D975XBX2 + 8 GB RAM = unstable :-(

I'm trying to get 8 GB to run stable with a D975XBX2 motherboard with Vista 64
and so far it's not working.

When locally available Kingston branded RAM would not work I returned it and
ordered the exact 2 GB Crucial RAM recommends on the Intel's support site
(Crucial CT25664AA667.16FE / 2 GB / 667mHz / 5-5-5 / Non-ECC) and it's not much
better.

As soon as I engage in any intensive activity (like downloading and installing
Vista 64 updates) the computer will suddenly reboot.

10 days ago Intel tech support escalated the issue and were generous enough to
RMA me a new more recent version of the motherboard (510 replacing 507). It did
not resolve the problem. The board remains unstable a reboots (though it's
'slightly' better with the new board rev)

At this point Intel has not been forthcoming with any further suggestions nor
assistance and I'm left wondering what to do next. I might have to resort to
buying another brand of motherboard (Asus P5E-WS?) that can use this DDR-2 RAM.

If there are any owners of this board who have been able to run Vista 64 with 8
gb I'd REALLY like to hear about it to confirm that it is possible. I really
don't want to waste my time with something that's simply impossible ...

fwiw: Vista 64 runs fine with 4 GB RAM (4 x 1GB or 2 x 2GB). With 8 GB RAM
installed I can run WinXP-Pro without any problems (obviously only 3gb is used
in that scenario)

Thanks,

Russell

"Russell" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to get 8 GB to run stable with a D975XBX2 motherboard with
Vista 64
and so far it's not working.

When locally available Kingston branded RAM would not work I returned it
and
ordered the exact 2 GB Crucial RAM recommends on the Intel's support site
(Crucial CT25664AA667.16FE / 2 GB / 667mHz / 5-5-5 / Non-ECC) and it's
not much
better.

As soon as I engage in any intensive activity (like downloading and
installing
Vista 64 updates) the computer will suddenly reboot.

10 days ago Intel tech support escalated the issue and were generous
enough to
RMA me a new more recent version of the motherboard (510 replacing 507).
It did
not resolve the problem. The board remains unstable a reboots (though it's
'slightly' better with the new board rev)

At this point Intel has not been forthcoming with any further suggestions
nor
assistance and I'm left wondering what to do next. I might have to resort
to
buying another brand of motherboard (Asus P5E-WS?) that can use this DDR-2
RAM.

If there are any owners of this board who have been able to run Vista 64
with 8
gb I'd REALLY like to hear about it to confirm that it is possible. I
really
don't want to waste my time with something that's simply impossible ...

fwiw: Vista 64 runs fine with 4 GB RAM (4 x 1GB or 2 x 2GB). With 8 GB RAM
installed I can run WinXP-Pro without any problems (obviously only 3gb is
used
in that scenario)

Thanks,

Russell

Have you tried increasing the DDR voltage in the bios. I have a Gigabyte
GA-P35-DS4 that was fine with 4GB (2x2Gb) @ 800mhz but moving to 8gb was
unstable. Bumping the voltage up 0.1V over the stock 1.8V made it fully
stable with 8gb at 800mhz.

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:23:36 +1000, "Robert McMillan"
wrote:

Have you tried increasing the DDR voltage in the bios. I have a Gigabyte
GA-P35-DS4 that was fine with 4GB (2x2Gb) @ 800mhz but moving to 8gb was
unstable. Bumping the voltage up 0.1V over the stock 1.8V made it fully
stable with 8gb at 800mhz.


Hi Robert,

Thanks for the suggestion but it did not help :-(

I'm not an overclocker so I'm a bit of a nood when it comes to knowing what each
memory setting means. But this RAM in the motherboard's 'automatic' setting gets
set to 667mHz, 5, 5, 5, 15 and 1.84v. I tried boosting the volts from 1.84 to
1.92v and then 1.96v and also tried lowering the speed to 533mHz and in every
case the system booted but Vista64 is unstable and reboots unexpectedly when
working with most programs after only a minute or two.

