weird WEIRD motherboard/ram problems

[Markrm]

Hi guys... and girls -

This will be a long one, so i will shorten it as best i can.

A year ago i had a place here in Dallas custom build me a gaming computer. They did great. They also were shut down later due to suspected terrorism. I still have a 3 year warranty on my motherboard, i found out, through ABIT themselves.

I had this place install 256mb of pc 2100 ddr ram when they first built it. It worked fine. Then i tried to install another 256 in 2002. It wouldnt take it, the computer would freeze, or reboot after 30 mins of use OR, not boot at all sometimes. I returned the ram, and took the stupid thing to a repair shop. They were rude, and didnt know much apparently. They had me buy a new power supply (converter that is). I did, still didnt help. They didnt know that the pc booted when it wanted. They finally told me, $300 later, to get different ram.

I went to Best Buy, and they had no 256mb sticks of ram, so i had to get two 128 sticks. Ever since then, worked fine. Last night i went to get 256 more (i knew i was asking for trouble again), but i need more than 256 of ram anyhow. I went to Best Buy last night, got PNY brand of 256mb 2100 ddr ram. Stuck it in. It did the same thing it did LAST year! I got so mad, i stuck in that OLD 256mb that oroginally came with the pc. Turned it on hoping it'd melt, and to my surprise, it read off that i had 768 ram total, with all 4 DIMMS in the slots. I was shocked, and windows xp tried to load, and told me to reactivate since i added new hardware. The PC then reboot AGAIN on its own. After several tries, and several freezes at scandisk on reboot, i finally reactivated winXP again. I got on the net, somewhat happy buy paranoid. I then played a PC game. In a half hour, the pc reboot itself again. It came back into windows, and i went online to ask friends. I was at a site, and 15 mins or 20 later while on a site, it rebooted again. I opened the case ands wapped ram around...

I switched it up in every way possible, trying just the two 256 chips, and just 1 at a time. Then, a buddy told me to put the two 128's back in that had worked for almost a year. I did. I didnt get any video at all. II hit RESET and same thing, but if i turned power OFF and ON on the back of the unit? It came on. Sometimes it'd boot, sometimes it reboot when trying to load windows xp. With the original working ram?! I have called PNY, Abit, and 2 tech shops, and 4 guys via the net. Im told i have either mixed ram (registered and unbuffered) and/or i have a whacky motherboard. Right now, im online on my pc, and the two 128s and the NEW 256 are in the motherboard. Im praying it wont reboot before i finish this message LOL.

Everything is updated, software and firmware wise. Also, i looked at the two 128s and they have stickers, and on the stickers it says REGISTERED. Does that mean the ram is? Abit told me to use registered ram, but i could use 2gb total of unbuffered (filling 3 ram banks), or i could have up to 4gb of registered. I cant tell if all my ram is registered or not!

My system is now not stable, and when it DOES boot, with 512 ram total or 768, it reboots on its own. All the ram is pc2100, too.

Here are my system specs:

AMD Athlon 1.4ghz cpu
Abit KG7-RAID motherboard, latest bios too
Maxtor 20gig HD
windows xp home edition
as for ram: 128, 128, 256, 256
LG brand cd-burner
windows xp updated fully, as well as direct-x
gf4 ti 4200 video card, latest whql drivers, too
soundblaster live 5.1, latest drivers too
AMD approved 400w power supply
all fans on motherboard are spinning correctly
heat not an issue
ram dimms are not damaged in anyway, nor the ram banks
cmos battery is not dead or going out

Can someone tell my why when i added ALL 4 dimms, for 768mb of ram, it let me play a game for 30 mins then it hard boots itself? And why when i used the two 256s, it would give me weird crap about 'start from dimm 4 to dimm 1 in order when installing memory'? This pc acts like it wants a certain kind of ram, put in a certain way, or it gets cranky...?! I dunno what to do, i bought this new ram for $100 and i need the extra 256. I'd settle for 512 total and not 768! but CMTLABS.COM is the maker of the two 128s, and the other two 256s are by PNY. Maybe my motherboard is bad, or a dimm slot is, or... im using mixed ram? I just dont see how i can have two 128s installed - then i add a new 256, it wont work....... then i get mad add the OTHER older 256, and it boots and i get 768 in ram - then it has random reboots? THEN i revert back to the 128s, and it sometimes wont give me a video image...... man, i dont know whether to be mad, or laugh.

lastly, i changed my mind, and saved this message before sending it. i stuck in 256, 256, 128, 128. it reads 768 ram now, and windows xp works again with 768. but for how long? what does it mean if it reboots itself again? cuz when it does, it acts like someone pulled the power cord, and plugged it back in. i got 768 ram in now, its stable so far, but in 5 or even 30 mins? it might reboot. is it me or are computers and women ALIKE?! lol

help.......

