W2K Prof STOPs - Culprit my new SDRAM??

[GarryS]

Following lots of W98 lock-ups & BSODs I decided to try W2K Prof. Result: all sorts of STOP errors. I think it may be the memory upgrade I did, adding a 128MB DIMM.

Can anyone help me verify I've bought the correct DIMM?

I have an ABIT BX6 board Rev 1.40(PC100 P2x400)that came with 128MB DIMM in 1st of 4 slots. Its double sided with 8 chips per side.
I purchased a 128MB PC100 NP CL2. This is single sided with 8 chips.

I've been unable to decypher the board manual's Memory array supported configs (16Mx4, SS DS, 14row 10col 2bank, blah blah). I can't tell if I can (or have)mixed parities! What does "16Mx4 Registered DIMM only" mean?

Thanks v.much.
G

 

[cdogg]

Are both DIMMS Non-Parity? You'll want to be sure that they are the same.

Also, I noticed that you became fed up with Win98...

Since you were willing to start over with Win2K, why not reformat and reinstall WIN98 and try again? Unless of course, you've already tried that. Win2K would be more stable anyway.

 

[GarryS]

I'm not sure if original DIMMS are Non-Parity. How do you tell? No labelling clues but I suppose I could try searching the net with the part number. Will have to open up and look again.

I did try a brand new install of W98. I now have 2 instances of that plus W2K, multibooting with Partition Magic/BootMagic. All three suffer lockups, etc, so I'm presuming it must be h/w.
Thanks. G.

 

[ColonelKernel]

Could also be your soundcard. Rip it out and try again.

 

[ceh4702]

http://www.crucial.com

has a nifty little site that lets you put in the motherboard Brand and Model and then it tells you what kind of compatable memory they have. They call it a memory selector or something like that. It is probably best to use matching memory DIMM modules. It can be hard to decipher what is actually in a computer when you get it.

I would make sure in the boot test it sees the same amount of memory all of the time. Also in windows make sure it sees the right amount of memory. It isnt that common but a memory module can go bad, or just be incompatable. I don't know of any programs that just test all the addressable memory locations, but that might be a good option. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[Pete45]

If you look in Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer Check your System Log & Application Log and see what errors they are reporting. Might get some leads there.

Does the system crash when you just use 128 MB of SDRAM?
You could try each one individually.

Check your pagefile size Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Options I've got mine set to 1.5 X Physical Memory. There's a big debate about that.

You used to able to discern parity and non parity Simms by the total number of chips onboard. If I remember right even number = non-parity odd number = parity but that was for Simms.

 

[cowboy405]

Sounds like a speed mismatch. Check your SIM's for speed on the
original and your upgrade. Parity is also a problem, only if there is
a parity mismatch. Gotta keep things equal in the banks.


Dennis

 

[GarryS]

Thanks to all those who have posted info & suggestions.

Sadly, I've now had a couple of crashes without the new memory. Nightmare! Seems I'll have to rip out all non-essential cards (sound, USB, RAID) and go from there. (I think I'll blame USB now!).

Can anyone recommend any reliable diagnostics utility s/w, or would I be throwing good money after bad??

GS