- Jan 19, 2009
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The current system:
AMD Opteron 170 Stock
Abit KM8-Ultra (socket 939 latest revision and flash)
Corsair XMS3200 Cas2 4x256MB 2-3-3-6
nV 7800GTX
Windows 7 Beta 64-bit[/list]
The RAM
I bought this ram from eBay and it arrived today. I was running Crucial 2x256 Cas3 low-end ram and 1x Generic 512mb cas3 ram, total of1GB. I felt it was fine to bump that up to a 2GB kit. I went for the Cas2 dual channel setup to push this system as far as It'll go. However, I can't get it to POST consistently and it's flaky if it does.
First of all, When I install 3 of the 4 ramsticks, any 3 in any 3 slots, the system POSTS fine, detects them at SPD (cas3, 3-3-3-8) and it's hit or miss whether Windows will boot. Sometimes it'll return "the header checksum does not match the file cheksum" or some other random errors. Sometimes it'll bluescreen with page_faults. Sometimes, halts on the POST itself.
When the 4th ramstick is installed, the system will refuse to POST 99% of the time. I've changed out the sticks to verify that they all do that, and they do. No matter what 4th slot is open, the system POSTS and may or may not boot into windows, and if the 4th stick is put in, it fails to POST at all.
I've read on Corsair's website that SPD is set to 3 for maximum compatibility across systems, but on AMD systems, this kit should run 2.5-3-3-8 just fine. It's also noted that the RAM is rated at 2.75V, up from the default 2.6V DDR400 standard.
My Attempts
I've changed out the RAM sticks as noted above to verify that all sticks are identical in response. I believe it's a motherboard issue at this point rather than ram.
I DID get the system to post with all four sticks in, only to have it revert to DDR333, 2T Dual Channel 128-bit CAS:2. But it wouldn't get into Windows at all.
With 3 sticks in (1.5GB), the system will post. I attempted to bump the voltage up to 2.7V (The system doesn't do 2.75, either 2.7 or 2.8V is available) but this did not help and seemed to introduce even more crashing.
I threw in my old RAM again and the system is rock stable.
What do I do at this point? Is the KM8-ultra doing something funny? Is it a power issue? The ram was apparently running and working when shipped to me, securely packaged and safe from bumps etc. I haven't had much luck with ram ever, and this is yet another problem that I can't seem to get my hands on.
Where do I go from here? Thanks!
AMD Opteron 170 Stock
Abit KM8-Ultra (socket 939 latest revision and flash)
Corsair XMS3200 Cas2 4x256MB 2-3-3-6
nV 7800GTX
Windows 7 Beta 64-bit[/list]
The RAM
I bought this ram from eBay and it arrived today. I was running Crucial 2x256 Cas3 low-end ram and 1x Generic 512mb cas3 ram, total of1GB. I felt it was fine to bump that up to a 2GB kit. I went for the Cas2 dual channel setup to push this system as far as It'll go. However, I can't get it to POST consistently and it's flaky if it does.
First of all, When I install 3 of the 4 ramsticks, any 3 in any 3 slots, the system POSTS fine, detects them at SPD (cas3, 3-3-3-8) and it's hit or miss whether Windows will boot. Sometimes it'll return "the header checksum does not match the file cheksum" or some other random errors. Sometimes it'll bluescreen with page_faults. Sometimes, halts on the POST itself.
When the 4th ramstick is installed, the system will refuse to POST 99% of the time. I've changed out the sticks to verify that they all do that, and they do. No matter what 4th slot is open, the system POSTS and may or may not boot into windows, and if the 4th stick is put in, it fails to POST at all.
I've read on Corsair's website that SPD is set to 3 for maximum compatibility across systems, but on AMD systems, this kit should run 2.5-3-3-8 just fine. It's also noted that the RAM is rated at 2.75V, up from the default 2.6V DDR400 standard.
My Attempts
I've changed out the RAM sticks as noted above to verify that all sticks are identical in response. I believe it's a motherboard issue at this point rather than ram.
I DID get the system to post with all four sticks in, only to have it revert to DDR333, 2T Dual Channel 128-bit CAS:2. But it wouldn't get into Windows at all.
With 3 sticks in (1.5GB), the system will post. I attempted to bump the voltage up to 2.7V (The system doesn't do 2.75, either 2.7 or 2.8V is available) but this did not help and seemed to introduce even more crashing.
I threw in my old RAM again and the system is rock stable.
What do I do at this point? Is the KM8-ultra doing something funny? Is it a power issue? The ram was apparently running and working when shipped to me, securely packaged and safe from bumps etc. I haven't had much luck with ram ever, and this is yet another problem that I can't seem to get my hands on.
Where do I go from here? Thanks!