HELP!! have i damaged my ram?

bowdagger

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Jan 20, 2009
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Hey i have the Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 2x2GB Kit and a Gigabyte EP45 UD3P mobo and i'm having some frustrating issues. The ram defaults to 2.1v and 5-5-5-15 and was that way for weeks, but then i attempted to overclock it and it failed to boot a few times.

Now the memory will only run at 5-7-7-24, much slower than it's suppose to. When i go into my bios and attempt to set it back to 5-5-5-15 with 2.1v like it should be able to, it won't boot. Sometimes it'll start to post and hang, one time it got to windows and BSOD, other times not even as far as post.

I've tried reseting my bios (taking battery out and back in)
reinstalling my old bios (i had updated from f8f to f8 when i tried overclocking)
and letting it just sit for a few hours and trying again

nothing works.

have i damaged my ram? am i stuck with it at this slower timing and instability?
 

bowdagger

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bump

I ran memtest and it got through all the tests without any errors, but i left it going and it started the tests again, on the second time of running through all the tests it started getting errors around test 6 and got them all the way through 8. On the third it was getting them right from test 2.

what does this mean? it got through all the initial test with no errors, only started on the second time...is my ram damaged?
 

Zorg

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May 31, 2004
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If you don't need the higher speed for your OC (more that 1600FSB) keep it at 800 not 1066 and set the timings and voltages to those found in the SPD tab of CPU-Z. Also, be sure to set the RAM to manual and set the multiplier when you OC so not to accidentally OC the RAM beyond it's spec.

The C2Ds and C2Qs show minimal to no gain in real world apps at the higher speed. They won't run as hot and will last longer.

 

bowdagger

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Well I didn't actually change any voltages or timings, i went into this bios and changed the multiplier a step higher so instead of 1066 it was 1333. Everything else was left on auto like it's always been. I've been told by several people that if the ram is bad it isn't my fault since i didn't change any voltages.
 

Zorg

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If you changed the memory multiplier on 1066 RAM from 1066 to 1333 you could have damaged the RAM. I'm not saying you did, but you could have.

Run Memtest86+ and then send the RAM back if it fails.

Learn what you are doing before you take out more components.
 

bowdagger

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I already ran memtest, it got through one pass with no erros, then on the second pass started getting tons of errors, up into the hundreds. guess it's time to RMA.
 

Zorg

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Right, you said that above, duh. Send it back for replacement. I would say you can run it at DDR2 800 because the speeds don't make much difference with core 2, but it's probably on it's way out the door. You could do that to get some more life out of it though. Be sure to run memtest86+ over night to confirm it is stable at 800.
 

bowdagger

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I'm just going to RMA it, a pain but it's better than using deteriorating ram that will probably just die in time anyway. last time i try to overclock ram...