Warning - Avoid Kingmax ram like the plauge EDIT- its happening again...

[magomago]

Background-

I built a PC (if you check my sig you can see it) and I had kingmax Ram (2x256). Now I get SOOO many "read memory failed" type errors and it was thoroughly pissing me off even though Memtest86 ram fine..I asked everywhere and most people said it might be the ram

I RMA'd both Mobo AND ram just to be safe

I got them both back (rma'd ram @ newegg and had to go trhough Asus for the Mobo) and I got a different batch of mobo (I can tell differences between my old and new one) and a different batch of memory (this kingmax ram was on red pcb vs. green pcb)

SAME error.

I said screw it and returned the kingmax and bought some pc2700 Crucial Ram.

Since then I have been running flawlessly and even Prime95 runs without a hitch -

I don't see how they produce ram that can't even run at its spec ( with the 2nd batch of kingmax I got I had to run it at 133mhz just to gain some stability) and next time I'm not going to try to shave 20 bucks to get my ram

And yes, I had bios 1002.001, SP3 + all updates, videocard , nforce, every driver possible updated.

So anyone thinking of getting KINGMAX ram I say you avoid it like the plague


EDIT

So now IE just crashed and gave me the memory read error...AGAIN!!! Dear god! What could be at fault? This is the SECOND mobo, crucial ram...Ugh

 

[Adul]

always pays to get the good stuff

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Adul
always pays to get the good stuff

Hehe yep...I've managed to avoid so many "good" deals on RAM the last few days. Was worried for a sec b/c I thought I read Kingston; I know a lot of people jumped on the HyperX 3500; there's also HyperX 3000 goin for dirt cheapo at googlegear. But I must stay focused.....TwinX1024LLPT or nothing

Chiz

 

[pillage2001]

I'm using Kingmax and no problems as of now.

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: pillage2001
I'm using Kingmax and no problems as of now.

thats not fair ~ youve got the good 5ns old stuff

 

[bgeh]

luckily my RAM doesn't have stablity issues
even though it gives me over 6,000 errors in 30mins using memtest86:Q
the warranty's over though

but i'm still happy because it's stable as a rock

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK

Originally posted by: pillage2001
I'm using Kingmax and no problems as of now.

thats not fair ~ youve got the good 5ns old stuff

I wonder who sold it to me??

 

[THUGSROOK]

pillage ~ that pair of 256 has to be almost a year old already :Q


its probably just an incompatability with his moboard ~ it happens

 

[mechBgon]

magomago, I forgot... what power supply are you running on that rig? And if you have MBM5 running by any chance, what are the lowest voltages it's logged in the High/Low? What's your system's air temperature like (below 35C hopefully)?

 

[chizow]

Memory errors in Windows...not a good sign. You OCing? Memory errors can be caused by system instability due to OC, high FSB speeds, driver issues, hardware conflicts, insufficient power....lotsa things....

Chiz

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
pillage ~ that pair of 256 has to be almost a year old already :Q


its probably just an incompatability with his moboard ~ it happens

Really? I think I got it from you pretty early into the year. It's still going strong. Looking for a good Nforce2 board. Or rather, waiting for the Kt400A.

 

[magomago]

"No overclock at all.

I have a Qmax 350 Watt PSU that is pretty good (15 Amps on the 12v rail that should EASILY power a 1700+ + a Geforce 2)


I have Asus Probe instead of MBM And I'm currently at 26 degress idle (I'm guessing about 36 in reality since the thermostator isn't in the core) for the cpu and 25 for the mobo

on the 12vrail I have 12.608
on my 5vrail I'm pushing 5.026
and 3.296 on my 3v rail

and my CPU voltage is at 1.536

as for high & low...they don't stray more than .002 in any direction

and I beleive that processor has 2.6 volts going to it (That is what the mobo bios said - its set at default in the BIOS)

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: magomago
"No overclock at all.