 

[mainegeek]

Try the 256meg sticks in slots 1&2 and the 128 meg sticks in
3&4. Also look around for any loose connections,ie: chip fan
plug, reset switch wire, power switch wire, loose chassis screws, etc......etc...

 

[BChumie]

Do you know what mother board you have (model number?). The reason I ask is becasue most motherboards from abit with four slots for ram require REGISTERED ram. Basically if it is based on the amd 760 chipset then you are almost guarnteed to have problem with using more than two slots of ram. One thing I can think of is just trying to boot with one stick of ram (regardless of the size 256, 128 doesn't matter but use only one stick). Once you get into windows, go to abit's website and try to update the bios for your motherboard. This might get rid of your ram issues. Also you should head over to

http://www.memtest86.com

to get the ram tester that is OS independent. That way you can actually test to see if you have BAD ram. Basically put all of the ram back into the machine and let it boot with the ramtest disk in the machine and allow the test to run (With that much ram it willl probably take one hour). This way you can accurately tell if it is a RAM issue. If it reboots during this testing then I would say you still have a Power Supply issue (check and see what wattage your power supply is and depending on what else you have running in our system you should be at 300 - 400). If you have case fans or other such things then you might want to get a 400W power supply that is AMD approved (antec for example) just to be on the safe side.

I hope something in this post helps... GOOD LUCK,

Brad

Please post a response to what you have encountered as far as the testing goes (with bad ram or such). If it is not bad ram I will post some more suggestions for you!

 

[Markrm]

Thanks for helping guys...
Dont be shocked but i've done everything. I called Abit, PNY and other places. I may have mismatched ram, meaning... the two 128s are registered, and the two 256s are unbuffered. But im not sure!

My motherboard is the Abit kg7-raid, and i flashed the bios to the latest (9m) last week before installing this new ram.

The cpu is an amd athlon, at 1400mhz (1.4ghz of course). It is a socket-A processor, i dont know if its a 760 or 761 or whatever. My motherboard manual said i can have a max of 2 gigs of RAM that is UNBUFFERED, meaning, two 512 meg ram dimms. I have two 128s, and two 256s. All the ram works, but i also read that i CAN use two unbuffered dimms (like my two 256s) and THEN finally add ONE 128mb REGISTERED dimm. Leaving one ram bank open i cant use. I have yet to try that, but i might have to.

I have a 400w power supply, amd approved, brand new.

My DDR Vcc voltage was set at 2.65v by default, so i changed it to 2.55. Since this ram runs at 2.5 volts anyhow. I didnt see a menu shoice in my bios for 2.50, just for 2.52, 2.55 and 2.58. So i picked 2.5v. I also set the CAS latency to 2 instead of the 2.5 default. Also, i set my CPU SlewRate P/N to 7 (fastest) instead of the default 3. I havent messed with the Control CPU P/n, but i may change it to 4, 04 or 0D. I may set the "sdram timing" to ultra. I have SoftMenu III, and the setting in there are 4:4:1 because i have a 266mhz FSB. I just now set these settings, and need to go run a PC game and see if it locks again.

Oh yes, i also raised my FSB to 136mhz, as the Abit website said to try 136 or 138, instead of 133mhz. I will try the ram tester program you showed me to, too.

Lastly, here is a rough diagram of how my ram is set up now:

=== bank 1 (256mb)
=== bank 2 (256mb)
=== bank 3 (128mb)
=== bank 4 (128mb)

I might try this:

=== bank 1 (256mb)
=== bank 2 (256mb)
=== bank 3 (128mb)
=== bank 4 (nothing/empty)

Any other clues guys? Why my games lock up within 30-45 mins and straight FREEZE now? As in, the sound repeats itself, pc freezes, cant control+alt+delete out, or anything.

 

[GrandpaCarl]

You state emphatically that it could not be a temperature problem, yet the sysmptoms you describe definitely sounds like temperature related. I would check to be sure that the heat sink on the CPU is very snug and has has thermal conducting gunk between CPU and heatsink. Check to be absolutely sure the CPU and system fans are and remain functional. Try blowing cool air from a big external fan directly at the CPU and RAM ares to see if the 30-45 minute time limits hold or are perhaps lengthened. Is there a difference in time before lockup if you are not using thew computer at all. Many games are CPU intensive.

Another problem that may be giving you fits is the memory sockets. Many motherboards have poor RAM sockets that can drive you nuts. They make connection for a while, then can disconnect as things warm up.

Good luck.

GrandpaCarl