Half-Life 2 and extra memory probs

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

I've been playing this perfectly for ages with 2 X 512MB RAM and now I've
added an extra gig(single stick), it's crashing with the dreaded " The
Instruction at 0x####### referenced memory at 0x#######. The memory could
not be 'read' " fault.
I've tried most things recommended on Valves support page but wondered if
there is a majority verdict on what the best cure is.
Btw, the memory has been added for Photoshop work, not Half-Life 2 but I
don't really want to remove memory modules every time I want to play .
Cheers, all.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 17:10:53 GMT, redTed wrote:
> I've been playing this perfectly for ages with 2 X 512MB RAM and now I've
> added an extra gig(single stick), it's crashing with the dreaded " The
> Instruction at 0x####### referenced memory at 0x#######. The memory could
> not be 'read' " fault.
> I've tried most things recommended on Valves support page but wondered if
> there is a majority verdict on what the best cure is.
> Btw, the memory has been added for Photoshop work, not Half-Life 2 but I
> don't really want to remove memory modules every time I want to play .

Sounds like some sort of memory incompatibility. I would get another
1GB stick that matches the new one you have, and sell the two 512s.

--
* John Oliver http://www.john-oliver.net/ *
* California gun owners - protect your rights and join the CRPA today! *
* http://www.crpa.org/ *
* San Diego shooters come to http://shooting.forsandiego.com/ *

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"John Oliver" <joliver@john-oliver.net> wrote in message
news:slrndi3hgd.snr.joliver@ns.sdsitehosting.net...
> On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 17:10:53 GMT, redTed wrote:
>> I've been playing this perfectly for ages with 2 X 512MB RAM and now I've
>> added an extra gig(single stick), it's crashing with the dreaded " The
>> Instruction at 0x####### referenced memory at 0x#######. The memory could
>> not be 'read' " fault.
>> I've tried most things recommended on Valves support page but wondered if
>> there is a majority verdict on what the best cure is.
>> Btw, the memory has been added for Photoshop work, not Half-Life 2 but I
>> don't really want to remove memory modules every time I want to play .
>
> Sounds like some sort of memory incompatibility. I would get another
> 1GB stick that matches the new one you have, and sell the two 512s.
>
Perhaps, but it's only HL-2 having this problem so far. No issues with
Madden 06, Ravenshield, Flatout or UT 2004 as yet.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

for some things, the memory as installed will be fine, but for the high
performance stuff like games, little niggles and incompatibilities can be
problematic.
I have a P4 rig with 2 gigs of ram, all PC3200. But, they're two pairs of
not quite perfectly matched DIMMS with slight speed differences even though
they're rated the same.
I get crashes with hl2 and hl2dm now. Same rig with only 1 gig (either pair
of 512 meg dimms) and all is fine. Yes, the ram is seen by the BIOS and
this runs in dual channel.

The new X2 rig with 2 x 1g dimms, pc3200, no crashes like that at all. But
they're perfectly matched brand, speed, even from the same batch.

If you use Everest Home ver 220 you will be able to see the details of the
rams specs in the SPD info of the ram modules. you can then see what the
differences are.

Sorry this isn't being very helpful to you. But at least you can be more
informed.
McG.


"redTed" <redted@NTL3mbfinally.com> wrote in message
news:xmjUe.2654$Q%2.1327@newsfe1-win.ntli.net...
> I've been playing this perfectly for ages with 2 X 512MB RAM and now I've
> added an extra gig(single stick), it's crashing with the dreaded " The
> Instruction at 0x####### referenced memory at 0x#######. The memory could
> not be 'read' " fault.
> I've tried most things recommended on Valves support page but wondered if
> there is a majority verdict on what the best cure is.
> Btw, the memory has been added for Photoshop work, not Half-Life 2 but I
> don't really want to remove memory modules every time I want to play .
> Cheers, all.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"John Oliver" <joliver@john-oliver.net> wrote in message
news:slrndi3hgd.snr.joliver@ns.sdsitehosting.net...
> On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 17:10:53 GMT, redTed wrote:
>> I've been playing this perfectly for ages with 2 X 512MB RAM and now I've
>> added an extra gig(single stick), it's crashing with the dreaded " The
>> Instruction at 0x####### referenced memory at 0x#######. The memory could
>> not be 'read' " fault.
>> I've tried most things recommended on Valves support page but wondered if
>> there is a majority verdict on what the best cure is.
>> Btw, the memory has been added for Photoshop work, not Half-Life 2 but I
>> don't really want to remove memory modules every time I want to play .
>
> Sounds like some sort of memory incompatibility. I would get another
> 1GB stick that matches the new one you have, and sell the two 512s.

