memory question

[jimp]

I just built a new computer, I do alot of video and 3d rendering and some of the programs i use are memory intensive so I got 4 512 pc3200, after building the computer i found out that memory controller dosent like all 4 slots being occupied so i have reverted to 1 gig of ram. well now i have the problem of what do i do with 1 gig of pc 3200?

my former computer was an asus dual amd rig that when i built, bought 2 xp 2000's but found out that the mp bridge on the chips were laser cut so even though i tried i eventualy gave up on bridging them and running in mp mode. so incedently I have had an extra 2000 sitting in the draw for the last 4 years. thru some other dealings i aquired the same asus board (except for the dual proccessor suport) and decided to use it to build a computer for my son, now i had a home for my 2000. I took 1 of the pc2100 512 i had in my asus box and put it in his so at this point my grandson (who inherited my asus rig) and my son have basicly the same machines.

i never had a problem with this computer and in fact was running hl2 and doom 3 on it before building my new A64 3500+ box, when i fixed this up for my grandson i formated and reinstalled xp and sp2, now suddenly counterstrike frezzes and locks the computer up. well since all i did was reduce the memory i figure its a memory issue so i think " wonder if this asus board will run pc3200, i pull out the one stick of 2100 and put in 2 sticks of 3200. it boots and sees 1 gig of ram and im in windows. I loaded cpuz and looked at the memory page and it is all good then when i went to the spd page it is mostly blank but like i said im running fine.

at this point i tried to install aquamark3 but it kept bluescreening and restarting like it would do in counterstrike. well after 4 times i finaly decided i had enough, so i reformated, and reinstalled xp .when xp finished installing i got another blue screen, this one however didnt cause a reboot but did a memory dump and stayed on screen so i able to read it. the error is "Memory_management"

my thoughts are this is most likely caused by the pc3200 in this older system, if it is, is there any thing i can do to help insure its compatability (BIOS settings and so on)? the board is an asus A7M266-D

any thoughts would be appreciated

 

[amdskip]

I would run memtest86 on the sticks of memory to see which one is bad.

 

[jimp]

so you dont think there should be a problem running pc3200 on this board? I didnt think either stick was bad, they both seemed to function alright in the A64 rig, the just held the cpu back because of the limitations of the memory controller

just tried to reinstall XP again and it bluescreened once more, this time it is a "Page_Fault_In_Nonpaged_Area" error....

 

[jimp]

ok i ran memtest86 the first run it spit out 376 errors before i had time to tell from where, so i shut it down and restarted it so i could watch which test failed , i have now made it to the middle of test 4 with no errors????

 

[amdskip]

I would let it run for at least 6 hours, 1 error is 1 error too many.

 

[jimp]

ok so I am going to take it that this board will run the pc3200? i finaly got tired of watching the little memtest86 after two errors in as many hours and pulled a stick of ram out then tested it with memtest86 another hour, this time no errors, so i tried to reinstall windows one more time and it went without a hitch. I'm guessing that means this stick in front of me is bad, when i shut this computer down for the night i will put it in here and run memtest86 from this A64 just to be sure. if it fails i guess i will get an rma, wonder if the manufacturer will except memtest86 failure as proof ?

 

[NoSpeed]

Regarding those Memtest errors, I see many people recommending the older Memtest86. My memory was showing errors using the old Memtest86 3.2, but no errors are showing using the new Memtest86+ 1.55. I would suggest you start with the new and improved Memtest86+ 1.55 located at www.memtest.org! It is based on the well-known original memtest86 written by Chris Brady located at www.memtest86.com. The old Memtest86 3.2 does not have the more recent updates provided by Memtest86+ 1.55. The programs are otherwise fairly identical in features. Both are freeware. The new one appears to have better support and frequent updates. It is possible some of your memory is defective, but try this new version for a more definitive clue. Any error is unacceptable. Keep in mind you must conduct the tests methodically. A good stick of ram can show errors because its located in a bad slot! So try other slots with the suspect bad stick(s). Good luck.

 

[Jeeper94]

Originally posted by: jimp
it fails i guess i will get an rma, wonder if the manufacturer will except memtest86 failure as proof ?

I've been asking myself the same question. Will someone chime in on this?

I agree with NoSpeed's suggestion of trying different slots on your mainboard. That way you'll know if it's the memory or the slot.

 

[jimp]

Just a heads up on what happened with this. in another forum it was suggested to me that I need to check what slots I was using because this paticular board only makes use of slots 3 & 4 if you have registered ddr. while reading it I realized that my memory was in 3 & 4 (as was the 512 of 2100 which explains the problems since reloading it the first time) so i put both back in but in slots 1&2 and have been since running fine with the pc3200.
Thanks everyone