I have a Qmax 350 Watt PSU that is pretty good (15 Amps on the 12v rail that should EASILY power a 1700+ + a Geforce 2)


I have Asus Probe instead of MBM And I'm currently at 26 degress idle (I'm guessing about 36 in reality since the thermostator isn't in the core) for the cpu and 25 for the mobo

on the 12vrail I have 12.608
on my 5vrail I'm pushing 5.026
and 3.296 on my 3v rail

and my CPU voltage is at 1.536

as for high & low...they don't stray more than .002 in any direction

and I beleive that processor has 2.6 volts going to it (That is what the mobo bios said - its set at default in the BIOS)

Actual Vcore reading seems low. Looks like you might be undervolting. 1700+ T-bred A's should be running 1.6V IIRC. 1.536V is certainly low, especially since you were taking it idle. Run a record on AsusProbe while running some stresses like Prime95 and see if it dips. It may very well reboot on you before you can see, but that seems very low.

The 2.6 is actually your Vdimm reading, and it looks fine.

Chiz

n/m, just double-checked specs, 1.5V is spec for a DLT3C T-bred A.....dunno what the prob is

 

[magomago]

I checked a weeks worth of history and it all is 1.552-1.536 (inlcuding when i ran prime95 for 13 straight hours)

how could I be underclocking? I am using optimal settings on all with 1002.001 bios

 

[Viper96720]

Tested your hard drive? What memory read error? Maybe it's referring to virtual memory.

 

[mechBgon]

The fact that this is happening with three different sets of memory modules and two different motherboards seems to point to something that all of the setups have in common. If you didn't reinstall Windows when you got the second motherboard, that might be the #1 thing to try.

I did a Google search for Qmax 350W ATX and came up shy of finding any specs on it, which is telling me "generic." If you happen to have a recongnized brand-name PSU like Enermax or Antec lying around, you might want to try that. If you have any brand-new flat IDE ribbon cables, you might want to substitute them for any fancy rounded ones you might have. A solo drive should be on the end connector of the IDE cable so there isn't vacant cable beyond it. That's all I can think to suggest right at the moment, good luck

 

[magomago]

How can I test that?

God I hope it isn't eh HD (though I have VM limited at 200 megs mainly cause I got 512 megs of physical ram)...

should I disable VM and see if these errors occur?


Do OEM WD Hds come with warranties

Please don't tell me 120 dollars down the drain

 

[magomago]

" did a Google search for Qmax 350W ATX and came up shy of finding any specs on it, which is telling me "generic." If you happen to have a recongnized brand-name PSU like Enermax or Antec lying around, you might want to try that. If you have any brand-new flat IDE ribbon cables, you might want to substitute them for any fancy rounded ones you might have. A solo drive should be on the end connector of the IDE cable so there isn't vacant cable beyond it. That's all I can think to suggest right at the moment, good luck "


well, generic doesn't necessarily mean bad. Asus Probe shows that it is getting proper voltage

I'm not using fancy IDE cables - I am using brandnew (i bought an extra one) IDE flast cables

Solodrive on the end connector? wa?

 

[chizow]

Looks like Viper called it. XP needs more VRAM than that, it'll use up all your 512 and not even think about it.

Chiz

 

[magomago]

reinstall windoze? I'm using the exact same mobo...ugh and i'll lose a bunch of stuff ( I d/led the cstom SP3 not the full blown 100+ meg version...to unrealistic for 56k)

 

[magomago]

Its 2kpro

this memory error pops up during CS when usage on the physical ram is no greater than 250 megs with 32 player matches

but that error only pops up with podbot (which was flawless on my slower computer), not in multiplayer matches

 

[Viper96720]

Try setting it to let windows manage your virtual memory. See if the errors go away 200megs isn't enough even with 512MB. WD website has an online drive tester or you can download the program. You can use it to test the drive, format it etc.. I'm using XP with 512mb ram and have my vm set to 768-1536.

 

[magomago]

y3es, but i've been told that letting windoze resize the pagefile automatically slows down the computer preformance wise since it is constantly adjusting it

 

[magomago]

I passed data lifeguard w/ flying colors...

 

[Viper96720]

Try setting it to 768-768 so windows doesn't have to resize it and see if the crashes stop. It's not noticeably slower if you let windows manage. Better to have a stable slightly slower computer than a crash prone one.