A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » General Hardware & Peripherals » General
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Why would adding 2 new chips of memory cause Win XP Pro Not to Boot?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old February 5th 04, 08:31 PM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why would adding 2 new chips of memory cause Win XP Pro Not to Boot?

I have a Gateway Athlon 700 with 584MB of memory. 1 256MB SDRAM chip
with ECC, 2 128MB chips, non ECC. Got 2 256MB SpecTek Non ECC chips
from my brother from his old computer. Replaced the 2 128 chips with
the 2 256MB chips, figuring no problems would occur. Lo and behold,
boot the system up and get:

Windows could not start because of an error in the software.
Please report this problem as :
load needed DLLs for kernel
Please contact your support person to report this problem.

Take the 2 chips out, problem fixed, boots up fine. What about these
chips would make the system fail? They should be compatible with my
system.

Any help would be appreciated

thanks,
Oscar
  #2  
Old February 5th 04, 10:44 PM
kony
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 5 Feb 2004 11:31:12 -0800, wrote:

I have a Gateway Athlon 700 with 584MB of memory. 1 256MB SDRAM chip
with ECC, 2 128MB chips, non ECC. Got 2 256MB SpecTek Non ECC chips
from my brother from his old computer. Replaced the 2 128 chips with
the 2 256MB chips, figuring no problems would occur. Lo and behold,
boot the system up and get:

Windows could not start because of an error in the software.
Please report this problem as :
load needed DLLs for kernel
Please contact your support person to report this problem.

Take the 2 chips out, problem fixed, boots up fine. What about these
chips would make the system fail? They should be compatible with my
system.

Any help would be appreciated

thanks,
Oscar


Unfortunately many boards aren't extensively tested with all memory
slot populated, or perhaps those that are, are not redesigned if
that's a problem. In other words, simply because your board has 3
slots, and can theoretically accept X amount of memory per slot, you
can't necessarily assume it would run stable with all slots maxed out.

You could try entering the BIOS and relaxing, rasing the memory timing
numbers, or choosing "slower" or similar wording, but even that may
not help enough. Test the memory with
http://www.memtest86.com,
ALWAYS, for several hours before ever booting to the OS, to avoid file
corruption.

You might also try different combinations, see if the system would
even run stable with only the pair of "new" modules in it. By "run
stable" I again mean running memtest86, not booting to the OS till it
at least tests ok at that.
  #3  
Old February 6th 04, 12:30 AM
w_tom
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Gateway is particularly evil about providing memory facts.
Better to go to someone like www.crucible.com to learn which
types of 256 memory is required.

For example, same size memory in nine chip or two chip
configurations; and other differences. To you, difference
should be transparent. But computer hardware accesses
memories differently. BIOS should solve that identification
for you.

Memories have a single pin that tells computer what kind of
memory it is. However many Gateway BIOSes are not properly
programmed and will not be corrected by updates. Some Gateway
motherboards only understand nine chip memory. Even worse,
Gateway cannot be bothered to inform you which memory will and
will not work.

Look. Any decent computer vendor also provided
comprehensive diagnostics for each machine - for free.
Gateway does not. No diagnostics and their inability to even
report which kind of memory works in their machines are but
some reasons why Gateway is no longer on my recommended list.
Add to this - even their technical support does not understand
difference exists between two chip and nine chip memory!

Goto to crucible.com to learn which type is acceptable for
your machine. Don't even waste time with Gateway support or
their 'tech unfriendly' website - that does not even provide
diagnostics for your machine.

Customer support tech claimed he had access to more
information than I did. So I had him read from his screen.
From memory, I interrupted his sentences and finished them.
Gateway customer support is that technically ignorant. That
website contained little useful technical facts.

wrote:
I have a Gateway Athlon 700 with 584MB of memory. 1 256MB SDRAM chip
with ECC, 2 128MB chips, non ECC. Got 2 256MB SpecTek Non ECC chips
from my brother from his old computer. Replaced the 2 128 chips with
the 2 256MB chips, figuring no problems would occur. Lo and behold,
boot the system up and get:

Windows could not start because of an error in the software.
Please report this problem as :
load needed DLLs for kernel
Please contact your support person to report this problem.

