KT7A-Raid

Hello,

Are the KT7A-Raid motherboards notorious for their memory slots dying?

I am having memory issues with mine and I cannot seem to find a fix... I'm
running 3 128 sticks of memory in it for a total of 384 MB SDRAM and the
test program reports lots of errors but on other motherboards the memory
tests out with the same program to have no errors.

Ideas?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand

Hello,

Would this cause my memory test program to indicate that the memory is bad?

If so I will replace the capacitor myself since I am somewhat of an
electronics junkie... I don't have the tester for testing capacitors though
so I'd have to do that to be sure... can't remember if my multimeter can do
that...

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand

"netnews.comcast.net" wrote in message
news:8rWxb.345835$Tr4.1040859@attbi_s03...
Hello,

Are the KT7A-Raid motherboards notorious for their memory slots dying?

I am having memory issues with mine and I cannot seem to find a fix... I'm
running 3 128 sticks of memory in it for a total of 384 MB SDRAM and the
test program reports lots of errors but on other motherboards the memory
tests out with the same program to have no errors.

Ideas?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand

Hello,

If none of the capacitors appear to be bad what else could be causing
issues?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Jens C. Hansen [Odense]" "[usenet]±[greylion]=[dk]" wrote in message
. ..
Marcus Hilderbrand wrote:

Would this cause my memory test program to indicate that the memory is
bad?

Yes.

If so I will replace the capacitor myself since I am somewhat of an
electronics junkie... I don't have the tester for testing capacitors
though
so I'd have to do that to be sure... can't remember if my multimeter can
do
that...

Remember, the caps are somewhat special, replace them with ones that
have the same capacitance, low ESR, and 105°C max.

They are hard to find, but Homie sells them.

www.motherboardrepair.com

Hello,

That is a possiblilty I should look at...

It still could be a bad cap if I can't tell that they are bad but on visual
inspection they appeared to be alright.

although with only one stick in the slot the memory is still indicated as
bad.

I'll look at the northbridge chip and see if it's overheating and I can add
a heatsink it's the only other thing I can think of...

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand

"Jens C. Hansen [Odense]" "[usenet]±[greylion]=[dk]" wrote in message
. ..
Marcus Hilderbrand wrote:

If none of the capacitors appear to be bad what else could be causing
issues?

If you're sure the caps are ok, then you might have;

a) memory sticks that do not work well with each other
b) an overheated northbridge

I have only come across a single combination of memory sticks that gave
unexpected errors - a single-sided stick together with three
double-sided in a BX6-2.

Hello,

The chip has a heatsink and fan on it from the factory and it seems to be
running fine.

Could it be that the motherboard is going bad?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Jens C. Hansen [Odense]" "[usenet]±[greylion]=[dk]" wrote in message
. ..
Marcus Hilderbrand wrote:

If none of the capacitors appear to be bad what else could be causing
issues?

If you're sure the caps are ok, then you might have;

a) memory sticks that do not work well with each other
b) an overheated northbridge

I have only come across a single combination of memory sticks that gave
unexpected errors - a single-sided stick together with three
double-sided in a BX6-2.

Maybe your power supply cannot support all three sticks? Check the 5V rail
voltage in the bios menu. Do you have a lot of other peripherals?

Also, try with one stick at a time and see if each stick operates fine on
its own.

- Dave


"Marcus Hilderbrand" wrote in message
news:zFpyb.263907$275.944326@attbi_s53...
Hello,

The chip has a heatsink and fan on it from the factory and it seems to be
running fine.

Could it be that the motherboard is going bad?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Jens C. Hansen [Odense]" "[usenet]±[greylion]=[dk]" wrote in message
. ..
Marcus Hilderbrand wrote:

If none of the capacitors appear to be bad what else could be causing
issues?

If you're sure the caps are ok, then you might have;

a) memory sticks that do not work well with each other
b) an overheated northbridge

I have only come across a single combination of memory sticks that gave
unexpected errors - a single-sided stick together with three
double-sided in a BX6-2.

