Installed new RAM and now games crash...

[Hammyton]

Ran memtest86 for an hour with no problems.... just in games and such my OCZ value pc3200 1gb RAM i just bought in a kit starts crashing... Put back in the old PC2100 512mb RAM and it works fine...

Running the RAM at advertised 2.5-4-4-8 and 2.6V

What gives?

 

[Alkali]

How long does it take for the games to crash, a couple minutes or longer? Does it happen in all games?

If it does, try disabling AGP read and AGP write to memory (its in SMARTGART for ATi gfx cards), and see if it crashes. This is what I have to do with my memory at the moment until I replace my Ram. Some of my Ram is value OCZ stuff too - dunno if its a hardware thing, I'm unsure yet.

 

[Lonyo]

Try runnning Memtest86 to see if you just got some bad RAM.

 

[Farmer]

Increase your ram voltage a bit and see if that helps.

 

[drwngflies]

Can you supply some basic info on brand/model of Mobo/CPU ? Asking, to see if your memory controller does, indeed, support pc3200, since you've replaced pc2100. Also, run Memtest for more than 1 hour, say at least 4 hours. And, consider running Prime 95 for 4 hours also, on blend test.

 

[Hammyton]

I'll try the prime95 test... Im running an Aopen AK77-600n with an Athlon XP2400

 

[madddog67]

Wow..I had a very similar experience...the new Rosewill ram I bought wouldn't work in 2 systems with the same mb, a Biostar M7NCD, even though they're both rated to take pc3200 ram. These systems have been rock solid for the past year, but when I put the old ram back in, I started seeing having all kinds of problems, including the lockup one. I got everything else back to normal, but now, the lockup probelm seems unsolvable.

It's the *same* stick in the *same* slot on the *same* motherboard using the *same* power supply that worked flawlessly for over 12 months, but now I got a lockup whenever I throw 3d at the system. I ram Prime 95 overnight, and then did memtest for hours...no errors. As soon as I fire up UT, though, I'll get a lockup at some point, usually in the first 10 minutes or so. I've also tried Rise of Nations, and that locks up too, and it's not even 3d accelerated afaik.

I tried 3 different video cards: a GeForce 5700FX, a Radeon 8500, and a GeForce 3 Ti 500...same story.

I chalked it up to the motherboard...somewhere in the troubleshooting process, I flashed the bios to the latest one, and maybe it's causing the problems. I ordered a cheapo VIA kt266a board for $24 to test my theory.

I really have no clue...is just one of those weird computer problems you run into that makes you want to set fire to/shoot/blow up your stuff lol.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Try runnning Memtest86 to see if you just got some bad RAM.

read the first post.

Originally posted by: Farmer
Increase your ram voltage a bit and see if that helps.

This is what I did with my 2x1gb OCZ and it helped though it still crashed. With a Socket A you have to remember that those old mobo's don't like 512mb and 1gb sticks. I had to change my timings from 2-3-2-5 to 2.5-3-2-5 to get my sticks to work, though they always failed memtest86 before where as yours are passing it. There are other workarounds to get those size chips to work with a Socket A, check the link here, that is the "official" OCZ support thread here on AT.

-spike

 

[Hammyton]

BUmped up voltage to 2.7V and it runs for a lot longer without crashing but still eventually does... at 2.8V my game barely even boots up before my screen messes up...

Does this mean my PSU isnt good enough to work at 2.8V? Would it help if I unplugged one of my HD's or something?

 

[Hacp]

Memtest for 1 hour really does nothing. IIRC it only passes like 2 at Most 3 times. I would memtest test numbers 5 and 8 for 10 hours each to test stability. If there is even one error, RMA to OCZ.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Memtest for 1 hour really does nothing. IIRC it only passes like 2 at Most 3 times. I would memtest test numbers 5 and 8 for 10 hours each to test stability. If there is even one error, RMA to OCZ.

Even if it fails at the correct timings after an hour there is no way to be certain it is the ram that is the problem. Socket A motherboards are KNOWN to not work well with alot of 512 and 1gb memory modules. There are workarounds but you need to check out the offical OCZ support thread. They can direct you how to help or where to go for better help. Don't just RMA it without actually talking to them.

-spike

 

[Spike]

double post of death... sry

 

[Hammyton]

Thanks for the help, I'm posting at the OCZ forums but they dont seem sure what's going on either :|