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| Thread ID: 85084 | 2007-11-29 08:26:00 | memtest86+ fails only when there are 4 sticks of RAM installed | george12 (7) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 616262 | 2007-11-29 08:26:00 | I have a returned PC here which is failing memtest86+ after about 0-2 passes, but ONLY when there are 4x 1GB sticks of DDR2-800 RAM installed. (yes, this is the same as my last thread, but I thought I'd write it again to clarify everything and keep all the info together) The motherboard is an Asus P5N-E SLI. It was perfectly stable when built. Any combination of three (or less) of the four sticks in any slots passes memtest fine and is completely stable (overnight -> 20+ passes). However, when I pop the 4th in, it all goes downhill. Prime95 reports a rounding error and stops within 1 minute when four sticks are installed, but runs fine all day when there are three or less. The CPU temp doesn't get about 55 degrees (48 when running memtest) and the motherboard temp doesn't get above 45 (40 when running memtest). The north bridge is hot to the touch, but not burning hot. The power supply is a 550W AcBel unit, which is around the Enermax mark in quality and cost $140ish. I suppose if the RAM tests fine individually, it must be the motherboard, but is there anything I'm not considering? I'd really like to get this sorted out ASAP and it's a confusing one. I would put it down to the awful compatibility problems of the P5N-E SLI, but it worked fine for 4 months. Thanks in advance! |
george12 (7) | ||
| 616263 | 2007-11-29 08:42:00 | The information is not all together as you posted another thread. Why not copy the relevant info from this post into the other thread? Or do a bump. |
Sweep (90) | ||
| 616264 | 2007-11-29 08:46:00 | All the RAM modules exactly the same brand etc? How much RAM does that board support? 8GB? |
CYaBro (73) | ||
| 616265 | 2007-11-29 10:54:00 | They're all identical, and the board supports 8GB. I've had this problem about 6 months ago with another PC with this motherboard and ended up swapping the board for a P35-based one which sorted everything out. However it seems that if this board was not going to properly support 4GB of DDR2-800, it would have been unstable from the start. Sweep, since the last thread I have worked out more precisely what the problem is, and so the thread title is much more relevant. There's nothing that the other thread has that this one lacks so why drag it back up? It doesn't hurt the forum to have one extra thread well off the first page. |
george12 (7) | ||
| 616266 | 2007-11-29 11:17:00 | Hi, confused here a 32 bit os such as XP can only handle 4 gb's(then it is only really 3.25 max) ram so whats this about 8 gb's unless it's 64 bit.. then this board is not the one. Memory testers are for the most part useless, Ram just does not test this way so we do not rely on them. The question is what is the problem you are having and is it Ram caused, forget mem test it is rubbish. | jenae (254) | ||
| 616267 | 2007-11-29 11:46:00 | Hi, confused here a 32 bit os such as XP can only handle 4 gb's(then it is only really 3.25 max) ram so whats this about 8 gb's unless it's 64 bit.. then this board is not the one. Memory testers are for the most part useless, Ram just does not test this way so we do not rely on them. The question is what is the problem you are having and is it Ram caused, forget mem test it is rubbish. That's correct (about the 32 bit limitation), but Core 2 Duos (or Quad in this case) are 64 bit CPUs. Sure, 32-bit XP can only see 3.25GB, but the board can happily handle 8GB. The original problem is freezing and instability, but until it can pass memtest, it's certainly not going to be stable. A failure in memtest means you can write to the memory, look back, and something other than what you just wrote is there (correct me if I'm wrong), which is most definitely a problem. What would you suggest I do to troubleshoot this problem? My initial stability test was Prime95 which gave a rounding error and stopped after about 40 seconds. The computer froze shortly after that. |
george12 (7) | ||
| 616268 | 2007-11-29 14:25:00 | I had this problem with my computer. The motherboard that I have is an ASUS Striker Extreme. I originally had 2x 1GB DDR2-800 Corsair modules running in Dual-Channel mode, then added another 2x 1GB modules to end up with 4GB total. I have dual-boot WinXP Pro and WinXP Pro x64. When I 1st started up with the 4GB, it would freeze randomly, so presumed it was faulty RAM and got a replacement. When I installed the new RAM, same thing happened. Began running MemTest 86 to try and find out what (if any) modules were faulty. Eventually I came to what you found out george - it passes until all 4 slots are full, then it becomes unstable. Did a bit of research, and fortunately I wasn't the only one with this problem. A few days later, a BIOS update was released which fixed the issue, and now all is good as gold. WinXP Pro reports 3.25GB, and in WinXP Pro x64, the whole 4GB is available. So I guess all I can suggest is that you try looking for a BIOS update that may solve this problem. |
stephen (9719) | ||
| 616269 | 2007-11-29 14:41:00 | Hi, confused here a 32 bit os such as XP can only handle 4 gb's(then it is only really 3.25 max) ram so whats this about that's completely irrelevant since the memtest is run in a boot state well before xp even gets anywhere near loaded..... |
drcspy (146) | ||
| 616270 | 2007-11-29 20:10:00 | Sounds like a few others are having your problem. (vip.asus.com) What version BIOS are you running? Maybe updating to either 0608 or 0703 will fix the problem? (support.asus.com) | stephen (9719) | ||
| 616271 | 2007-11-29 23:35:00 | Sounds like a few others are having your problem. (vip.asus.com) What version BIOS are you running? Maybe updating to either 0608 or 0703 will fix the problem? (support.asus.com) If this fixes it, I owe you bigtime. There's nothing less appealing to tell your customer than "I dunno what's wrong so I'm swapping the motherboard". |
george12 (7) | ||
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