Hello,

Brand new 300 watt power supply with no peripherals other then keyboard and
mouse...

The computer does not run fine with even one stick of ram installed...

I'm now thinking about getting a brand new motherboard although that would
require getting new memory which means I would lose 384 MB of ram...

I don't know what else I could even begin to try to make this board perform
as it should again.

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Dave Hau" wrote in message
. com...
Maybe your power supply cannot support all three sticks? Check the 5V
rail
voltage in the bios menu. Do you have a lot of other peripherals?

Also, try with one stick at a time and see if each stick operates fine on
its own.

- Dave


"Marcus Hilderbrand" wrote in message
news:zFpyb.263907$275.944326@attbi_s53...
Hello,

The chip has a heatsink and fan on it from the factory and it seems to
be
running fine.

Could it be that the motherboard is going bad?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Jens C. Hansen [Odense]" "[usenet]±[greylion]=[dk]" wrote in message
. ..
Marcus Hilderbrand wrote:

If none of the capacitors appear to be bad what else could be
causing
issues?

If you're sure the caps are ok, then you might have;

a) memory sticks that do not work well with each other
b) an overheated northbridge

I have only come across a single combination of memory sticks that
gave
unexpected errors - a single-sided stick together with three
double-sided in a BX6-2.

Hello,

Consider this idea: when I set the FSB from 133 to 100 and ran my test
program the memory tested out and seems to test for the most part ok that
would mean instead of running my computer at the max speed for the 1600 +
1.4 ghz I have to run it at 1050 Mhz this tells me that I need to be running
PC-133 not PC-100 for the system to run correctly. In this case I would
lose 384 Mb of ram but save myself about $30 and not buy a new motherboard
and DDR and continue to use this motherboard... but getting any errors at
all indicates some problems still.

I am undecided as hwhat to do now

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Marcus Hilderbrand" wrote in message
news:XNvyb.263077$mZ5.1934323@attbi_s54...
Hello,

Brand new 300 watt power supply with no peripherals other then keyboard
and
mouse...

The computer does not run fine with even one stick of ram installed...

I'm now thinking about getting a brand new motherboard although that would
require getting new memory which means I would lose 384 MB of ram...

I don't know what else I could even begin to try to make this board
perform
as it should again.

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Dave Hau" wrote in
message
. com...
Maybe your power supply cannot support all three sticks? Check the 5V
rail
voltage in the bios menu. Do you have a lot of other peripherals?

Also, try with one stick at a time and see if each stick operates fine
on
its own.

- Dave


"Marcus Hilderbrand" wrote in message
news:zFpyb.263907$275.944326@attbi_s53...
Hello,

The chip has a heatsink and fan on it from the factory and it seems to
be
running fine.

Could it be that the motherboard is going bad?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Jens C. Hansen [Odense]" "[usenet]±[greylion]=[dk]" wrote in
message
. ..
Marcus Hilderbrand wrote:

If none of the capacitors appear to be bad what else could be
causing
issues?

If you're sure the caps are ok, then you might have;

a) memory sticks that do not work well with each other
b) an overheated northbridge

I have only come across a single combination of memory sticks that
gave
unexpected errors - a single-sided stick together with three
double-sided in a BX6-2.

Yes, you generally need PC133 to run at a 133 fsb.

You might try relaxing the memory timings, CAS 3, 8/10ns, interleave
disabled, fast r-w turnaround disabled, etc. Some PC100 will run at 133 with
those settings. There's a lot more at
http://www.sudhian.com/showfaqs.cfm?fid=2

If that doesn't work, you have two options. Replace the ram, or replace the
cpu. Replacing the cpu is cheaper, and some people have had good luck
running Athlon XPs with the Tbred B core as high as 24x100mhz on a KT7A.

See http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

"Marcus Hilderbrand" wrote in message
news:lkIyb.182454$Dw6.702121@attbi_s02...
Hello,

Consider this idea: when I set the FSB from 133 to 100 and ran my test
program the memory tested out and seems to test for the most part ok that
would mean instead of running my computer at the max speed for the 1600 +
1.4 ghz I have to run it at 1050 Mhz this tells me that I need to be
running
PC-133 not PC-100 for the system to run correctly. In this case I would
lose 384 Mb of ram but save myself about $30 and not buy a new motherboard
and DDR and continue to use this motherboard... but getting any errors at
all indicates some problems still.

