G7-NNXP - ECC memory

[Pete]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

Hi folks - have happily has Kingston Value RAM working on my mobo for over
a year. A pair of 256meg strips - Non ECC - KVR400AK2/512R. I have just
decided to up the memory to a gig and have bought what I thought to be one
strip of Kingston Value RAM 512meg Non ECC. What it turns out to be is
512meg of ECC - KVR400X72C3A/512 - rather than Non ECC and having installed
it in the mobo, all sorts of odd things have started to happen. The most
notable of which is that the PC drops into standby mode - something it has
never done before. SiSoft Sandra says that the only differences in the spec
of these strips (other than size) is that the 512megs is ECC.

My questions are -

1) is the memory just plain faulty or
2) is it just that ECC memory will not work in this mobo or
3) is it that I just can't mix Non ECC and ECC?

Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Pete

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

> 1) is the memory just plain faulty or

You can test this out yourself -- see http://www.memtest86.com/


> 2) is it just that ECC memory will not work in this mobo or

That's a distinct possibility, but to be honest, I don't know for sure.
(I'm not familiar with your mobo model.) The best way to find out is to
check the manual that came with your mobo.


> 3) is it that I just can't mix Non ECC and ECC?

It used to be the case (well, at least it was 8 years ago when I bought
my first -- and only -- ECC-capable board) that the mobo would support a
mixture of ECC and non-ECC RAM. However, if you used a mixture of the
two types, then the board would disable ECC support.

I think that your best bet would be to test it out (with memtest86) and
establish if the RAM is faulty. As part of the process, you might also
need to adjust (in the BIOS) the memory timings, increase the memory
voltage, or reduce overclocking speeds to make things stable.

If the RAM turns out to be faulty, it shouldn't be too hard to return it
and buy a cheaper non-ECC version.


Kris

 

[Pete]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

Pete <pete@you.com> wrote in
news:Xns9634E7940F58Fpeteyoucom@63.223.5.250:

> Hi folks - have happily has Kingston Value RAM working on my mobo for
> over a year. A pair of 256meg strips - Non ECC - KVR400AK2/512R. I
> have just decided to up the memory to a gig and have bought what I
> thought to be one strip of Kingston Value RAM 512meg Non ECC. What it
> turns out to be is 512meg of ECC - KVR400X72C3A/512 - rather than Non
> ECC and having installed it in the mobo, all sorts of odd things have
> started to happen. The most notable of which is that the PC drops into
> standby mode - something it has never done before. SiSoft Sandra says
> that the only differences in the spec of these strips (other than
> size) is that the 512megs is ECC.
>
> My questions are -
>
> 1) is the memory just plain faulty or
> 2) is it just that ECC memory will not work in this mobo or
> 3) is it that I just can't mix Non ECC and ECC?
>
> Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Pete
>


Thanks for the comments and suggestions and here is some information that
I forgot to include in my posting!

The board is in fact a GA7-NNXP and it is not overclocked in any way. ;(

I have always intended to overclock but have never managed to make the
time to do so. So everything is just as delivered and the system, until I
dropped in the extra 1/2gig, has been 100% stable.

The BIOS is the latest one = Award F20.

Any further thoughts gratefully received.

Thanks again

Pete

 

[Tim]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

In addition:

Check your bios settings and version.
If the bios is old, stabilise your system before updating it - remove the
new RAM as a precaution if needed. Do not update the bios in windows or if
the system is unstable.

- Tim



"Pete" <pete@you.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9634E7940F58Fpeteyoucom@63.223.5.250...
> Hi folks - have happily has Kingston Value RAM working on my mobo for over
> a year. A pair of 256meg strips - Non ECC - KVR400AK2/512R. I have just
> decided to up the memory to a gig and have bought what I thought to be one
> strip of Kingston Value RAM 512meg Non ECC. What it turns out to be is
> 512meg of ECC - KVR400X72C3A/512 - rather than Non ECC and having
> installed
> it in the mobo, all sorts of odd things have started to happen. The most
> notable of which is that the PC drops into standby mode - something it has
> never done before. SiSoft Sandra says that the only differences in the
> spec
> of these strips (other than size) is that the 512megs is ECC.
>
> My questions are -
>
> 1) is the memory just plain faulty or
> 2) is it just that ECC memory will not work in this mobo or
> 3) is it that I just can't mix Non ECC and ECC?
>
> Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Pete
>