Memtest86 test3 and test5 errors on K7S5A system

[beaver]

Config as 1.4GHz AMD T-bird, PNY SDRAM PC133 256MB (not DDR as expected), Antec 300W, WinME OS and Vision TNT2 AGP 2D/3D and ATI TV card, on-board AC97 and NIC.
It runs so far.
New Issue?
1. It's running actually SLOW! much slower than my P800EB, I can tell difference when both are running an excel macro.
2. The transfer of network is also quite slow. I have to wait for a while after my clicking any file on the LAN. It's even slower than transfer between my P300 and P800EB. Supposed a 100/10M NIC should run same rate on any qualified system.

I read a lots of suggestion to run Memtest86. I did last night on my K7S5A PC system and got test3 and test5 errors.
What are the errors meaning? How to fix the errors?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Crassus]

What speed do you run the SDRAM at? Look in the bios for a setting like slow, normal, fast, ultra and the stuff around it. I had the same problem when running on anything faster than 'normal' and CAS 3. It will also depend on the exact type of the chips on your RAM stick. Please post some more information.
What bios version are you using?

 

[beaver]

Here are what I read on my K7S5A system:

BIOS ver. : 1.21.06

CPU: 133MHz/133MHz
SDR/DDR cas latency: 3T, or Normal (I tried both)
SDR/DDR RAS active time: 6T
SDR/DDR RAS Precharge time: 4T

L1/L2 cache: enabled
system BIOS cacheable: enabled
Auto Detect DIMM/PCI clk: enabled

the chip on the SDRAM: infen???? (sth).
I run the Memtest86 on P800EB, ALL PASSED. looks Intel CPU has better tolorence to the SDRAM.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Peter]

"Intel CPU has better tolerance to SDRAM" ... lol ... CPUs don't even connect to the RAM, the chipset does that.

So why does an Athlon system show errors with RAM that runs well on Pentium-III? Simple, the Athlon system puts much more stress on the SDRAM, revealing flakinesses that may well go unnoticed in an older architecture.

regards, Peter

 

[beaver]

How to flash the bios? I download the 011215lan and unzipped it but don't know what's next step. It's not a *.bat file.

 

[Lanyap]

ECS - How to Flash a New BIOS

ECS - BIOS Flash Utility

 

[dAv]

Beaver
My K7S5A had those errors. Updating the bios had no effect. If you haven't read it yet,
go see Mr Athlons article at OCworkbench Link.
then go and return your board and get another one. :frown:

 

[ku]

don't worry about it too much. that motherboard is known to have problems running memtest86. Just make sure u got some good sticks and good BIOS. Flash bios to the latest one as it seems the most stable to me.

I got 2 256 PC2100 crucial sticks and I have no problems running memtest86 for 24hours at cas2. However, with hte old bios, i would have problems in prime95 with these settings. with the latest bios, i now have no problems at all with these settings, even in prime95. I had 1 samsung stick that also didn't have any problems. I put it into another system and it went bad once i got my 2 crucial sticks.

 

[dAv]

Yeah, according to ECS there must be something wrong with the test, certainly it couldn't be the MB.
Does anybody know of another MB that has problems running memtest86?

 

[beaver]

I just upgrade the BIOS to 12/15/2001. It won't help.
I found, the test passed at 100/100/MHz and 100/133MHz but keeps failing at 133/133MHz.

SHould I return the MB? please suggest.

 

[Duvie]

at 100/133 means the ram is running at 133 but the fsb is at 100....What does the cpu have to do with the memtest program...there should be no difference for the ram from settings 100/133 or 133/133, they are both running at 133...I think maybe there is an issue with the program...

For sh^its and giggles disable l1/l2 cache and run test...the test is suggesting it is the processor that can't run at 133 not the ram...If the l1/l2 solves the errors in the test then I wonder what the memtest program is testing...

 

[Peter]

memtest86 is a program, yes. What makes you think that no other program will hit the same memory errors it finds? Software is software ...

memtest86 sometimes shows fake errors while USB is running, especially with USB keyboard/mouse support for DOS enabled. But if the program still shows memory access errors with that disabled, then there ARE memory problems. No discussing that away.

As I said further above, the higher performing the chipset, the narrower the margins for the RAM. Sticks that are slightly off specification might work in slower systems, but not in the more demanding ones.

regards, Peter

 

[Duvie]

Has someone explained why it appears the memory can run at 133 with the 100/133 option in the bios, but gets errors when the cpu is adjusted to 133....The memory speed doesn't change...somebody???

 

[Peter]

Well maybe the problem originates on the CPU bus side, or it only occurs with the higher load of the faster CPU. There is no transmission error checking on either side, so there's little way of finding out other than trying a different RAM stick.

regards, Peter