Russell

Russell wrote:
Hi Robert,

Thanks for the suggestion but it did not help :-(

I'm not an overclocker so I'm a bit of a nood when it comes to knowing what each
memory setting means. But this RAM in the motherboard's 'automatic' setting gets
set to 667mHz, 5, 5, 5, 15 and 1.84v. I tried boosting the volts from 1.84 to
1.92v and then 1.96v and also tried lowering the speed to 533mHz and in every
case the system booted but Vista64 is unstable and reboots unexpectedly when
working with most programs after only a minute or two.

Russell

Curious, have you tried any other 64-bit OS on it, to see if the same
issue occurs? Why not try to download the latest Ubuntu Live CD ISO, and
burn it to a CD and try to boot into it? Also Ubuntu comes with a
MemTest feature which you can run also.

Yousuf Khan

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:34:59 -0400, Yousuf Khan wrote:

Curious, have you tried any other 64-bit OS on it, to see if the same
issue occurs?

Hi Yousuf,

No. But that won't really help as I need Vista64 to do what I'm trying to do.

I'll run a memtest program on the 4 pieces of 2gb (2 at a time) to be sure it's
really not the RAM. But since Kingston RAM tanked as well in the same setup I
don't think it's the RAM.

In reading the manual for the Asus 975X chipset version of this board (P5W) it
states:

"You may install a maximum of 2 GB DIMMs on each slot, but only DDR2-533 2 GB
density modules are available for this configuration"

While the Intel manual states:

"Support for: Unbuffered, non-registered single or double-sided DIMMs
ECC and non-ECC DDR2 800/667/533 MHz memory
Serial Presence Detect (SPD) memory only
Memory configuration listed below:
· Up to 2.0 GB utilizing 256 Mb technology
· Up to 4.0 GB utilizing 512 Mb or 1 Gb technology
*****Up to 8.0 GB utilizing 1 Gb technology***** "

This last line is curious in that it suggests that only "1 Gb" pieces will work
on the 4 provided slots... Hmm..

Meanwhile recent chipset boards from Asus like theP5E (x38 chipset) offer a
"Memory Remap Feature" (for 64bit OS's) in the bios where the Intel boards with
this same chipset do not.

I assume within a year 8GB RAM will be very commonplace (wait for the next
version of Photoshop to hit the shelves!). But for now it's apparently still
uncharted territory where folks like me find out the $$ hard way what promised
(but untested) features are just not there ...

Russell

Is it possible the Northbridge chip is overheating because of driving that
much RAM?

Andrew

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:56:17 +0100, "Andrew Morton"
wrote:

Is it possible the Northbridge chip is overheating because of driving that
much RAM?

It crashes when I do any number of things that I know will crash it. It's not
something that occurs after a period of time when the board heats up.

If the Northbridge chip is overheating then I would expect that to affect the
system when running WindowsXP (my default OS). It works fine and stable in XP
(not that I have any need for 8GB with that OS..)

If the Northbridge chip is overheating then that would be a design flaw for a
board claiming to be designed to use up to 8GB RAM. I know that compared to
some boards from Asus and others the D975XBX2 board does not have as large nor
as many heat syncs over the board components. But I'm not overclocking. I even
tried lowering the RAM speed as far as 400mHz (tried 677, 533 and 400) and that
did not help. So I doubt that it's a cooling issue.

After I installed the Rev-510 board that Intel sent me and the problem persisted
Intel support suggested that the problem could not be duplicated in engineering
but could not offer and more details. So I'm left to wonder if problem could not
be duplicated with 8GB RAM + Vista64?

I'll try contacting Intel tech support again today and see if they have any
further solutions to offer. Otherwise I might just have to get an Asus P5E X38
board, or something similar, that can use this 8GB DDR2 RAM with Vista64.
Unfortunately all the current x38 or x48 chipset Intel boards require DDR3 RAM
which costs 3-4x more which gets very $$ for 8GB.

