Adding memory

I currently have 256mb ram (ddr 333) and i bought another 256 stick to
boost it to 512, but every time i add it, when windows loads it gives
me the blue screen with page fault or some other error, pfn_file_list
corrupt and a memory dump, and it says Windows has been shut down to
prevent damage to your computer.

Do i need to change some settings in the bios or jumpers on the mobo
before adding the second stick of memory?

PS My mobo is a MSI KM4AM-V

I'd check to be sure the new ram is the same specs as the old and be sure
it's a recommended make and model with MSI. Be sure the voltage is set
correctly in bios Here are the MSI specs. Main Memory . Supports four
memory banks by using two 184-pin DDR DIMMs
. Support upto 2GB of DDR200/266/333/400 DDR SDRAM.
. Supports 2.5v DDR SDRAM DIMM
Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system
configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron
Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the
motherboard) such as DDR voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please
confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better
system stability.
Example: Kingston HyperX DDR500 PC4000 operates at 2.65V, 3-4-4-8, CL=3.
For more information about specification of high performance memory modules,
please check with your Memory Manufactures for more details.
"harrydaomin" <xchaotix@hotmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:42981e3e$3_4@alt.athenanews.com...
>I currently have 256mb ram (ddr 333) and i bought another 256 stick to
> boost it to 512, but every time i add it, when windows loads it gives
> me the blue screen with page fault or some other error, pfn_file_list
> corrupt and a memory dump, and it says Windows has been shut down to
> prevent damage to your computer.
>
> Do i need to change some settings in the bios or jumpers on the mobo
> before adding the second stick of memory?
>
> PS My mobo is a MSI KM4AM-V
>

On 28 May 2005 03:31:10 -0400,
xchaotix@hotmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (harrydaomin)
wrote:

>I currently have 256mb ram (ddr 333) and i bought another 256 stick to
>boost it to 512, but every time i add it, when windows loads it gives
>me the blue screen with page fault or some other error, pfn_file_list
>corrupt and a memory dump, and it says Windows has been shut down to
>prevent damage to your computer.
>
>Do i need to change some settings in the bios or jumpers on the mobo
>before adding the second stick of memory?
>
>PS My mobo is a MSI KM4AM-V

Remove the old memory module and test the new one with
http://www.memtest86.com diagnostic floppy for several
hours- or at least until it produces errors if it will.

If there are errors with the new module alone, note whether
the addressses are _ALWAYS_ the same. If they are, odds are
high the module has a physical defect and can't be used at
all.

If the errors are random you might be able to raise the bios
memory voltage- for example from 2.5V up to 2.6 or 2.7V.
You might also be able to adjust the bios memory timings,
relaxing them a bit by choosing larger naumbers.

Also, if the motherboard is set tu use a higher memory bus
frequency than FSB, for example, FSB of DDR333 but memory of
200MHz / DDR400, (Or it might be worded differently like
"+33" asynchronous mode, then set the memory bus speed to
synchronous speed, same DDR333 /166MHz as the FSB.

Check whether a newer motherboard bios update addresses
memory compatibility, and if so, update the bios. It might
help to update bios even if no mention of memory support is
made- IMO, bios updates do not always mention all changes
between revisions.

Google for memory tweaking guides, but keep in mind that
many of them are likely to be tailored towards overclocking
or attaining maximal memory performance through more
aggressive memory timings- you may need do the opposite,
relaixing the memory timings by choosing larger numbers to
gain stabilty of the 2nd module.

IF you paid a few low price for this memory it might be
worth spending the time to get it working, but if this is
normal or higher than average priced memory, you might
consider returing it to seller and trying a different make
and model of memory instead- not just another stick of the
same exact memory unless it can be confirmed that the
original ONLY had the physical defects, which is a less
likely problem, IMO, though still quite possible.

On Sat, 28 May 2005 18:09:22 GMT, kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:

>IF you paid a few low price for this memory it might be
>worth spending the time to get it working, but if this is
>normal or higher than average priced memory, you might
>consider returing it to seller and trying a different make
>and model of memory instead- not just another stick of the
>same exact memory unless it can be confirmed that the
>original ONLY had the physical defects, which is a less
>likely problem, IMO, though still quite possible.


Im having LOTS of memory problems lately.

I just bought another stick of 3200 on sale. Its yet another CL3
stick of 3200 which it seems almost all the newer 3200 stuff on sale
is.

