Strange MEM Test Errors

Hi there,

I'm currently having troubles with a newly purchased computer (self
made) and would be glad if someone could give me a hint or two on what
is really wrong with my hardware.

It all started when I noticed that my computer was crashing too often
under WIN XP sp2, with blue screens and what not. Some programmes
(mostly games) were also crashing quite frequently, even though they
used to be perfectly stable on my old machine. After installing driver
updates for the Video&Sound and still having the problems described
above, I decided to test my two 512 MB DIMMS. The results were as
follows:

1.) My first MEM Test was with my two DIMMS in Dual Channel mode (the
natural choice I guess): Using Mem Test 86+ v 1.2 (on Knoppix v.3.6
CD). After 25 Mins, numerous errors (6+ or so) on test 5 diyplayed. Oh
my...
2.) My approach was to test the two Dimms seperately now. The first
Dimm performed well, no errors after 3 passes (about 40 Minutes of
testing).
3.) Strangely, the second Dimm showed the same results. No errors
after 3 passes (?!).
4.) Finally I decided to test both DIMMS in Single Channel mode. The
result was 4 errors after 1:30h of testing, 2 Errors on Test 5 each
pass.

Can anyone interprete these results? My guess would be that the RAM
are ok but there's some kind of strange problem with either my
motherboard or something else instead. The big question is where the
problem is really lying and how it can be solved.

Let me not forget to give you my specs:
- AMD Athlon 3000+ 400 FSB (being well cooled by a Silent Boost)
- 2 x 512 MB, 400 MHz, PC-3200, CL3.0 Infineon RAM (CAS 3-3-3-8)
- ASUS A7N8X, Nforce 2 Ultra 400
- Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro
- MAXTOR 80 GB HDD
- Tagan 480 Low Noise

Thanks for your time,
Turalyon

Your motherboard may be set to the wrong timing for the memory chips.
At least this was the case on my machine when it was crashing. Did you
try playing games with the ram in single channel mode? Also what bus
speed do you have it set at. Try dropping it down a bit and seeing if
the same thing happens.... RAM is a pain sometimes.

(Turalyon) wrote in message . com...
Hi there,

I'm currently having troubles with a newly purchased computer (self
made) and would be glad if someone could give me a hint or two on what
is really wrong with my hardware.

It all started when I noticed that my computer was crashing too often
under WIN XP sp2, with blue screens and what not. Some programmes
(mostly games) were also crashing quite frequently, even though they
used to be perfectly stable on my old machine. After installing driver
updates for the Video&Sound and still having the problems described
above, I decided to test my two 512 MB DIMMS. The results were as
follows:

1.) My first MEM Test was with my two DIMMS in Dual Channel mode (the
natural choice I guess): Using Mem Test 86+ v 1.2 (on Knoppix v.3.6
CD). After 25 Mins, numerous errors (6+ or so) on test 5 diyplayed. Oh
my...
2.) My approach was to test the two Dimms seperately now. The first
Dimm performed well, no errors after 3 passes (about 40 Minutes of
testing).
3.) Strangely, the second Dimm showed the same results. No errors
after 3 passes (?!).
4.) Finally I decided to test both DIMMS in Single Channel mode. The
result was 4 errors after 1:30h of testing, 2 Errors on Test 5 each
pass.

Can anyone interprete these results? My guess would be that the RAM
are ok but there's some kind of strange problem with either my
motherboard or something else instead. The big question is where the
problem is really lying and how it can be solved.

Let me not forget to give you my specs:
- AMD Athlon 3000+ 400 FSB (being well cooled by a Silent Boost)
- 2 x 512 MB, 400 MHz, PC-3200, CL3.0 Infineon RAM (CAS 3-3-3-8)
- ASUS A7N8X, Nforce 2 Ultra 400
- Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro
- MAXTOR 80 GB HDD
- Tagan 480 Low Noise

Thanks for your time,
Turalyon

One of the memory DIMM slot on the motherboard might be bad.

Jason Baker
1U server at http://www.colomachine.com

(Turalyon) wrote in message
. com...

1.) My first MEM Test was with my two DIMMS in Dual Channel mode (the
natural choice I guess): Using Mem Test 86+ v 1.2 (on Knoppix v.3.6
CD). After 25 Mins, numerous errors (6+ or so) on test 5 diyplayed. Oh
my...
2.) My approach was to test the two Dimms seperately now. The first
Dimm performed well, no errors after 3 passes (about 40 Minutes of
testing).
3.) Strangely, the second Dimm showed the same results. No errors
after 3 passes (?!).
4.) Finally I decided to test both DIMMS in Single Channel mode. The
result was 4 errors after 1:30h of testing, 2 Errors on Test 5 each
pass.

Can anyone interprete these results? My guess would be that the RAM
are ok but there's some kind of strange problem with either my
motherboard or something else instead. The big question is where the
problem is really lying and how it can be solved.