As many of you might or might not know, I have been in the process of putting together a new computer. I have been experiencing some strange problems and I thought I'd ask my far more knowledgeable forum-mates.
I got the DFI Nf4 Ultra D, 1 gig of OCZ VX and a Winchester 3200 with a Zalman 7000Cu. For all of this setup, I had to BIOS at the default configuration (ie. no overclocking/settings changes).
Physical installation went fine. 1st bootup went alright.. then things went downhill. Sometimes it would post, other times not. Sometimes the bios would finish running, sometimes not. Sometimes it would scan the boot devices, other times it would fail and restart the computer.
I had the newest Bios for the DFI on a disc and went to install it. When the computer restarted, I got a bad BIOS checksum. I was able to, after much headache and multiple restarts, restore the original one (1/25/2005). But things were not all well.
I then went to try my windows install disc and I got an error even before it could use the basic Gui (you know where it loads the device drivers). Basically, I knew I had a problem.
I then pulled up memtest (after several reboots in order to get the bios to run properly).
My first stick grabbed 3 errors on the first 7 tests. The second one hit over 10000 after less than a minute.
So... my questions are:
1. Should I RMA the 3 error stick as well as the 'broken' one?
2. Could these memory errors have caused the BIOS
(a) flashing problem
(b) constistent startup problem
I have two other computers (Socket A, Barton) in the household that use DDR memory. I'm going to try memtest on one of those just to make sure there isn't a problem with the memory controller. I also am considering trying the memory from that computer on the 'problem system' (939) to see if I can isolate the memory.
3. Is there any risk that my motherboard could fry my roommate's memory? (I know it's not likely)
Btw.. my 3200 seems to Idle about 32-34 degrees... is that okay or did I do a poor job on my Arctic Silver 3 application? ;-)
Thanks for any advice/information you have!
I got the DFI Nf4 Ultra D, 1 gig of OCZ VX and a Winchester 3200 with a Zalman 7000Cu. For all of this setup, I had to BIOS at the default configuration (ie. no overclocking/settings changes).
Physical installation went fine. 1st bootup went alright.. then things went downhill. Sometimes it would post, other times not. Sometimes the bios would finish running, sometimes not. Sometimes it would scan the boot devices, other times it would fail and restart the computer.
I had the newest Bios for the DFI on a disc and went to install it. When the computer restarted, I got a bad BIOS checksum. I was able to, after much headache and multiple restarts, restore the original one (1/25/2005). But things were not all well.
I then went to try my windows install disc and I got an error even before it could use the basic Gui (you know where it loads the device drivers). Basically, I knew I had a problem.
I then pulled up memtest (after several reboots in order to get the bios to run properly).
My first stick grabbed 3 errors on the first 7 tests. The second one hit over 10000 after less than a minute.
So... my questions are:
1. Should I RMA the 3 error stick as well as the 'broken' one?
2. Could these memory errors have caused the BIOS
(a) flashing problem
(b) constistent startup problem
I have two other computers (Socket A, Barton) in the household that use DDR memory. I'm going to try memtest on one of those just to make sure there isn't a problem with the memory controller. I also am considering trying the memory from that computer on the 'problem system' (939) to see if I can isolate the memory.
3. Is there any risk that my motherboard could fry my roommate's memory? (I know it's not likely)
Btw.. my 3200 seems to Idle about 32-34 degrees... is that okay or did I do a poor job on my Arctic Silver 3 application? ;-)
Thanks for any advice/information you have!