The Kingston I bought I posted about a month or two ago 3200 CL 3 512
at CC showed errors out of the box and never worked w/o errors alone
or paired. I returned that one.

I bought a PNY 3200 CL3 stick 512 again cause of a sale last night.
Same problem but it works OK by itself CL3 3200 at 400. I pair it
with any of the older type of sticks and maybe its not that they are
older but a different type - and I get bizarre results, erratic
results. The older sticks I used to get on sale last year were CL2.5
3200 512 sticks from the same companys - PNY, centon and Kingson.
These worked great in my nforce2 board dual mem mode no problems
mixing and matching and also with my AMD 64 nforce4 board in dual mem
mode. The only problem being that the Kingston developed an error
after a year of use but they replaced. However its not just that they
were older sticks --- the new replacement RMAd stick which is also CL
2.5 they sent me last month works fine too - I can mix and match that
with two other older CL2.5 3200 sticks.

However I put the CL3 PNY with the Kingston and suddenly the Kingston
and the Kingston starts developing errors and dropping to 333. I put
it with the Centon 3200 CL 2.5 I have and it hangs - as soon as it
starts detecting things.

At that point I thought it actually screwed up my other sticks my PC
was acting so screwy even after I reboot with the old sticsk replaced.
I have to often reboot it twice then it settles down. Out of paranoia
I ended up reswapping all the sticks testing them and testing them
with Memtest over and over again with each stick by itself to make
sure nothing was messed up.

So at this point it seems like I cant add any mem unless its CL 2.5 -
and Im only assuming this because both my older 2.5s work togetther
and the new one they sent me to replace it works fine too.

But two of the new CL3 sticks Ive bougt on sale are nothing but
problems. However the PNY did work alone so possibly if I stick to all
CL3 newer sticks I wont have problems.

Also cant add anything over 1 gig. According to the VNF4 manual and
most people are using two sticks in the dual mem slots I see at
reviews - anyway , the manual says avoid filling the slots 1234 ! And
dont use 123 . So I assume I can use 12 & 4 since theres nothing in
it about only using memory in pairs but it gets totally erratic giving
once again errors when I use 12 and 4 though thats probably because I
was mixing CL3 sticks with the CL2.5 sticks as I mentioned. It also
though 1.5 gigs is installed it shows half a gig or 1 stick as being
installed.

Thanks for the replies guys much appreciated. I went into Bios
Advanced Chipset Features, DRAM Clock/Drive Settings and changed the
DRAM clock from Auto to 166MHz and then DRAM Timing to manual and
changed the DRAM CAS Latency (dont have a clue what this actually
means) from 2.5 to 3. There were other settings that it let me
change also but the values were nothing like the numbers u were
suggesting so i just left them as they were.

Booted up and it all worked fine. First time round i noticed
connecting to the internet took a while longer than normal. Usually
it is instantaneous, but on second reboot this was back to normal.
Aside from that been checking the CPU temp to make sure it isnt
overheating and its all working fine, once again thanks for helping.

On 29 May 2005 16:31:38 -0400,
xchaotix@hotmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (harrydaomin)
wrote:

>Thanks for the replies guys much appreciated. I went into Bios
>Advanced Chipset Features, DRAM Clock/Drive Settings and changed the
>DRAM clock from Auto to 166MHz and then DRAM Timing to manual and
>changed the DRAM CAS Latency (dont have a clue what this actually
>means) from 2.5 to 3. There were other settings that it let me
>change also but the values were nothing like the numbers u were
>suggesting so i just left them as they were.
>
>Booted up and it all worked fine. First time round i noticed
>connecting to the internet took a while longer than normal. Usually
>it is instantaneous, but on second reboot this was back to normal.
>Aside from that been checking the CPU temp to make sure it isnt
>overheating and its all working fine, once again thanks for helping.

I'm glad it has seemed to help, but to be sure you really
should run memtest86 for several hours if you haven't
already... better safe than to find a month from now that
every 1/100th file you've written / defragged / installed /
etc has become corrupt from memory errors.

On Sun, 29 May 2005 10:07:33 GMT, "John@Smith.com"
<xxxxspud@newscene.com> wrote:

>On Sat, 28 May 2005 18:09:22 GMT, kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:
>
>>IF you paid a few low price for this memory it might be
>>worth spending the time to get it working, but if this is
>>normal or higher than average priced memory, you might
>>consider returing it to seller and trying a different make
>>and model of memory instead- not just another stick of the
>>same exact memory unless it can be confirmed that the
>>original ONLY had the physical defects, which is a less
>>likely problem, IMO, though still quite possible.
>
>
>Im having LOTS of memory problems lately.
>

But John, you live in paradise.
There are no problems there, it's just a tradeoff that
everything turns to rust. ;-)



>I just bought another stick of 3200 on sale. Its yet another CL3
>stick of 3200 which it seems almost all the newer 3200 stuff on sale
>is.