Take the 2 chips out, problem fixed, boots up fine. What about these
chips would make the system fail? They should be compatible with my
system.

  #5  
Old February 6th 04, 02:57 PM
Anton Gysen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

This morning I recieved a 256mb module of Spectek DDR333 (non-ECC), and
as soon as I got into Windows, the machine would crash. Sometimes it
didn't even make it into Windows. I changed the speed of it from 333mhz
down to 250mhz and it's running fine at the moment (I haven't had a
chance to test it extensively in games or run MemTest86 on it, yet).

I will be sending it back to the place I got it, though! Apparently
Spectek memory is made by Micron (see
http://www.spectek.com/menus/about.asp) and it's the stuff which has
failed testing for Crucial memory so they pass it off as this Spectek ****.

Before I send it back, though, I'll make sure it's not the fact that I'm
running 2 different makes of DDR333 alongside it (TwinMOS and Samsung)
so I'll take the TwinMOS and Samsung modules out and try it at 333mhz
with just the Spectek (I hate the name already).
  #6  
Old February 6th 04, 09:49 PM
kony
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 13:57:18 +0000, Anton Gysen
wrote:

This morning I recieved a 256mb module of Spectek DDR333 (non-ECC), and
as soon as I got into Windows, the machine would crash. Sometimes it
didn't even make it into Windows. I changed the speed of it from 333mhz
down to 250mhz and it's running fine at the moment (I haven't had a
chance to test it extensively in games or run MemTest86 on it, yet).

I will be sending it back to the place I got it, though! Apparently
Spectek memory is made by Micron (see
http://www.spectek.com/menus/about.asp) and it's the stuff which has
failed testing for Crucial memory so they pass it off as this Spectek ****.

Before I send it back, though, I'll make sure it's not the fact that I'm
running 2 different makes of DDR333 alongside it (TwinMOS and Samsung)
so I'll take the TwinMOS and Samsung modules out and try it at 333mhz
with just the Spectek (I hate the name already).


No, it did not "fail testing for crucial", it's not "****", it's
simply the lower grade memory, which can't run at the faster timings.
More often than not, when a motherboard won't run the lower grade
memory, it's a flaw with the motherboard, not the memory. Many boards
require higher-spec memory to run at lower spec settings to compensate
for that motherboard's design, especially when multiplie modules are
used.

You're running 3 modules... it was pretty likely you'd have problems
with most modules you try. Many boards required lowering memory bus
speed or relaxing the memory timings to run 3 modules. In other
words, it's "almost" always better to use the least number of modules
possible, though that's 2 if you're running a dual-channel board.
  #7  
Old February 7th 04, 03:49 PM
Oscar G. Carranza
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article ,
says...
On 5 Feb 2004 11:31:12 -0800,
wrote:

I have a Gateway Athlon 700 with 584MB of memory. 1 256MB SDRAM chip
with ECC, 2 128MB chips, non ECC. Got 2 256MB SpecTek Non ECC chips
from my brother from his old computer. Replaced the 2 128 chips with
the 2 256MB chips, figuring no problems would occur. Lo and behold,
boot the system up and get:

Windows could not start because of an error in the software.
Please report this problem as :
load needed DLLs for kernel
Please contact your support person to report this problem.

Take the 2 chips out, problem fixed, boots up fine. What about these
chips would make the system fail? They should be compatible with my
system.

Any help would be appreciated

thanks,
Oscar


Unfortunately many boards aren't extensively tested with all memory
slot populated, or perhaps those that are, are not redesigned if
that's a problem. In other words, simply because your board has 3
slots, and can theoretically accept X amount of memory per slot, you
can't necessarily assume it would run stable with all slots maxed out.

You could try entering the BIOS and relaxing, rasing the memory timing
numbers, or choosing "slower" or similar wording, but even that may
not help enough. Test the memory with
http://www.memtest86.com,
ALWAYS, for several hours before ever booting to the OS, to avoid file
corruption.

You might also try different combinations, see if the system would
even run stable with only the pair of "new" modules in it. By "run
stable" I again mean running memtest86, not booting to the OS till it
at least tests ok at that.

