Troublesome Computer

Friendly0Fire

Junior Member
Apr 20, 2011
9
0
0
So I've seemingly run into yet another case of bad RAM, but I first need to detail my config and the background to this issue so that you can see where I'm coming from.

My computer's been a bit of a troublesome one. Initially, the build was:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
Asus Striker Extreme
2x1GB Corsair XMS2-8500 (C5D)
BFG Nvidia 8800GTX OC2
Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
Western Digital HDDs (2x500gb)
Antec 900 case with fans at maximum

I've ran it this way for a while without any issue. The build dates from mid-2007. A year or so later, I decided to update the BIOS, but due to some brain fart and lack of reading online, I used the dreaded Asus updater on Windows. The BIOS flash failed and nothing managed to bring it back online, so I had to send it back twice to Asus (first time they didn't fix anything, really bad customer support) for a total of 8 months of wait. Came back with a slightly newer BIOS.

Some time later I decided to upgrade my RAM, so I took 2x2GB Corsair RAM, as closely matched to my older sticks as I could. They were virtually identical to the old ones, really.

Six/nine months later, one of those sticks die. I send them to Corsair and get them back about six months later, with a nice little $50 bill for shipping (which I find absolutely terrible with their so-called lifetime warranty).

In 2009, I've upgraded the GPU to a Radeon HD5850, reference model (Asus branded) and added an OCZ Agility SSD. Problems only got worse there. As some of you may know, that motherboard and the 5850 don't play along, so I had to endure for two years a 30-second delay before the computer would even POST, plus some random failures where the graphics card would just rev up the fan and the computer would get stuck there, not booting, not POSTing, no errors, nothing. Only a forced reboot would do the trick, sometimes two or three.

After many, many months, Asus posted up a BIOS update that supposedly fixes the issue. I download it, try to use the BIOS EZ Flash utility (won't get fooled twice...) and... Nothing. Couldn't ever get it to work, and didn't find information on how to do it.

Fast-forward a few weeks ago, I stumble on something saying your USB key has to be formatted with a very tiny partition or it won't work. Since I now have a proper laptop that can always serve as a replacement computer, I decided to give that a go. Do it all, BIOS flashes and then... Hangs at the very end. After an hour of waiting, I reboot the computer and obviously it fails to POST. I try everything I can think of and after removing the battery for 10 minutes, the computer POSTs fine, the BIOS update was applied properly and the POST delay is gone.

A few days later, though, I discover that the fan spinning up to 100% problem isn't gone. The computer still fails to POST occasionally, but this time the computer knows that it did and I need to go reset my BIOS settings or go through the "Press F1 to continue" drudgery.

Just about at the same time, I start getting "Hardware malfunction" blue screens on Windows 7 x64. Now I know my Win install is pretty bad since for some reason SP1 decided to crash midway through installing, but still, it shouldn't be doing those blue screens. Every time I reboot from said blue screen, the GPU fan revs up and the computer refuses to boot until I force another reboot.

This made me suspect that the GPU was failing on me... But then I decided to quickly check the RAM and it turns out the 2x1gb sticks from 4 years ago are bad! Through some swapping and testing, I could consistently get one stick to fail very quickly in memtest86 4.20. The others seemed fine, though I'm running more tests on the 2x2gb to see if they work.

For reference, I've used the computer with the default motherboard settings, which are very loose. No overclocking whatsoever, but I have installed an aftermarket cooler on the CPU. The bad sticks failed on different slots, first one was either 2nd or 4th (don't recall), this new one was on 3rd. None of them were hot to the touch when I removed them.

Sorry for the long post, but this lets me come to the questions:
1) How can you get TWO sets of RAM to fail? It's not like I've bought some cheap no-name RAM, I would never have imagined Corsair RAM to fail so easily and frequently. Could the motherboard perhaps cause this? I've had so many issues with that particular model, can it just burn out or short circuit and kill the RAM this way?

2) Is the GPU bad or not? I'm still unsure whether the GPU is at fault for those non-boot problems. Once I have identified good sticks, I'll run the computer normally and see if they crop up again. Could the bad RAM somehow cause the GPU to fail in this way, including how it reacts after blue screens?

3) Whatever the actual reason, the stick is definitely bad. Is it normal that I'm charged for nearly as much as brand new RAM for shipping? I'm in Canada. Can I get Corsair to actually pay for shipping this time or should I not even bother?

Currently I'm on the second pass on memtest with the 2x2gb and no errors have cropped up.

Thanks in advance for the help and again sorry for the long post...

EDIT: Update. I've run through a few passes with the 2x2gb and have had no error crop up. Furthermore, I've been able to do things that would cause a blue screen before, so I'm thinking this might very well be solved. I shall see over the next few days whether the GPU boot problem has also been fixed at the same time.

Sole bad news is that apparently I can't run my RAM at the rated 5-5-5-15, 1066MHz setup; doing so hangs on POST. I'd have to tweak it further but to be honest I don't really feel like it's worth the bother.
 
Last edited:

Majcric

Golden Member
May 3, 2011
1,393
55
91
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you never got your intial problem resolved and still running a problematic motherboard.
 

denis280

Diamond Member
Jan 16, 2011
3,434
9
81
Hi well to me look like a bad memory timing. you should post in the overclocking section..MOBO. are set to auto.so you have to go into bios to change it to manual.