Allright I'll provide as much detail as I can. First off my computer specs:
Crucial Ballistix 512MB 184-PIN DIMM 64Mx64 DDR PC3200 CL2
ABIT IS7 Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 Northwood 800MHz FSB Socket 478
Antec TruePower 480W Power Supply
BFG GeForce 6800 GT 256MB Vid Card
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX
LITE-ON DVD-ROM
Nec ND2100A DVD Burner
Windows XP Pro
Over the summer (Jul) I added an additional gig of ram to my already existing gig (exact same kind). So I have 4 DIMMS of 512MB on my mobo. Recently I have been having some crashing issues when working in Visual Studio. If I try and build, compile, or even save files, the computer will restart.
I thought it might be some issues with visual studio. I uninstalled all addition plugins I had for it in hopes that maybe one of those was the problem. Didn't fix anything, so I completely uninstalled and reinstalled it. Still get the reboots.
The only thing new I added to my computer in the last 6 months were a joystick and more ram. So I unplugged the joystick. Still got the restarts. I downloaded a memory tester and ran it for 2 days straight in windows and it said I had some memory errors.
I contacted Crucial because they are the maker of the ram. I didn't fully trust some freeware memory tester off the internet so I explained my problem and asked what the pros use in order to test my ram. In the response I got 3 different pieces of software I could use to test. I decided to go with the microsoft testing utility ( found here: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp ) since the others required a floppy to install to and this one could be writted to floppy or cd (I don't have a floppy drive).
Anyways, I've run an abundance of tests (all in the extensive test mode):
- I first ran the test with all 4 DIMMs in the computer, after running 5 passes on the extensive checks it came up with errors. So to decide which DIMM has the errors I began the individual tests.
- The first two DIMMs came up error free. I ran 26 passes on the first module and 8 on the other. I decided to put both in their respective slots so that they were running in Dual Channel mode and run the test. Immediately on the first pass, I get about 3 errors. Confused, I check my BIOS. The timing on the website for my ram says that it is 2-2-2-6. My BIOS was selected to figure out the timings automatically by using the by SPD option and had the timings set to 2-2-2-8. So I manually changed the timings so that they were 2-2-2-6. I saved my settings, restarted, and began the tests again on both DIMMs running in Dual Channel mode. No more errors after 6 passes. So I thought that was the problem. I popped in my other two untested DIMMs, ran the test and immediately got errors. Ok so it must be in the other two untested modules I have.
- I pop in the third module and being scanning (the timing is still set to 2-2-2-6). After going to class and comming back I check and after 11 passes no errors have come up. Ok, so maybe it's the fourth module that has problems.
- So as I'm typing this, the fourth module is currently being tested (I'm on another comp) and it's on pass 2 with no errors found. I'll let it go for awhile just to be sure.
Now I'm not really sure what to do. I checked the voltage being supplied to the RAM and it's supplying 2.6V. The Crucial site says the memory voltage is 2.8V. I thought about it, and while the four DIMMs were in there after I changed the timing to 2-2-2-6 I set the voltage to 2.8V and ran the tests. BAM, 11 errors and the first pass wasn't even completed.
Any ideas? Am I missing something in the BIOS settings or anything? Thanks.
Crucial Ballistix 512MB 184-PIN DIMM 64Mx64 DDR PC3200 CL2
ABIT IS7 Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 Northwood 800MHz FSB Socket 478
Antec TruePower 480W Power Supply
BFG GeForce 6800 GT 256MB Vid Card
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX
LITE-ON DVD-ROM
Nec ND2100A DVD Burner
Windows XP Pro
Over the summer (Jul) I added an additional gig of ram to my already existing gig (exact same kind). So I have 4 DIMMS of 512MB on my mobo. Recently I have been having some crashing issues when working in Visual Studio. If I try and build, compile, or even save files, the computer will restart.
I thought it might be some issues with visual studio. I uninstalled all addition plugins I had for it in hopes that maybe one of those was the problem. Didn't fix anything, so I completely uninstalled and reinstalled it. Still get the reboots.
The only thing new I added to my computer in the last 6 months were a joystick and more ram. So I unplugged the joystick. Still got the restarts. I downloaded a memory tester and ran it for 2 days straight in windows and it said I had some memory errors.
I contacted Crucial because they are the maker of the ram. I didn't fully trust some freeware memory tester off the internet so I explained my problem and asked what the pros use in order to test my ram. In the response I got 3 different pieces of software I could use to test. I decided to go with the microsoft testing utility ( found here: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp ) since the others required a floppy to install to and this one could be writted to floppy or cd (I don't have a floppy drive).
Anyways, I've run an abundance of tests (all in the extensive test mode):
- I first ran the test with all 4 DIMMs in the computer, after running 5 passes on the extensive checks it came up with errors. So to decide which DIMM has the errors I began the individual tests.
- The first two DIMMs came up error free. I ran 26 passes on the first module and 8 on the other. I decided to put both in their respective slots so that they were running in Dual Channel mode and run the test. Immediately on the first pass, I get about 3 errors. Confused, I check my BIOS. The timing on the website for my ram says that it is 2-2-2-6. My BIOS was selected to figure out the timings automatically by using the by SPD option and had the timings set to 2-2-2-8. So I manually changed the timings so that they were 2-2-2-6. I saved my settings, restarted, and began the tests again on both DIMMs running in Dual Channel mode. No more errors after 6 passes. So I thought that was the problem. I popped in my other two untested DIMMs, ran the test and immediately got errors. Ok so it must be in the other two untested modules I have.
- I pop in the third module and being scanning (the timing is still set to 2-2-2-6). After going to class and comming back I check and after 11 passes no errors have come up. Ok, so maybe it's the fourth module that has problems.
- So as I'm typing this, the fourth module is currently being tested (I'm on another comp) and it's on pass 2 with no errors found. I'll let it go for awhile just to be sure.
Now I'm not really sure what to do. I checked the voltage being supplied to the RAM and it's supplying 2.6V. The Crucial site says the memory voltage is 2.8V. I thought about it, and while the four DIMMs were in there after I changed the timing to 2-2-2-6 I set the voltage to 2.8V and ran the tests. BAM, 11 errors and the first pass wasn't even completed.
Any ideas? Am I missing something in the BIOS settings or anything? Thanks.
Sorry to hear about your luck. 
Facebook
Twitter