A7N8X - Freezes Before Memory Test With 3 x 512mb Sticks Of Ram

[Amy L.]

My A7N8X was having problems with Page Faults when I added a 3rd Stick
of RAM. See this thread -
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...12241130.1d99cd08%40posting.google.com&rnum=1

System
A7N8X (PCB 2.0) w/ AMD XP 2700 (Barton)
166MHZ FSB
3 x 512MB Kingston KVR333X64C25/512 CHIPS

Since I have flashed the bios from 1006 to 1007 the system will not
boot when I add *ANY* of the three sticks of RAM into the second slot.
Remove the RAM in SLOT 2, it boots. Hopefully, this should be easier
to troubleshoot since its not the "random" page faults and this occurs
right on post.

I am wondering if this is power supply related. Running the probe
with just 2 sticks of memory in the +5V dips to around ~4.7V. The 12V
runs around ~12.8V.

Any thoughts on anything else it could be?
Amy...

 

[dino]

I had some issues with my OCZ ram ( for OC'ing)...solved that by moving my
Ram around in different slots....take the one from 2..put in 1..and so
forth...took me 2 or 3 tries and now am running all 3 OC'd

 

[callsignviper]

My A7N8X was having problems with Page Faults when I added a 3rd Stick
of RAM. See this thread -
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=c79f21c9
..0312241130.1d99cd08%40posting.google.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Damyl%254
0paxemail.com%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26scoring%3Dd%26se
lm%3Dc79f21c9.0312241130.1d99cd08%2540posting.google.com%26rnum%3D1

System
A7N8X (PCB 2.0) w/ AMD XP 2700 (Barton)
166MHZ FSB
3 x 512MB Kingston KVR333X64C25/512 CHIPS

Since I have flashed the bios from 1006 to 1007 the system will not
boot when I add *ANY* of the three sticks of RAM into the second slot.
Remove the RAM in SLOT 2, it boots. Hopefully, this should be easier
to troubleshoot since its not the "random" page faults and this occurs
right on post.

I am wondering if this is power supply related. Running the probe
with just 2 sticks of memory in the +5V dips to around ~4.7V. The 12V
runs around ~12.8V.

Any thoughts on anything else it could be?
Amy...

From my previous post in regards to your questions.

There are 2 notes about DIMMs on Page 13 of your motherboard manual that may
or may not apply to your situation.

From Page 13:

"DIMMs with more than 18 chips are not supported" and "DIMMs with more than
8 devices on each side of the module are not supported."

If neither applies to your situation you might try raising the DDR Reference
Voltage in BIOS to see if that helps to stabilize your system.


BTW: What brand and wattage is your power supply?




--
callsignviper


The truth is out there. You just have to look in the right places and ask
the right questions.

 

[Rob]

The part number for your RAM says it supposed to have 8 chips per side,
so you should be OK there. I have 2 questions, which you may have
already tried out:
1-What happens if you use a single stick in slot 2 and if it boots what
does the voltage look like then.
2-You expressed concern over a 4.7v reading with the 2 sticks installed.
Is this reading from BIOS or Probe, if from Probe, was the system idle
after boot? Does it go up much if only a single stick is installed in
either slot 1 or 3.
These may help identify weather it's a slot or PS issue.

 

[Amy L.]

Callsignvoper,

"DIMMs with more than 18 chips are not supported" and "DIMMs with more than
8 devices on each side of the module are not supported."

The DIMS have only 8 chips per side. I have no idea what you mean
about DIMS with 18 chips.

If neither applies to your situation you might try raising the DDR Reference
Voltage in BIOS to see if that helps to stabilize your system.

I do not see any option in the BIOS about DDR reference voltage?

BTW: What brand and wattage is your power supply?

ITEK - 350W.

Help!
Amy

 

[Amy L.]

Rob,

My voltage measurements before was with the probe with load on system.

1 Chip in Slot 1 In Bios +5V = 4.86
1 Chip in Slot 2 In Bios +5V = 4.86
2 Chips in Slot 1&2 In Bios +5 = 4.83, but then when up to 4.86

Added the third chip into slot 3 - and back to same problem where it
freezes before memory check.

