with AMD/nvidia...

I agree! I've never had this much trouble from a mainboard (maybe it's just the NForce2 chipset). cvb, did you get any other NVidia video drivers to work and did you try them with a lower FSB? So far I've tried all those back to 40.41 (Aug 2002) and all had problems. I'll have to try them at below 166 FSB and see if that helps.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: webley
SeekingTao, that's very helpful what you said about the problems with running at 166 FSB on an 8RDA+. I'll try underclocking my PC2700 Crucial to 150 MHz as you did to fix a frequent crashing problem that I've tried hard to fix (reinstall OS etc). When you had problems at 166 FSB, did you get BSODs? I was getting lots of IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and various video driver errors.

Yes, I was getting BSODs, hard lockups, random reboots the whole 9 yards. It was horrible and frustrating. But I am pretty pleased with DDR300 (150MHz FSB). Also, what video card are you using? I saw that cvb was unable to reboot when using the 4x.xx detonators. That seems pretty strange to me. If you are using an NVidia video card, have you tried installing the 30.82 detonators?

 

[cvb]

Tao, you mean you WOULDN'T give up on Barton/nforce2 board?

 

[cvb]

I use 30.82 right now and at 133 RAM they seem to work OK so far. also, 21.88(?) worked OK at 133 RAM and was unstable at 166 RAM. With 4x.xx my system WOULD NOT even boot into Windows at 166 RAM. Oh, and by the way, I have not seen ANY BSOD's at all - my system would simply reboot.

I also noticed that this system does not operate at mem speed over 133 - PERIOD. Even 139 doesn't work

 

[cvb]

OK, flashed the latest BIOS - didn't help at all.

 

[webley]

I am using a Geforce 4 Ti4200. I haven't tried the 30.82 Detonator drivers yet but plan to skip the recent drivers altogether and go straight to the 30.82 I've been running at 150 FSB for several hours now and so far no BSODs after switching from 166 FSB. I wonder if any PC3000 memory would work when the PC2700 has problems. SeekingTao, like you I can't wait to find some Ram that works at or above 166 FSB.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: cvb
Tao, you mean you WOULDN'T give up on Barton/nforce2 board?

DOH!! Yes, that is what I meant. Time to edit my original post... Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: cvb
I use 30.82 right now and at 133 RAM they seem to work OK so far. also, 21.88(?) worked OK at 133 RAM and was unstable at 166 RAM. With 4x.xx my system WOULD NOT even boot into Windows at 166 RAM. Oh, and by the way, I have not seen ANY BSOD's at all - my system would simply reboot.

I also noticed that this system does not operate at mem speed over 133 - PERIOD. Even 139 doesn't work

To see the BSODs you have to turn off the feature that automatically reboots windows when it encounters a STOP. Open System in the Control Panel. Click on the Advanced tab. Then click the Startup and Recovery button. In that GUI uncheck the "Automatically Restart" button in the System Failure section of the GUI. When you reboot (you are not forced to btw...) you will not autoreboot when you get a BSOD, you will get to see the BSOD in all it's glory(?).

What memory chips are on your Kingston sticks anyways? I have Infineon chips.

 

[cvb]

gotcha re BSOD.

Infineon HYB250256800BT-6 chips

BTW, my barton runs stable at 12x166 (Barton 2800+). What is the highest acceptable CPU temp for Barton?

 

[webley]

SeekingTao, you mentioned Mushkin memory (PC2700?), it that good for going over 166FSB on the 8RDA+? cvb, what BSOD codes are you getting? I was getting ..008E, ..001D and that's about it but since lowering FSB to 150, no crashes so far in about 5 hours.

 

[cvb]

I didn't see the codes - my BSOD was turned off - autoreboot. My system would not work with any stability even at 139 RAM. WHAT IS THAT?!!! GODDANGIT!!!!

 

[Megatomic]

Your RAM is the same as mine cvb. I have no idea why you are not able to run past 139MHz. Have you tried to raise the Vdimm? I can't remember if you said so already, sorry. If you haven't, try that. Also, have you tried to run your memory in non Dual DDR mode yet? Or just one DIMM?

webley, Mushkin is very high quality memory, especially if you get the "High Performance Black" variety. I used to use Mushkin on my 8K3A+ and it was powerful stuff. I haven't seen any reports of people using Mushkin PC2700 with the 8RDA+ yet so I can't swear to anything. But I'd give them a shot before I got some Geil that's for sure.

Corsair
Mushkin
Kingston HyperX
TwinMos (with Winbond)
Crucial
Kingston

That's how I rate memory in terms of manufacturer/brand. Corsair and Mushkin are close in price and performance so there's no clear winner between them for me. I'd probably go with Mushkin though since I've had good experience with them.

And I can't remember the exact BSOD I was getting, I was quick with the reset button.

 

[cvb]

well, I'm trying 153x12.5 FSB + 153 RAM - seems to work, but I'm not sure how reliable it's going to be (my 3DMark 2001 SE doesn't work anymore

 

[webley]

SeekingTao and cvb, have you met others with the same problem with the 8RDA+ as we seem to have (can't run at 166 FSB)? I've never had to under-clock my ram for stability before..

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: webley
SeekingTao and cvb, have you met others with the same problem with the 8RDA+ as we seem to have (can't run at 166 FSB)? I've never had to under-clock my ram for stability before..

There are others using Crucial RAM that are having similar problems. We are not the first (fortunately). Hopefully Epox is working a BIOS fix that may help us out.