RAM sticks not compatible with the Mobo?

[tju2an]

Hello again!


After several months of troubleshooting why my system sometimes reboots, I followed a reply someone posted to a previous thread, telling me that if Memtest86 is resulting in a single problem at all, I should return them to the author or contact the manufacturer. I did so, and called the store where I bought both the Mobo and the RAM sticks, and they simply gave me the answer that there's nothing wrong with the sticks, they're just not compatible with the Mobo I've bought. My current mobo is a P5Q3 and I am using a Corsair Kit 2x2Gb. First, I didn't believe him, and I checked up in the Mobo Manual and found my RAMkit in a list under "Motherboard Qualified Vendors List(QVL)". They are called TW3X4G1333C9DHX. I called him back and said I found them in the list in the manual. He explained to me that the Version of my sticks ain't compatible with my Mobo. He told me to take out a stick from the computer and tell him the Version written on the stick. "Ver 2.1". He said I shall return the sticks to him, and he'll give me a new pair for free, but is he speaking the truth? That's what I'm asking myself, and now I ask you. He said I have to use a version called 8.1 or 1.2(not sure about this one). Why didn't they give me a pair of working sticks as I bought them? And if I get these new sticks, am I only to just install them and run immediately? Plug&Play? And is there anything else I should think about for the next visit at the store?



Also another thing, I am studying computer systems now, I would be please if you gave some easy explanation of what to buy and what to think about before choosing




Thanks a lot for saving me time and for sharing your wisdom !

Regards
//Filip

 

[tju2an]

Also, I forgot to tell you, the settings in BIOS is as the sticks are to run with, except for the Volatge. 9-9-9-24, 1333MHz and the DRAM voltage, which I currently have to run at 1.9V to prevent the system from constantly freeze.

I also get several Blue screens(BSoD's, but they only appear for a few seconds, I can never memorize what the test is saying.

 

[GhislainG]

Read the post from Derek T. at http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=72049 to see if it helps. 1.9V is very high for DDR3 modules.

 

[tju2an]

Thanks GhislainG!

I set up my BIOS almost exactly as he wrote, except for some changes I was unable to either see/set.

I also ran memtest 86 for 2 passes and I made it without any problems. The system still reboots now and then, what could I possibly do now? Any ideas?

Thanks alot! All answers appeciated

 

[GhislainG]

Does it reboot because of a system crash? Check the Event Viewer after the system reboots as it could contain valuable info. It could be caused by several things: flaky PSU, a defective or overheating motherboard, a driver, etc. Under System Properties, Advanced, you could uncheck "Automatically restart" to display the BSOD info.

 

[tju2an]

Thanks for the reply!

I don't thinks it's because of the PSU, I've tried two different but it none solved the problem.

The Mobo is new aswell, and the temp on the Mobo has never went over 35Degress while idling. The cooling system is great.

It might be a driver, but then it has to be one of the hardware drivers, since I've reformatted the system plenty of times, and just installed the included drivers for hardware, but the reboots still occur.

I've turned of Automatically Restart everytime I've reformatted the System, but the reboots still occur without any Warning before.

Theese restarts seem to be hardly solved.
My current hope is that the store will give me new sticks that work with my systems. Otherwise, I have no idea what to do. Everything I know is tried, and I will gladly follow any way to solve this, without changin RAM sticks if possible.


Thanks for all replies and thanks for taking time!

 

[GhislainG]

I'll admit that solving intermittent issues is difficult. May I ask why you chose the P5Q3 instead of the better and more stable P5Q Deluxe? Because you wanted to use DDR3 memory?

 

[tju2an]

That's correct. I wanted to try out DDR3, and that's why I bought the P5Q3. Will I need to upgrade to another mobo?

 

[tju2an]

Just a note, might this problem be caused by any environmental thing? The system is currently standing right next to a window, which almost always is open. After setting up the BIOS systemspecs as GhislainG linked a page about, I havn't tried it in another location, but before doing so, the system placed in a clean room-temperatured area.