Atleast with these tests we just did I feel confident that "slot 2" is
not an issue since I can boot with chips in Slot 1 & 2, Slots 2 & 3,
Slots 1 & 3. The problem seems to crop up when the board has a third
chip (it does not matter which of the three chips I put it for it to
freeze).

I am running a memtest86x right now against sims in slot 1 & 2. I
will see how that works out.

Unfortunantly - this still doesnt rule out PS or MB. Maybe a next
step would be to get a new PS (a good one).

Any comments/thoughts?
Amy

 

[Rob]

It seems the #2 slot and it's path to the chipset is OK. Your PS seems
to be stable and 4.8 isn't a really a bad reading. Did you remove all
power and clear CMOS, according to the manual, after the BIOS update?
What memory settings are you using? If using AUTO and By SPD then try
setting if for User Defined and 100%. Also set AGP to 66 MHz. To try
ultra relaxed settings set the numbers to 7-3-3-2.5 and if it works you
can lower the numbers one at a time.

Rob

 

[callsignviper]

Callsignvoper,


The DIMS have only 8 chips per side. I have no idea what you mean
about DIMS with 18 chips.

That is what your motherboard manual says. Chip = One Ram Chip. It takes
several Ram Chips to make a DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module) or commonly
called a "stick." If your DIMM has more than 18 total Ram chips then it's
not supported. Apparently that is not a problem since your DIMM part number
undicates yours are fine.

I do not see any option in the BIOS about DDR reference voltage?

See Section 4.4.2 (Advanced Chipset Features) Page 57 in your Motherboard
Manual.

ITEK - 350W.

Hmmm.....never heard of that brand so I have no idea about its quality.

From some of your other posts your +5 Vdc readings appear to be fine.

Suggestion: I would try raising the DDR Reference Voltage 0.1 Vdc to see if
that fixes the problem. I would raise the voltage, save the changes, reboot
back into BIOS setup to verify the changes. Shutdown the system, install the
third DIMM and power up to see if the increase in voltage helps. If not you
may have a faulty motherboard that may need to be RMAd to ASUS.

BTW: Have you sent email to ASUS describing your problem and troubleshooting
steps?


--
callsignviper


The truth is out there. You just have to look in the right places and ask
the right questions.

 

[Amy L.]

Rob/Anyone,

When this board posts with one memory chip in slot 1. The post status
information lists that "DDR DIMMS IN SLOT: 0 1". When I put a chip in
slot 3 as well it says "DDR DIMMS IN SLOT: 0 1 4 5"

Is this normal?

I am almost pretty sure that this board is bad.. I have a few more
tests to run.

Amy.

 

[Rob]

Rob/Anyone,

When this board posts with one memory chip in slot 1. The post status
information lists that "DDR DIMMS IN SLOT: 0 1". When I put a chip in
slot 3 as well it says "DDR DIMMS IN SLOT: 0 1 4 5"

Is this normal?

I am almost pretty sure that this board is bad.. I have a few more
tests to run.

Amy.

This is a correct indication. Each socket has 2 Rows associated with it.
Socket 1=Rows 0&1
Socket 2=Rows 2&3
Socket 3=Rows 4&5
If memtest passed on all 3 of the sticks and if the system still freezes
up after you've relaxed the memory settings, have you tried increasing
the DDR Voltage in BIOS from 2.6 to 2.7?

Rob

 

[Amy L.]

Rob,

Thanks for the follow-up. By setting the bios back to defaults, I was
able to get the machine to boot with three chips. HOWEVER, when
running memtestx86 with all three chips it gives errors and reboots on
its own.

However, running memtestx86 with only one chip in the MB it is fine
for each of the 3 chips.

I did change the DDR voltage +0.1 VDC and it made no difference in
terms of stability. I also changed the Bus speeds from 166mhz down to
100mhz with no difference.

I still need to change the memory timing to be laxer. I should be
able to do that tonight. It's just these memtests usually run for
about 12-14 hours so its hard giving results back to the newsgroup
quickly on this.

Amy..