Memory troubles

[Guest]

I am using Asus SK8N w/Opteron146 and 1gb of OCZ ECC Registered dual cannel
(2x512). Western Digital 120gb SATA HD w/ WinXP Pro. Having intermittent
troubles, Blue screens, application errors, etc. Ran Windiag Memory
diagnostic tool and it fails all memory tests. Tried various memory
configurations (all slots, 1 chip at a time, etc) and still fails all tests.
I removed SATA drive and installed IDE drive. Memory tests perfect in
Windows, passes all tests. I must be missing something on the install of the
SATA? I am running all the latest updates and all the latest drivers. I
really don't want to trash the SATA. This has been almost 4 months and seems
like nobody has an answer.

 

[Guest]

It would appear that the cause of you BSODs etc is not memory but the SATA
drivers.

Check with your manufacturer's web site for latest XP driver files.

 

[Guest]

the SATA378 driver that Asus issues for the SK8N is not digitally signed, and
i first installed the system using that and was having a lot of blue screens.
I hence used the RAID378 which set the drive up as RAID 1+0 Stripe which
seemed to work better. I will have to try switching it back around.

 

[Guest]

Well..now I've tried all the available drivers for the board for SATA and
RAID. Still fails all tests on Windiag Memory Diagnostic. Still passes all
tests using different IDE hard drive. Why wont they work together????? Blah
Blah, looks like its time to switch back to IDE.

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 20:19:03 -0800, "tcmiked"

I am using Asus SK8N w/Opteron146 and 1gb of OCZ ECC Registered dual cannel
(2x512). Western Digital 120gb SATA HD w/ WinXP Pro. Having intermittent
troubles, Blue screens, application errors, etc. Ran Windiag Memory
diagnostic tool and it fails all memory tests. Tried various memory
configurations (all slots, 1 chip at a time, etc) and still fails all tests.
I removed SATA drive and installed IDE drive. Memory tests perfect in
Windows, passes all tests. I must be missing something

I'd guess marginal power supply. Either PSU rating, PSU voltages, a
needed additional power line to mobo is not in place (careful; don't
guess!), failing mobo caps, or excessive RAM bus loading (modules with
"too many" chips, forbidden combinations, all slots filled with max
size read the small print in the manual on what is allowed).

I suspect that when the HDs etc. are connected, power to the RAM is
dipping just enough for things to fall over. The effect may be
limited to a few square cm of mobo area, and for a millisecond or so,
so "everything looks OK" on the multimeter is not exclusionary.

I can't think of any other link between xIDE and RAM, other than gross
bad-hardware stuff, or perhaps S-ATA HDs that are plugged into both
legacy and S-ATA power connectors (which usually wraths the HD)

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[Guest]

Thanks, sounds like some good areas for troubleshooting. I'm going to chock
it up to bad Mobo(Onboard Promise Controller) for now, RMA this one and try
another and take it from there. Sata drive works fine in my other system with
A7N8X Deluxe.