PC2100 not sufficient enough for dual-core?

[AFurryReptile]

I recently swapped RAM between a few computers, and have been experiencing problems. After putting one 512 stick of DDR PC3200 and 2 256 sticks of PC2100 into my 3800+X2 dual core media center pc, I've been experiencing random lockups at weird times, such as during sleep mode or when browsing the internet, that require me to reboot. It seems like games run just fine. It seems like explorer.exe is failing, because windows get screwed up, icons disappear, and I can't open/close anything, or restart normally.

If someone knows what may be causing the problem, please help me!

 

[wanderer27]

Woah. PC2100 is fairly slow RAM.

That was designed pretty much for a DDR 266MHz bus System, and from some of your components it looks like you're running a DDR 400MHz System.

You'd really have to tune things down to get that working, if you even can.

 

[drjman]

yank that slow crap out of there. Definately the problem.

 

[tcsenter]

'Slower' components and busses don't cause lock-ups. They might cause intermittant drop-outs or seeming 'pauses' as the processor or some other device is waiting on the RAM, but those aren't lock-ups. Its not as though your processor is designed to shut down or freak out when it doesn't get the maximum throughput it can handle from the memory.

There is instability somewhere, whether from a marginal component, improper RAM setting, problematic RAM configuration, or software bug.

After putting one 512 stick of DDR PC3200 and 2 256 sticks of PC2100 into my 3800+X2 dual core media center pc

Are you sure that you installed them into the specific slots recommended by the board maker for 3 DIMMs? The RAM is running @ PC2100 (DDR266) and appropriate timings, no?

 

[AFurryReptile]

Well, I just took out the PC2100, and put in 2x256 sticks of pc3200. Now I have 1GB(2x256,1x512) PC3200, but I'm still having the problem. Just to make this clearer, the computer doesn't really lock-up, wierd things just start happening. Icons disappear when you click them, windows won't pop up, and sometimes explorer.exe begins to fail. Once in a while other processes will fail also. I have no idea what this problem might be.

 

[Lemon law]

Download and burn a free copy of memtest 86 to a floppy or cd. Run it and see if you get memory errors. In terms of locating the bad stick--assuming there is one---Memtest86 is not all that useful unless you test each stick individually. But right away---I suspect the original stick of PC3200.

 

[btcomm1]

Sounds like some bad ram, do what Lemon law says.