Should I try troubleshooting in any order? Like pulling one memory stick, run in safemode, trying another GPU and such?

Thanks once again

 

[GhislainG]

You don't need to upgrade, but you like debugging more than the average person. Bad power could cause such issues, but a top tier PSU should be able to handle that. If you are using some cheap PSU, that's where I'd start.

 

[tju2an]

Thanks for the reply!

The power is brobably not the problem. First I used a PSU with not enough Ampere output for the GPU, but had 600W. I bought a new PSU, 800W with enough Ampere for the gpu. It cost 1000SEK, and one dollar today is worth about 7SEK. I got no exact number, so the price in Dollar is hard to tell.

The PSU is a Tagan 800W. I think it's certified by nVidia aswell. (note that it isn't the very colorful one on Newegg's site.

Any other idea?

Thanks for all replies, much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[tju2an]

I found a, for me, very interesting thing.

I closed the window, increased the voltage on DRAM's to 1.84V and started Prime95 again. This time, the computer did NOT restart, instead it gave me an errormessage:
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4.

Two of the workers gave a result with many decimals, but I don't think every number is very important.
4.49414625 was those numbers.

In the stress.txt included in the prime95 package, they clearly wrote that a non-clocked system was harder to troubleshoot. Either the CPU that was too hot, a bad PSU that drops on Voltageoutput during Prime95 or Ram DIMM problems. The theory of changing the RAMs still is then.

Also, as in a link GhislainG posted, Derek T on the Corsair support forums posted a BIOS setup, is this setup a overclocking setup? If so the stress.txt file also recommends increasement of the Core Voltage, reduced CPU speed, reduced FSB speed or another memory change(CAS Latency).


Thanks once again for all replies, and thanks for your time!
Thanks

 

[GhislainG]

You'll have to play with voltages until you get a stable system. That's the fun part of using newer technology. Just be cautious not to use voltages high enough to burn your RAM, CPU or Northbridge.

 

[tju2an]

Thanks for your reply!

I've walked the road a bit further I think now.

I started prime95 once again, started it and monitored the Core temps in a program called CoreTemp32, and they never went above 55degrees Celsius. One worker stopped and gave the same result as before.

Suddely a bluescreen came up, this time I was able to write the code down. In the text, a changement of GPU was also a thing you could try.
The code for the Technical Problem(Directly translated from swedish) was:
*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC8054A733, 0xB5B38C48, 0x00000000)

Any ideas?

thanks for all replies!
Thanks

 

[tju2an]

I read up on Microsofts webpage, and they mentioned an upgrade of the Service Pack might solve this type of problem( Since I havn't upgraded the SP since the last reformation ).

I'll try this out and I'll report the result as soon as possible


Thanks once again

 

[tju2an]

Latest info;

Upgraded to SP3, and no reboot/restarts has occured so far.

Although, Prime95 still stops and the results is as before. Posting the log with this message.

[Sun Oct 18 22:10:19 2009]
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.49609375, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.

Thanks once again!

 

[GhislainG]

You could increase or decrease RAM voltage in small steps to see if it helps, but don't go over 1.8V (they are rated for 1.7V). You could also try them at 1066 MHz to make sure they are stable at a lower frequency and go from there. If your dealer offers to replace them with better modules, then go for it.

 

[tju2an]

Thanks for the reply!

Yes, they've offered another Version of the sticks.
They also recommended to update for the latest Moboversion, which was released this month. I'll try that, and meanwhile I'm trying it, the store will be troubleshooting and contacting the Deliverer for another kit of working sticks.

Thanks alot for all help, may the light shine upon you
Thanks!
//Filip

 

[tju2an]

This is the last post, the new Ram sticks works just fine. Everything is left on Auto in the BIOS settings. Changed from ver. 2.1 to 3.2, and this solved the problem fully. Ran two tests with memtest86 and no errors occured, and no random restarts during the last 72 houres of usage. Thanks for all replies!





Good luck out there

regards
//Filip