Yep, I try to avoid CAS3, just in case my CAS2.5 stuff needs
CAS3 to be stable, LOL... so it goes when you just want a
lot of cheap memory for a secondary system(s).


>
>The Kingston I bought I posted about a month or two ago 3200 CL 3 512
>at CC showed errors out of the box and never worked w/o errors alone
>or paired. I returned that one.
>
>I bought a PNY 3200 CL3 stick 512 again cause of a sale last night.
>Same problem but it works OK by itself CL3 3200 at 400.

Hmmmmm.
I bought a couple modules recently too, but hadn't gotten
around to testing them... guess I better do that. Hopefully
they're just marginally rated, I do have a couple of boxes
still using PC2100 so I felt odds were in my favor.



>I pair it
>with any of the older type of sticks and maybe its not that they are
>older but a different type - and I get bizarre results, erratic
>results. The older sticks I used to get on sale last year were CL2.5
>3200 512 sticks from the same companys - PNY, centon and Kingson.
>These worked great in my nforce2 board dual mem mode no problems
>mixing and matching and also with my AMD 64 nforce4 board in dual mem
>mode. The only problem being that the Kingston developed an error
>after a year of use but they replaced. However its not just that they
>were older sticks --- the new replacement RMAd stick which is also CL
>2.5 they sent me last month works fine too - I can mix and match that
>with two other older CL2.5 3200 sticks.
>
>However I put the CL3 PNY with the Kingston and suddenly the Kingston
>and the Kingston starts developing errors and dropping to 333. I put
>it with the Centon 3200 CL 2.5 I have and it hangs - as soon as it
>starts detecting things.

You might check the spec'd vs used memory timings of modules
working together vs those that don't, with an app like
CPU-Z. All I could suggest is to move somewhere with dry
air and try adjusting memory timings manually and/or
lowering the bus speed. These days I don't even care if I
get that last few percent out of memory except for my main
use and gaming boxes.



>At that point I thought it actually screwed up my other sticks my PC
>was acting so screwy even after I reboot with the old sticsk replaced.
>I have to often reboot it twice then it settles down. Out of paranoia
>I ended up reswapping all the sticks testing them and testing them
>with Memtest over and over again with each stick by itself to make
>sure nothing was messed up.

So have you been swapping the sticks into different boards
too? I have to wonder if the boards are just marginal.
Even Asus seems to be cutting corners some- I was surprised
how budgetized an A7V600 is, but then it was priced quite
low, particularly for a board with discrete 3Com GbE chip
onboard.


>
>So at this point it seems like I cant add any mem unless its CL 2.5 -
>and Im only assuming this because both my older 2.5s work togetther
>and the new one they sent me to replace it works fine too.

Sometimes boards just act odd. I have one that runs CAS3
spec'd memory more stabily at CAS2.5 than at CAS3... go
figure.


>
>But two of the new CL3 sticks Ive bougt on sale are nothing but
>problems. However the PNY did work alone so possibly if I stick to all
>CL3 newer sticks I wont have problems.
>
>Also cant add anything over 1 gig. According to the VNF4 manual and
>most people are using two sticks in the dual mem slots I see at
>reviews - anyway , the manual says avoid filling the slots 1234 ! And
>dont use 123 . So I assume I can use 12 & 4 since theres nothing in
>it about only using memory in pairs but it gets totally erratic giving
>once again errors when I use 12 and 4 though thats probably because I
>was mixing CL3 sticks with the CL2.5 sticks as I mentioned. It also
>though 1.5 gigs is installed it shows half a gig or 1 stick as being
>installed.

I try not to used 3 or more slots- doesn't always work out
that way but sticking with 1 or 2 seems the safest bet.

Since you've noted bad contacts several times, I wonder if
wrapping some abrasive paper around a scrap module and
inserting it a few times might help clean them- perhaps
spraying some contact cleaner on the paper beforehand if it
doesn't fall apart from the cleaner.

