Dual DDR causing Serious problem!

Talos

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Sep 26, 2001
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Hello everyone!
After 6 months i felt like upgrading, nothing much, 1 memory module 512MB for running my system in Dual DDR. The memory is exactly the same like the one i had allready installed (same chip, everything). Never had any stabillity issues!
After the installation everything seemed fine, windows loads up fine, lot's of benchmarks to check out the performance-nth much the usual 3%.BUT, wanted to try it during gameplay, well after a few minutes of playing HALO, i could see a sudden blue screen of death and the system restarted. Call of Duty couldn't save a game properly (wasn't getting the usual titles for every stage, just some EXE_stuff). I believed it had to do with those games since all my benchmarks run flawlessly (10 times repeat tests in 3DMark2001 and 2003).
The problem was not only there, while connected to the Internet the Explorer took a long time to open. The mouse buttons didn't have any effect on the taskbar icons and the Task manager showed a CPU usage of 100%. Every time the PC restarted after all these, i was getting the encounter error message from Windows XP about a Mini062404-01.dmp file and a sysdata.xml file all the time.
What can be causing this behaviour?Before i install the second memory module i never had any problem at all with my system. Could it be the PS? Would it help if i uninstalled the SP1? A BIOS setting? I would really need any advice, help on this, since it's really frustrating.
Any feedback on this would be really appreciated!

Abit NF7-S rev2.0 (nForce2-Ultra400)-(3.66 Nvidia drivers)
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (12x166)
1GB-> 2X512MB Kingston RAM PC-3200 (DDR333)
Club3D Ati Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (3,9 Catalyst)
Seagate Baracuda IV 60GB 7200Rpm-2MB Cache/Sata Connected Sil3112A-Serillel Adapter
Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 1
 

Cybercraig

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Go into BIOS and set your timings manually and raise your VDIMM .1 or so. If all else fails try a repair install of the O/S. I doubt your power supply was driven over the edge by the addition of one stick of ram, but it will draw more power off of the 3.3v rail.

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!
 

Talos

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Sep 26, 2001
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Hi again!
Ok, now i'm really confused here, so any help would be much appreciated!!
Last night, in order to see if it's hardware related, i tried Prime95 torture test for over 4,5 hours without any problems-all tests passed. Same thing with MemTest 86 (v3.1), run 1 test standard and 1 test ALL with no errors at all-over 5 hours. So it's a software thing i believed.
Today morning, started Memtest 86 again and guess what, i was getting error every time on Test #4 (Memory Sizing)!!!Now, is this bad memory or something else is really wrong?
By the Way, i always shut down the power supply to my PC when it's off. Now when the system is cold booted, the BIOS can't find the SATA connected Hard Drive-i must restart in order to work!Can this be related somehow?
I've really lost this one, i can't find out what is going on!I could use any advise-help!

Abit NF7-S rev2.0 (nForce2-Ultra400)-(3.66 Nvidia drivers)
AMD Athlon XP 2400+@2600+ (12,5x166)
1GB-> 2X512MB Kingston RAM PC-3200 (DDR333)
Club3D Ati Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (3,9 Catalyst)
Seagate Baracuda IV 60GB 7200Rpm-2MB Cache/Sata Connected Sil3112A-Serillel Adapter
Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 1
 

jammydodger

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Downloading the newest BIOS from <A HREF="http://www.abit.com.tw" target="_new">http://www.abit.com.tw</A> should fix the SATA prob you are experiencing (unless you already have the latest BIOS of course).
Why are you using a PATA to SATA converter? Do you not have enough PATA ports?

What power supply are you using just out of interest?

<font color=blue>I have far too much time on my hands</font color=blue>
 

Talos

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Sep 26, 2001
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Jammydodger, thanks for the quick reply!
Actually i have still the BIOS that came with my motherboard. I didn't update it ever, since the machine was working fine! The Abit NF7-S has a Serillel Adapter that you can connect a usual ide hard drive to SATA Sil3112A controller that comes with the motherboard (2 SATA connectors).
About the Power Supply, i had a 250W before in my machine never had stabillity problems at all (and i do lot's of gaming), although the 3.3V rail indicator was playing a lot (ABIT-EQ)! After installing the second memory module i got this problem so i installed a 350W power supply (in case the 250W was on it limits) didn't help, i'm still having the same problems!

Abit NF7-S rev2.0 (nForce2-Ultra400)-(3.66 Nvidia drivers)
AMD Athlon XP 2400+@2600+ (12,5x166)
1GB-> 2X512MB Kingston RAM PC-3200 (DDR333)
Club3D Ati Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (3,9 Catalyst)
Seagate Baracuda IV 60GB 7200Rpm-2MB Cache/Sata Connected Sil3112A-Serillel Adapter
Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 1
 

jammydodger

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Sep 12, 2001
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Well if you connect your hard drive to the PATA controller it will get rid of the problem you have been experiencing with the hard disk. It wont be any slower either.

I cant really help you on the RAM problem though, do you have any probs running in single channel mode?

<font color=blue>I have far too much time on my hands</font color=blue>