I am undecided as hwhat to do now

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Marcus Hilderbrand" wrote in message
news:XNvyb.263077$mZ5.1934323@attbi_s54...
Hello,

Brand new 300 watt power supply with no peripherals other then keyboard
and
mouse...

The computer does not run fine with even one stick of ram installed...

I'm now thinking about getting a brand new motherboard although that
would
require getting new memory which means I would lose 384 MB of ram...

I don't know what else I could even begin to try to make this board
perform
as it should again.

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Dave Hau" wrote in
message
. com...
Maybe your power supply cannot support all three sticks? Check the 5V
rail
voltage in the bios menu. Do you have a lot of other peripherals?

Also, try with one stick at a time and see if each stick operates fine
on
its own.

- Dave


"Marcus Hilderbrand" wrote in message
news:zFpyb.263907$275.944326@attbi_s53...
Hello,

The chip has a heatsink and fan on it from the factory and it seems
to
be
running fine.

Could it be that the motherboard is going bad?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand


"Jens C. Hansen [Odense]" "[usenet]±[greylion]=[dk]" wrote in
message
. ..
Marcus Hilderbrand wrote:

If none of the capacitors appear to be bad what else could be
causing
issues?

If you're sure the caps are ok, then you might have;

a) memory sticks that do not work well with each other
b) an overheated northbridge

I have only come across a single combination of memory sticks that
gave
unexpected errors - a single-sided stick together with three
double-sided in a BX6-2.

How are you checking memory, w/ Memtest-86, DocMemory (my favorites)? Be
sure your getting an *actual* I/O 3.3v min in PC Health, a lot of PSUs are
notorious for slightly undervolting, and your memory may simply be sensitive
to this. Also, have you tried a little more I/O voltage too (I've run up to
3.6v (Enermax 365) on the KT7A w/ Crucial PC133)? What brand of memory you
using? Are you mixing brands?

Can't say much about whether keeping KT7A or upgrading makes sense, very
subjective. I recently upgraded my wife's PC (office apps, very light
gaming w/ FPS's, etc.) from KT7A-RAID 1.3 to Abit VI7, on the cheap. The
VI7 is only $70 (Newegg.com), and I had a P4 2.4B (533MHz) and cheap K-Byte
PC2700 (2 x 256MB) lying around (on sale now @ OfficeMax.com for $40 ea),
all running sync (1:1) w/ CPU FSB=166). Since the P4 2.4C (800MHz) is
selling for the same price as 2.4B, the "C" is the right choice for new
purchase (or 2.6C even better). For just a few bucks, a nice budget system.
The K-Byte PC2700 OC's for me quite nicely to PC3200, so that's possible as
well for owners of P4 800Mhz. If I dump the KT7A on eBay for $20-30 (caps
are still good), and memory (Crucial 2 x 256, say $80 or better?), I can
recoup a lot of the costs. And if you want IDE RAID, pick up a Promise
Ultra100 TX2 on eBay for about $40. Just an idea, worked for me. Btw,
recapping the KT7A (if that's a problem) is a waste of time and $$$, so
unless you're skilled at the operation, it's cheaper to upgrade. If the
KT7A *is* OK as of now, dump it on eBay BEFORE it does come a problem!

JMTC

Jim


"netnews.comcast.net" wrote in message
news:8rWxb.345835$Tr4.1040859@attbi_s03...
Hello,

Are the KT7A-Raid motherboards notorious for their memory slots dying?

I am having memory issues with mine and I cannot seem to find a fix... I'm
running 3 128 sticks of memory in it for a total of 384 MB SDRAM and the
test program reports lots of errors but on other motherboards the memory
tests out with the same program to have no errors.

Ideas?

Thanks

Marcus Hilderbrand