Kony,

I have tested with just the new modules in it and I get the same
results. I took your advice and dowloaded memtest86. Both chips failed
miserably on test 4, the errors just kept incrementing. Now, does this
mean the chips are bad or that these chips just are not compatible on my
system? Thanks for your help.
  #8  
Old February 8th 04, 12:41 AM
kony
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 09:49:36 -0500, Oscar G. Carranza
wrote:

In article ,
says...
On 5 Feb 2004 11:31:12 -0800,
wrote:

I have a Gateway Athlon 700 with 584MB of memory. 1 256MB SDRAM chip
with ECC, 2 128MB chips, non ECC. Got 2 256MB SpecTek Non ECC chips
from my brother from his old computer. Replaced the 2 128 chips with
the 2 256MB chips, figuring no problems would occur. Lo and behold,
boot the system up and get:

Windows could not start because of an error in the software.
Please report this problem as :
load needed DLLs for kernel
Please contact your support person to report this problem.

Take the 2 chips out, problem fixed, boots up fine. What about these
chips would make the system fail? They should be compatible with my
system.

Any help would be appreciated

thanks,
Oscar


Unfortunately many boards aren't extensively tested with all memory
slot populated, or perhaps those that are, are not redesigned if
that's a problem. In other words, simply because your board has 3
slots, and can theoretically accept X amount of memory per slot, you
can't necessarily assume it would run stable with all slots maxed out.

You could try entering the BIOS and relaxing, rasing the memory timing
numbers, or choosing "slower" or similar wording, but even that may
not help enough. Test the memory with
http://www.memtest86.com,
ALWAYS, for several hours before ever booting to the OS, to avoid file
corruption.

You might also try different combinations, see if the system would
even run stable with only the pair of "new" modules in it. By "run
stable" I again mean running memtest86, not booting to the OS till it
at least tests ok at that.

Kony,

I have tested with just the new modules in it and I get the same
results. I took your advice and dowloaded memtest86. Both chips failed
miserably on test 4, the errors just kept incrementing. Now, does this
mean the chips are bad or that these chips just are not compatible on my
system? Thanks for your help.


It could mean either, but it doesn't really matter... for your needs,
they're not suitable. You may as well try to get them replaced.
  #9  
Old February 8th 04, 11:02 PM
* * Chas
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

wrote in message
om...
I have a Gateway Athlon 700 with 584MB of memory. 1 256MB

SDRAM chip
with ECC, 2 128MB chips, non ECC. Got 2 256MB SpecTek Non

ECC chips
from my brother from his old computer. Replaced the 2 128

chips with
the 2 256MB chips, figuring no problems would occur. Lo

and behold,
boot the system up and get:

Windows could not start because of an error in the

software.
Please report this problem as :
load needed DLLs for kernel
Please contact your support person to report this problem.

Take the 2 chips out, problem fixed, boots up fine. What

about these
chips would make the system fail? They should be

compatible with my
system.

Any help would be appreciated

thanks,
Oscar


ALL of the Slot A Athlon mobos were very fussy about the
quality of the memory used in them. Most of these boards
will not support 3 sticks of memory. They also have some
weird chip configuration requirements: they wont take double
sided DIMMs or a certain number of memory chips, etc..

I have 3 Asus K7M Slot A mobos. One of them will only run
with Micron Crucial DIMMs. It will take 2 PC100/128 ECC
DIMMs or 1 PC100/256 and 1 PC100/128 ECC but nothing else
that I've tried.

Another K7M was running great with a mishmash of DIMMs until
this past week, a Corsair PC100/256 DIM, a Kingston
PC100/128 Value RAM DIMM and a Kingston PC133/128 Value RAM
DIMM.

All of a sudden it was posting 384MB instead of 512MB and I
was getting Windows Protection Errors. I spent hours
switching memory and testing with Memtest86 and DocMem. It
only runs with 1 stick now, so it's a mobo problem.

The 3rd board will only run 1 or 2 PC100/128 DIMMs.

I use Micron Crucial memory most of the time and
occasionally the best quality Muskin RAM. I got a "real
deal" on some Kingston ValueRam a while back. It tested fine
with Memtest86 and DocMem memory testing programs.

