mobo killing ram? or just bad mobo?

[fixxxer0]

I had a rather odd thing happen to me last night. After over a year of solid stability my computer started crashing and blue screening. Eventually it just would not boot windows anymore.


The types of freezing and crashing led me to beleive it was the ram so i ran MEMTEST 86 and sure enough instant repeating errors, and even freezing.

I have the ASROCK P45XE with 4GB of Gskill 1066 in there. So i thought okay maybe one of the sticks died, so I tried with one stick, no luck... failing at the same MB # (1610 i beleive) on both sticks - i dont know if this means anything.


I then tried some OCZ 800 ram I had laying around and this has not been used and was known to be working. This also was failing at the same 1610mb mark on MEMTEST 86.


I don't have another DDR2 box laying around to test the ram to see if they are both really fried or not, or if it was the motherboard, but does it sound like the motherboard could be causing these problems (and the ram is okay) or maybe even the mobo fried the ram and i need new mobo and ram??

i think some stuff is in warranty and i dont have the time and money to waste, so i am trying to fix only whats broken.

 

[NXIL]

Hey Fixxxer,

it's very strange that all that RAM 'suddenly went bad'--you wrote

The types of freezing and crashing led me to beleive it was the ram so i ran MEMTEST 86 and sure enough instant repeating errors, and even freezing.

RAM errors in several different sticks: it's not the RAM, it's either the power supply, perhaps problems with the BIOS being corrupted or set incorrectly (overclocked?), mobo overheating due to dirt blocking cooling, etc.

But: I suspect the power supply--after that, some sort of motherboard fault, and there can be many.

GL, would appreciate hearing final diagnosis.

NX

 

[fixxxer0]

i did forget to mention that i was running a mild overclock. i am back to running at stock settings and it seems to be fine, but it cant even do ANYTHING past stock now.

my powersupply died on me once before and now i am running the RMA replacement (its a seasonic s12 650w).


i am leaning towards the motherboard being the problem, as it seems any FSB increases are not tolerated. but do you think this can be the power supply dying, again?

 

[NXIL]

Hey Fix,

Seasonic is a good brand, and with a replacement unit, I suppose it's less likely that it's going bad too, but: you need to test that first. Eliminate it as the source of the problem.

After that: the motherboard. BIOS up to date? Relatively new board, so I doubt problems with caps.

The overclock--how far out of spec were you operating it?

And, cooling: well cooled?

Did you ever monitor temps with Speedfan or equivalent?

NX

 

[fixxxer0]

how exactly would i go about testing the powersupply? i mean aside from checking the voltages with a multimeter. is that the only thing i can check?


bios is the latest 1.70, the board is only 10 months old, i found my receipt...


i have an E8400 which is stock @ 3.0GHz (9x multi) and I was running at 8x400 for 3.2GHz, no increased Vcore or anything. so i guess it was a little more than slight on the FSB end of things, but still nothing unordinary, i have tested the board to 450 when i first got it and it was no problem

The processor is aircooled with one of the huge tower types with a 120mm fan... i forget the model but i know the AT review had it in the top 3. there are a couple other 120mm case fans, and the case is open mostly so its well cooled i would say. the temps were all in the normal range on speedfan, even under p95 loads.

 

[NXIL]

To test power supply:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/.../f/powersupplytest.htm

Your cooling sounds good.

Why do you suppose that first PSU failed? Do you have a UPS/line conditioner between the PC and the wall outlet?

NX

 

[mindless1]

Haha, the linked About.com article suggests be careful you could electrocute yourself using a PSU tester. Seems even clueless people fancy themselves experts these days.

 

[NXIL]

Haha, the linked About.com article suggests be careful you could electrocute yourself using a PSU tester.

And sadly, there are people who would do just that--sit in the bath tub while working on the power supply, and electrocuting themselves--and then they or their heirs would sue, because there was no warning sticker on it not to open it up and short the big capacitor while sitting in the bath tub.

That's why all the stickers on ladders....and when you start your car, the GPS screen says "I won't program this while driving", and McDonald's coffee is labeled as "hot".

Isn't coffee supposed to be hot?