Ram or power supply

[Marsumane]

First off, the needed info:

System:
Mobos: DFI INFINITY P965-S LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Ram: Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR800D2K2/2GR - Retail
CPU: Intel Dual-Core E2140 Allendale 1.6GHz LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E2140 - Retail
PSU: Antec earthwatts EA500 ATX12V v2.0 500W Power Supply - Retail
Also another Antec PSU was used. Approx 4 yrs old. 350W.
GPU: XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT XXX 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail


Here is what I have done. Initially, I ordered the abit mobo w/ the new psu, and everything else that was stated above. I barely got it to boot once. First time to be exact. I went into bios, cpu temps were in the 30s so I was happy and i then restarted. It did the typical double reboot then went to install windows. I decided to move it upstairs and never got the tower to boot again. Removed it from the tower, set it up with bare minimals (ram, cpu, mobo, psu, video). 1 stick of ram in slot 4, had the power plugged in all 3 places, reset bios a billion times, tried the other stick in slot 4 as well as the other slots, tried the spare cpu, nothing helped. Same double reboot with no video ever again.

I decided that the ram may have an issue with the mobo or the mobo may just be defective. In any case, being that I had 2 sticks of ram, tried a diff psu, and the computer locked but I saw accurate video so I was assuming that the mobo or that compatibility with the kingston ram was an issue. So, I ordered a new motherboard, different chipset to rule that item out and was quite sure this would fix my problem.

Turns out that the next bare setup booted. It booted every time with stick of ram A in slots 4 and 3 but would lock up before i could get into bios to change the voltage. Either of the other two slots would not boot, nor would stick B in either of the 4 slots. Stick B wouldnt even do the double boot. Fans would spin as normal, no video, etc (as the last mobo would do). So now i'm left staring at the ram. It must be because I would keep repeating the pattern of ram/slot combos for over two hours. I mean the psu could in fact be to blame but the mere fact that the spare psu would return the same result on the first mobo makes me think that I actually have 2 sticks of bad Kingston ram. (Note I also reset the bios for this system as well. Battery and switch, twice)

Other things I noticed: Tearing. Just as when I would oc my ram in my last system past what it could do, I would notice tearing on the boot screen when it would lock. It would also cause the blur effect that bad ram also typically has caused in the past. It would often lock on the ram check part or just shortly after.

I still vote the ram. Obviously based on the patterns that the ram is displaying it is a power issue with the ram, but as we know power is supplied by the psu and maybe theres a chance that they both aren't as stable as I am thinking they may be. My first idea is to get a stick of my friend's ram this Friday and see if i can mess with the voltages and try my ram again. Also he may have a spare psu. Im not sure. Any other ideas or guesses?

 

[humanure]

have you run memtest86 yet? It would be strange to have 2 bad sticks, but it is worth testing, although I would lean towards the psu or motherboard.

 

[Marsumane]

I cant even get into bios to change memory settings. It is that unstable And yea as I said I have tried two new motherboards and thats why im looking at the ram although 2 new sticks of kingston not working in two higher quality boards is still far fetched

 

[humanure]

have you checked for something shorting the board from underneath?

 

[Marsumane]

Yup. Thats y i removed it from the case eniterly. It was built and troubleshot on the motherboard's box right after I noticed that it had initially been giving me issues. I think I may just order myself some of that corsair ram on newegg and return the kingston. Just these restocking fees are going to kill me financially. /sigh

 

[TemjinGold]

Here is what I have done. Initially, I ordered the abit mobo w/ the new psu, and everything else that was stated above. I barely got it to boot once. First time to be exact. I went into bios, cpu temps were in the 30s so I was happy and i then restarted. It did the typical double reboot then went to install windows. I decided to move it upstairs and never got the tower to boot again.

Have you tried moving it back downstairs?

 

[Err0r404]

Other things I noticed: Tearing. Just as when I would oc my ram in my last system past what it could do, I would notice tearing on the boot screen when it would lock. It would also cause the blur effect that bad ram also typically has caused in the past. It would often lock on the ram check part or just shortly after.

< above is due to ram CAS timing issues. i have had that happen numerously as an OC'er myself.


Read all instructions plz.

1. Reset your cmos and try load fail safe settings in bios if you can get into it.

2. Try using only 1... (or 2 sticks or ram if you'r motherboard manual states but no more than 2 slots.) (reason = board is running default ram voltage at 1.8v, and if you don't have a good PSU, it can't boot up 2.1v DDR2 Ram, especially if you use all 4 slots)

You said you tried 1 stick of ram in slot 4, what's in slot 1-3?

look carefully into your mother board manual, it may state something like "you must use Slot 1 and 3 for two sticks of ram A and B", and make sure no pins have been damaged or dust in the ram slot. I once fried my ram that way

3. if you can get into bios, relax your RAM CAS Timing and make sure your clock multiplier for cpu is set to default first. I'd try 5-5-5-5-15 or losen the timing even more just so you can get it boot first and make sure you take it out the "AUTO setting" of Ram to Bus ratio and put it on something like 2:2 ratio. (i don't know about DFI board but as i recall in Abit P35, you can enable secret memory timing options with Alt+F1)

4. what type of cooling are you using for your cpu? Retail stock fan?
if so, make sure you try the first boot after giving sometime to cool off, numerious reboot with hot cpu = will only lock up on subsequence reboots anyway.

most likely it's your bios setting issues, either your are over clocked something too much and your machine is locking up before you can reset it. so your problem can be sloved as soon as you can get into bios. good luck.