This weekend I tested all of my systems and found 3 of the
ValueRam DIMMs failed the memory tests! They have a
"lifetime" guarantee but still it's not worth the hassle!

BTW, the new version 3.0 of Memtest86 does a much better job
with Athlons. earlier versions had some problems with AMD
chipsets used on some Athlon mobos.

There is a lot of junk memory on the market. The memory
chips themselves are produced on 200mm (8") or 300mm (12")
silicon wafers. All of the chips are tested before the
wafers are cut up into "die" (chips).

Chips near the center of the wafers are generally the best
quality. To keep their yields per wafer up, chip makers
market finished memory chips in several quality levels. A
few chip makers like Micron, Samsung and Siemens produce
finished memory products but most chips are sold to memory
fabricators who assemble them onto the small printed circuit
boards called memory modules (SIMMs, DIMMs SODIMMs, etc.).

The best modules are made with premium quality matched
memory chips. The worst are made from the bottom of the
yield chips and are sometimes fudged to report that they are
better quality products. Cheap memory sometimes isn't even
tested by low end fabricators; it takes time and costs money
to run these tests - it's cheaper to just replace the
defective products !

Bad or intermittently defective memory is one of the biggest
causes of Windows stability problems.

Check out this site for a better explanation of chip and
memory module manufacturing:
http://www.crucial.com/library/manufacturing.asp

ALL of the newer CPUs, both Intel and AMD have memory
issues - and Power Supply problems. Athlon systems require a
minimum of 300W output from a premium quality power supply.
There have been PSs rated at 300W that actually put out only
195W !
--
Chas. (Drop spamski to E-mail
me)




  #10  
Old February 8th 04, 11:09 PM
* * Chas
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"kony" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 13:57:18 +0000, Anton Gysen
wrote:

This morning I recieved a 256mb module of Spectek DDR333

(non-ECC), and
as soon as I got into Windows, the machine would crash.

Sometimes it
didn't even make it into Windows. I changed the speed of

it from 333mhz
down to 250mhz and it's running fine at the moment (I

haven't had a
chance to test it extensively in games or run MemTest86

on it, yet).

I will be sending it back to the place I got it, though!

Apparently
Spectek memory is made by Micron (see
http://www.spectek.com/menus/about.asp) and it's the

stuff which has
failed testing for Crucial memory so they pass it off as

this Spectek ****.

Before I send it back, though, I'll make sure it's not

the fact that I'm
running 2 different makes of DDR333 alongside it (TwinMOS

and Samsung)
so I'll take the TwinMOS and Samsung modules out and try

it at 333mhz
with just the Spectek (I hate the name already).


No, it did not "fail testing for crucial", it's not

"****", it's
simply the lower grade memory, which can't run at the

faster timings.
More often than not, when a motherboard won't run the

lower grade
memory, it's a flaw with the motherboard, not the memory.

Many boards
require higher-spec memory to run at lower spec settings

to compensate
for that motherboard's design, especially when multiplie

modules are
used.

You're running 3 modules... it was pretty likely you'd

have problems
with most modules you try. Many boards required lowering

memory bus
speed or relaxing the memory timings to run 3 modules. In

other
words, it's "almost" always better to use the least number

of modules
possible, though that's 2 if you're running a dual-channel

board.

Good points but there is some real junk, untested memory on
the market that wont work in fussy systems.

Three memory slots create real electrical problems for
motherboard engineers (Read they are too cheap to add some
additional Caps) !

Intel reduced the slots from 3 to 2 on some of their mobos
for this reason. Some of the early DIMM mobos only had 1
memory slot.
--
Chas. (Drop spamski to E-mail
me)



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Help! Can't boot PC after adding ram Joanna General 1 January 6th 04 10:08 PM
CAS Timings De-Mystified, and other JEDEC Zins of DDR cRAMming...(Server Problems) Aaron Dinkin General 0 December 30th 03 03:29 AM
CAS Timings De-Mystified, and other JEDEC Zins of DDR cRAMming... Aaron Dinkin General 0 December 30th 03 03:12 AM
Chaintech 7NIF2 motherboard - memory problems Wuahn General 1 July 26th 03 01:29 PM
will this memory fit into a KT400 mobo? fred.do General 3 June 24th 03 02:44 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:47 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.