Do I really need C-RIMMs?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wiley Q. Hacker
  • Start date Start date
W

Wiley Q. Hacker

I've got a P4 1.7GHz with PC800 RDRAM slots on the mobo. It's been locking
up on me for a few months.

After running a few tests, I'm pretty sure one of the RAM chips is kaput; I
just don't know which one.

Given that Rambus stuff can only be used in pairs, I can take two out and
see if it still has trouble. Questions about C-RIMMs though. How do I use
them? Do I use one C-RIMM in an empty slot if I only want to use one RAM
module, or do I use two C-RIMMs if I want to use only one PAIR? If the
latter, do I absolutely have to have all four slots covered, or can I leave
one pair of slots empty?

Thanks.
 
The way rambus works is that it is basically completing a circuit. All slots
must be occupied for the machine to work. You must have two identical
modules in each pair of slots, two 128mb modules in one pair of slots and
two crimms in the other pair, for example. You can't have one memory module
and one c-rimm in one pair of slots.
 
Thank you once again, Tweek.

So, there's no way to determine if one of the two RIMMs in a matched
pair is bad? Do I have to replace both?
 
That has been my experience, yes. If you can find it, you could just order
one module that is the same brand and specs as the two you have and then
troubleshoot that way. I imagine that it is possible to identify which stick
is bad by looking at the failed address in memtest, but I don't know enough
about that to even guess which one it would be.
 
Back
Top