That would really be the best way to do it. If you wait a while, it might
be difficult to find an exact match to that one gig stick.
McG.

>
> --
> * John Oliver http://www.john-oliver.net/ *
> * California gun owners - protect your rights and join the CRPA today! *
> * http://www.crpa.org/ *
> * San Diego shooters come to http://shooting.forsandiego.com/ *

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"redTed" <redted@NTL3mbfinally.com> wrote in message
news:IEjUe.13860$vC4.6470@newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
>
> "John Oliver" <joliver@john-oliver.net> wrote in message
> news:slrndi3hgd.snr.joliver@ns.sdsitehosting.net...
>> On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 17:10:53 GMT, redTed wrote:
>>> I've been playing this perfectly for ages with 2 X 512MB RAM and now
>>> I've
>>> added an extra gig(single stick), it's crashing with the dreaded " The
>>> Instruction at 0x####### referenced memory at 0x#######. The memory
>>> could
>>> not be 'read' " fault.
>>> I've tried most things recommended on Valves support page but wondered
>>> if
>>> there is a majority verdict on what the best cure is.
>>> Btw, the memory has been added for Photoshop work, not Half-Life 2 but I
>>> don't really want to remove memory modules every time I want to play .
>>
>> Sounds like some sort of memory incompatibility. I would get another
>> 1GB stick that matches the new one you have, and sell the two 512s.
>>
> Perhaps, but it's only HL-2 having this problem so far. No issues with
> Madden 06, Ravenshield, Flatout or UT 2004 as yet.
>
Then don't add Doom3 or IL2 FB/Aces/PF to that. They do crash on me with
the memory problems. M$ knowledge base will tell you that error is hardware
memory problems and they provide a way to test your ram. But that test
won't push on the timing needs of the ram as imposed by the game.
With 2 ea 1g dimms, matched, I don't have any memory related problems with
these games or anything else. With 2 pairs (each pair is matched, but not
all 4) I do have the problem with some games, not all. And nothing 2D has a
bit of trouble with the ram. Some of the games will push your system to its
limits in some areas. HL2 will use every erg of ram it can. HL2 is very
much a CPU/RAM intensive game. I've found HL2 and Doom3 to be useful
testbeds for new rigs. If you have a hardware problem, they will be very
likely to flush it out
McG.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

> for some things, the memory as installed will be fine, but for the high
> performance stuff like games, little niggles and incompatibilities can be
> problematic.
> I have a P4 rig with 2 gigs of ram, all PC3200. But, they're two pairs of
> not quite perfectly matched DIMMS with slight speed differences even
> though they're rated the same.
> I get crashes with hl2 and hl2dm now. Same rig with only 1 gig (either
> pair of 512 meg dimms) and all is fine. Yes, the ram is seen by the BIOS
> and this runs in dual channel.
>
> The new X2 rig with 2 x 1g dimms, pc3200, no crashes like that at all.
> But they're perfectly matched brand, speed, even from the same batch.
>
> If you use Everest Home ver 220 you will be able to see the details of the
> rams specs in the SPD info of the ram modules. you can then see what the
> differences are.
>
> Sorry this isn't being very helpful to you. But at least you can be more
> informed.
> McG.

Thanks. It's very helpful , actually.
Even if I change the 2 x 512 modules for another 1 GB of the same
stuff(PC3200 btw), the issues may still be there. I think I'll stick with
what I've got and just remove the 1GB for HL-2 sessions until I get other
problems with different games. Doom 3 won't be an issue I absolutely
hated it.
Cheers.