Need lots of help here

[Timboy]

I recently bought a new computer, and to begin with I had huge problems to install WinXP (BSOD). Finally I got it working when I only used one stick of memory and disabled caching and shadowing etc in BIOS.

When XP was running I switched everything back to normal with two memorys installed. Now the computer crashes (reboots) every now and then. When I benchmarked the memory in SiSoft Sandra the computer crashed immediately.

I tried removing one stick of memory at a time trying to figure out if one of them is defect but my conclusion is as follows:

With 1 bank of memory installed (doesn't seem to mather wich one of the RAMs or banks i use) the computer is fairly stable but reboots sometimes. Memory benchmark in Sandra is no problem.

With 2 banks of memory the computer is impossible to work with. Sometimes it even crashes before Windows is loaded. Memory benchmarks causes the system to crash as well.

Please help! I'm going crazy on this. What can I do? Is the problem related to the memory or something else in my system? Temperature or voltages? I have no hang of this so I include the information I get running USDM:

Cpu temp: 65 C
Vcore: 1.74 V
+3.3V: 3.18V
Sys temp: 35 C
+5V: 4.948
+12V:12.281
Vdimm: 2.576

Are this values acceptable?

My configuration:
------------------------
Epox 8K3AE motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2100+ Palomino
Standard 256Mb DDR PC2700/DDR333 184pin 333MHz cas2.5
IBM Deskstar 120GXP 60Gb
Lite-On DVD
Lite-On CD-writer
Point Of View GeForce4 Ti4200 XP "Extreme Power"
---------------------------

Help me out guys!

 

[slvr_phoenix]

The CPU temp sounds peachy-keen.

To me it sounded like your power supply was a complete PoS. Spontaneous rebooting of your PC is probably 90% of the time (if not more) due to a bad (or insufficient) power supply.

And then you go and say that your your +3.3V rail is down to 3.18V and your +5V rail is down to 4.948V and you aren't even running it under a load yet. Geeze! Even if you <i>can</i> get away with undervolting parts in your PC, you really shouldn't as it can shorten their lifespan. It seems <b>really obvious</b> that you have some a power deficiency. Fix that first by buying a decent brand-name power supply with a good 350W rating or higher and <i>then</i> see if your system is unstable.

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[CMRvet]

Fully agree with S.P. about the Power Supply. Althogh the 5.0V line looks not very low, the 3.3V line is really bad.

BTW, those 65ºC for the CPU temp don't look very nice.



<b>(<font color=yellow>as good as it looks</font color=yellow>)</b>

 

[CMRvet]

What brand and wattage is your Power Supply?

<b>(<font color=yellow>as good as it looks</font color=yellow>)</b>

 

[Timboy]

I've read what you say about the power supply and I will get back when I've taken a closer look at it. Thanks for the help!

Today I tried testing the memory with Memtest86 and it reports loads of error when using both memorys. Using one memory bank doesn't create errors. Strange. I also tested the mems on a friends computer (similiar AMD Athlon XP system) with the result of no errors what so ever! So it seems that I can exclude the idea of defect memory.

Can a poor power supply really make these errors that showed up during the memtest? I was thinking of a faulty motherboard?

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Now thats interesting.
Seems your Motherboard doesn't like 2 sticks of memory. Ive seen that problem before: The system is happy with either stick by itself, but timing problems makes it fall over with two.

Its possible that a poor PSU could cauze mem problems, but im having a hard time seeing how exactly.

While your 3.3v line was low, your 5v line seemed ok. *hmmmmm*

Try mixing the sticks & slots around.
Ive heard some people get better results using slots 1 & 3 or 2 & 3 instead of 1 & 2.
Also, i hope you check BOTH sticks by themselves right?

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[Crashman]

I was just working on a system like that. Funny thing, it was perfectly stable in Memtest86, but in Windows NT it would lock while installing a program. Remove one stick it was fine. Voltages were perfect. Tried the fastest timing for memtest, no problems, tried the slowest in windows, problem still existed. But it used a very cheap motherboard with VIA chipset.

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