Upgrade issues..IRQL_NOT_LESS....

[Bulldog13]

Hello all,

I just recently attempted to upgrade my current rig :

m7ncd mobo
2100+ athlon xp
512 ram (2x256)
120 gig western digital
geforce ti4200

To:

m7ncd (same mobo)
athlon 3200+
gig of ram (2x512)
250 gig hd (in addition to the old 120)
geforce 6800

PS is Enermax 320 watt.

Anyways, it gave me some sass when booting last night, but eventually I got it to post (had to take cmos battery out for the night).

Anyways, whenever I try putting windows xp on the new harddrive it crashes with that stupid IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error.

I ran memtest86 with the 2 sticks of ram in and got 10 errors. I tried booting and installing windows xp with only a single stick o ram in. It failed both times with either stick.

I figured maybe it was the powersupply and I wasn't getting enough juice...I then tried installing windows with a spare working pci videocard I had. No dice. It crashed again. So I am pretty sure it is not the Power Supply.

Trying now with old ram (266 FSB). Install hasn't crashed yet.

It is looking like it may be the RAM at this point.

Yeah, it is definately installing.

Question is, I am running like 3 fans, 3 opticals, 2 hd, and the videocard. Should I upgrade the PS ?

 

[mechBgon]

You should upgrade the power supply AND boost your memory voltage to 2.7 volts. The new RAM is PC3200, correct? Good-quality stuff?

Also... any other cards in there (audio, Firewire, TV, etc)?

Oh, and for a new PSU, I nominate an Enermax 450W+ unit. Lotsa 12V amperage

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Bulldog13
Hello all,

I just recently attempted to upgrade my current rig :

m7ncd mobo
2100+ athlon xp
512 ram (2x256)
120 gig western digital
geforce ti4200

To:

m7ncd (same mobo)
athlon 3200+
gig of ram (2x512)
250 gig hd (in addition to the old 120)
geforce 6800

PS is Enermax 320 watt.

Anyways, it gave me some sass when booting last night, but eventually I got it to post (had to take cmos battery out for the night).

Anyways, whenever I try putting windows xp on the new harddrive it crashes with that stupid IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error.

I ran memtest86 with the 2 sticks of ram in and got 10 errors. I tried booting and installing windows xp with only a single stick o ram in. It failed both times with either stick.

I figured maybe it was the powersupply and I wasn't getting enough juice...I then tried installing windows with a spare working pci videocard I had. No dice. It crashed again. So I am pretty sure it is not the Power Supply.

Trying now with old ram (266 FSB). Install hasn't crashed yet.

It is looking like it may be the RAM at this point.

Yeah, it is definately installing.

Question is, I am running like 3 fans, 3 opticals, 2 hd, and the videocard. Should I upgrade the PS ?

Problem: You're trying to install XP, and you're getting errors during the install with new RAM. So you put old RAM in, and it works. Clearly, the old RAM works OK and the new RAM has some sort of a problem.

I don't see a power supply issue in there at all - I see a RAM issue. I suggest going to Crucial or a similar site, keying in the motherboard you have in the RAM-finder utility they have on the site, and purchasing that RAM type.

 

[Bulldog13]

Yeah. Definately RAM. Stuck in old ram and installed fine. I bought kingston value ram. Apparently not as good of a brand as I thought ?

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Bulldog13
Yeah. Definately RAM. Stuck in old ram and installed fine. I bought kingston value ram. Apparently not as good of a brand as I thought ?

Kingston's fine. What speed is the old RAM, and what speed is the new RAM? What speed is the motherboard's FSB and RAM running at when the RAM is installed?

 

[mechBgon]

DDR266 IC's are built for 2.5 volts and DDR400 IC's are usually built for 2.6 volts (says some company named Micron, I haven't bothered tracking down every company's technical documentation on this subject ). So it might be that your old RAM is getting the voltage it's after while your new RAM is not. Try 2.7 volts on your new PC3200, or at least 2.6.

Also, considering the very significant power demands of a 6800, five drives, three fans, a 3200+ and two memory modules that can each peak at upwards of 10W by themselves, I would certainly not be playing guessing games about my PSU when there's a $400 video card on the line. Even Shuttle's SFF systems are beginning to come with 350W PSUs, Dell has upgraded their Dementia lineup with some 350's for systems that can take an AGP card... makes ya go :Q ~ hmmmm. Might be a good time to upgrade.