Russell wrote:
I'll try contacting Intel tech support again today and see if they
have any further solutions to offer.

Maybe they'd send you some RAM they say works?

Unfortunately all the current x38 or x48
chipset Intel boards require DDR3 RAM which costs 3-4x more which
gets very $$ for 8GB.

Asus Maximus Formula: X38, up to 8GB DDR2.
Asus Rampage Formula: X48, up to 8GB DDR2.

The manuals are downloadable from the Asus web site if you want to see the
required RAM specs.

Andrew

Russell wrote:
In reading the manual for the Asus 975X chipset version of this board (P5W) it
states:

"You may install a maximum of 2 GB DIMMs on each slot, but only DDR2-533 2 GB
density modules are available for this configuration"

While the Intel manual states:

"Support for: Unbuffered, non-registered single or double-sided DIMMs
ECC and non-ECC DDR2 800/667/533 MHz memory
Serial Presence Detect (SPD) memory only
Memory configuration listed below:
· Up to 2.0 GB utilizing 256 Mb technology
· Up to 4.0 GB utilizing 512 Mb or 1 Gb technology
*****Up to 8.0 GB utilizing 1 Gb technology***** "

This last line is curious in that it suggests that only "1 Gb" pieces will work
on the 4 provided slots... Hmm..

Meanwhile recent chipset boards from Asus like theP5E (x38 chipset) offer a
"Memory Remap Feature" (for 64bit OS's) in the bios where the Intel boards with
this same chipset do not.

I assume within a year 8GB RAM will be very commonplace (wait for the next
version of Photoshop to hit the shelves!). But for now it's apparently still
uncharted territory where folks like me find out the $$ hard way what promised
(but untested) features are just not there ...


Do you know whether your RAM is running in 533Mhz or 666Mhz mode? Try
CPU-Z, it should tell you. If it's running at 666Mhz, try hard setting
it to 533Mhz rather than "auto" in the BIOS during a reboot.

Yousuf Khan

"Russell" wrote in message
...
[snip]
In reading the manual for the Asus 975X chipset version of this board (P5W) it
states:

"You may install a maximum of 2 GB DIMMs on each slot, but only DDR2-533 2 GB
density modules are available for this configuration"

While the Intel manual states:

"Support for: Unbuffered, non-registered single or double-sided DIMMs
ECC and non-ECC DDR2 800/667/533 MHz memory
Serial Presence Detect (SPD) memory only
Memory configuration listed below:
· Up to 2.0 GB utilizing 256 Mb technology
· Up to 4.0 GB utilizing 512 Mb or 1 Gb technology
*****Up to 8.0 GB utilizing 1 Gb technology***** "

This last line is curious in that it suggests that only "1 Gb" pieces will work
on the 4 provided slots... Hmm..

Reading the datasheets over at kingston.com for the recommended memory for
the D975XBX2 shows that the 4GB kits (2-2GB 667MHZ modules) use
16 128Mb chips on each module. So right off the bat they're not using the
minimum recommended 256Mb chips, let alone the 1Gb chips recommended
for 8GB applications.

Over at crucial.com, the recommended memory you mentioned appears to
use 256Mb chips, so there should be 8 on each 2GB module. Is this
correct?

But if the Intel manual is correct, you should be using only 1Gb chips,
i.e., 2 chips per 2GB (unlikely) or 4 chips per 4GB module.

Basically, it sounds like you have a problem that was common to the
old PIII and early P4 motherboards, which had 4 memory slots, but
you could only populate 3 of them with low-density memory modules.

16 chips per module x 4 modules = 64 chips, more than the board
design can handle. (Kington)

8 chips per module x 4 modules = 32 chips, still more than the
board design can handle? (Crucial)

I don't know if higher density solutions are widely available yet.

Bob