On Mon, 30 May 2005 00:26:56 GMT, kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:

>
>So have you been swapping the sticks into different boards
>too? I have to wonder if the boards are just marginal.
>Even Asus seems to be cutting corners some- I was surprised
>how budgetized an A7V600 is, but then it was priced quite
>low, particularly for a board with discrete 3Com GbE chip
>onboard.

Thats one thing I havent done as I dont have any access to other board
right now unless I talk some neighbors or others I know into doing it
which I could but thats a hassle. Ill probably buy another system soon
with all the Compusa sales Ive ended up with 2 extra HDs bought
another today and the clearance they had on Antec full towers - bot
one for 35 no PS though I have get this 4 EXTRA PSes now with all the
freaking PS sales they suddenly went crazy with. This week theres a
Maddog 550 watt on sale.

Im wondering about that myself though I dont see anyone else
complaining about it except one early poster but everyone is using
generally the two first slots. Thats what I was wondering --- can you
use 3 sticks on a AMD 64 board? Can you use both the first two slots
in dual mem mode and then add another stick ? 3 512 sticks?

>I try not to used 3 or more slots- doesn't always work out
>that way but sticking with 1 or 2 seems the safest bet.
>
>Since you've noted bad contacts several times, I wonder if
>wrapping some abrasive paper around a scrap module and
>inserting it a few times might help clean them- perhaps
>spraying some contact cleaner on the paper beforehand if it
>doesn't fall apart from the cleaner.

Get this I actually cant insert some modules in the purple slots. On
the Chaintech the two dual mem slots are brown and the two extra slots
are purple. The little ridge in the slot that helps you align the
module in the slot --- it fits some modules and not others - weird. I
tried one over and over and over and it just wouldnt fit in it. I
think maybe they made the notch too small or something and the purple
slots may have their ridge a bit too thick. The same modules work in
the brown slots.

Im taking it back. I give up. I might try a CL 2,5 stick next month or
so which has been on sale at newegg a few times and see if that works.
If that doesnt then Ill keep it anyway for a new second system Ill
build.

On Mon, 30 May 2005 06:02:32 GMT, "John@Smith.com"
<xxxxspud@newscene.com> wrote:


>Im wondering about that myself though I dont see anyone else
>complaining about it except one early poster but everyone is using
>generally the two first slots. Thats what I was wondering --- can you
>use 3 sticks on a AMD 64 board? Can you use both the first two slots
>in dual mem mode and then add another stick ? 3 512 sticks?

I don't think it *should* cause errors but 3 modules of
lower-grade memory might be too much, more than can be
compensated by merely dropping bios to CAS3.


>
>>I try not to used 3 or more slots- doesn't always work out
>>that way but sticking with 1 or 2 seems the safest bet.
>>
>>Since you've noted bad contacts several times, I wonder if
>>wrapping some abrasive paper around a scrap module and
>>inserting it a few times might help clean them- perhaps
>>spraying some contact cleaner on the paper beforehand if it
>>doesn't fall apart from the cleaner.
>
>Get this I actually cant insert some modules in the purple slots. On
>the Chaintech the two dual mem slots are brown and the two extra slots
>are purple. The little ridge in the slot that helps you align the
>module in the slot --- it fits some modules and not others - weird. I
>tried one over and over and over and it just wouldnt fit in it. I
>think maybe they made the notch too small or something and the purple
>slots may have their ridge a bit too thick. The same modules work in
>the brown slots.

If you did it very carefully - observing ESD precautions,
you could take a loosely-folded-over square of fine grit
sandpaper and expand that notch a little on the modules. I
find many PCBs these days to be cut too tight or too rough
and have been sanding (not just memory) moreso than in past
years.


>
>Im taking it back. I give up. I might try a CL 2,5 stick next month or
>so which has been on sale at newegg a few times and see if that works.
>If that doesnt then Ill keep it anyway for a new second system Ill
>build.

I don't know what variability there is in PNY or Kingston at
the moment but it could be that they're still shipping
modules with same specs but different chips- If you can get
a look at the chips that might help determine a better
replacement module.

different brands / sizes / speeds etc will cause problems, even with
the same brand chips.

My 2 Asus A7N8DX Deluxe boards, V1 and V2 are the worst ever for
accepting nearly 75% of all memory made.

Bottom line is don't mix memory, be it in size, speed or brand and all
"should" be OK.

Have you cleaned out the memory slot ? a small piece of some wet &
dry folded over loosely will do fine, blow out the crap "or use a
paint brush" and also clean the chip's contacts with the same bit of
w&d and your good to go, if it still don't work, you have to dig
deeper.

Have fun.