[RESOLVED] New RAM equals 'blue screen' :( .

i have just got some new crucial 128pin, 512mb, ddr400 ram and when ever i go to play battlefield 2 or vidoes it crashes. I mean I have had the evil 'blue screen' about 6 times in the last 10minutes and i don't know what to do. It has crashed at various times in the game when loading or when in the game. i have recently bought exactly the same ram to upgrade my system from 1gig to 1.5 with no problems at all, but this time when going from 1.5 to 2gig i can't get it to work. It seems to be perfectly fine while surfing the net ect just not playing battlefield and video's. Microsoft online crash analysis keeps saying either unknown driver error or the last time it happened it said this http://oca.microsoft.com/en/response...eaf9871&SID=11
have had this error and other driver errors happen before over the last year or so but i just ignored them and everything went on fine until now.
EDIT: blue screen also sometimes says "IRQL not less or equal"

The most obvious thing I see is that you're not pairing off your DIMMs. Your motherboard can utilize dual channel memory. To use dual channel, you need to match the speed and size of your memory DIMMs in pairs of two. It is usually easier to just buy both at the same time and get the exact same thing rather than trying to mix and match.

You should be able to run in single channel with your configuration, but it is certainly not the fastest configuration you can have. I've had several customers have problems with Battefield 2. We've found that it tends to be sensitive to drivers and certain pieces of hardware.

First off, I would suggest taking out the stick of 512mb DDR 2700 and one stick of 1x512mb DDR 3200. Try out Battlefield 2 and see what it does. If it doesn't crash, you know it is your memory. I'd also suggest updating your video driver too.... I've seen that cause problems on Battlefield 2.

Well let me correct myself when i said it was ddr400, it isn't, my mistake. it is ddr3200 as the other sticks are. So i have 3xddr3200 512mb that i know are exactly the same (all from crucial) and one 512mb 2700 stick. bf2 worked perfectly fine with my previous configuration (2x3200 and 1x2700) and it is only today when i got another 3200 that it keeps crashing. Originally i was a bit stupid and forgot to put the 2700 in the forth slot as it is the slowest. After correcting this is crashes to the blue screen less (but still does some times) and seems to crash to the desktop more often. The fact that before today i ran bf2 fine makes me think it's not the game and must be my RAM. so i will take out the 2700 and try to see if it runs ok with 3x3200.

You can always run the Windows Memory Diagnostic to see if you've got some bad RAM. I usually go piece by piece and run the extended test through at least once. If you've got a bad stick, this should catch it.

DDr 400 and 3200 is the same RAM, it operates at 400Mhz and frequency is 3200 = 3.2gb/second.


Anyways.........I would try testing the new module:

Microsoft Memory Diagnostic

Memtest


Liam

^yeah that’s what i was getting confused about. i know for a fact that if i run the memory diagnostic it will come up with error as i have ran it before and it did. i decided it ignore it as it wasn't causing me that many problems and would cost me 35quid to replace. So i will take all my memory out apart from the new stick and then run the diagnostic to see how it turns out. When i can be bothered though as i have had enough of messing around plugging in my computer for today as it is in a very awkward position.

Post back and let us know when you have tested the newest stick.

Liam

ok, finally got around to testing all my memory with Microsoft Memory Diagnostic. all the crucial 512mb sticks come up fine but the 2700 one has an error. Wrote down what the error was but i can't find where i wrote it down :( . I will tell you when and if i find it. but i have always known the memory has had this problem and it still didn't crash to the blue screen so why now. this has only happened with 2gb. for now i am using 1.5gb of 3200 and i will see how that runs. Fingers crossed!

Try to keep all ram to one manufactor as there are minute diference in how different manufactor do things. As you found out, that can lead to a hair pulling contest when they are not 100% compatable.

but more annoyingly i will now eiter have to do with 1.5gig or spend another 35quid on another 512.

well i have been plying bf2 for about an hour now with the 1.5gig 3200 that the mem test said was fine but it still keeps crashing. in that time it has crashed to the blue screen one saying 'trying to write onto read only memory' and it has crashed about 3 times in game but not going to the blue screen, I just have to re-start instead. But only thing that has changed recently is my memory so I still don’t know what the problem is!

On the ASUS P4S800D mobo, is there any specific WARNINGs on the ram to use?

Seems a lot of the boards for a while would limit your usage of slots and the amounts when using PC3200 ram.

Well you may be onto something here. i have just got my manual out and it has some unnecessarily complicated table about memory configurations. Complicated cause i don't see any referring to using only 3 slots, they seem to show either 2 or 4. Well any way i have managed to get a copy so i can show you. You may have better look with it that me. For dual channel mode it seems to suggest you either need to use 2 or 4 slots, not 3 as i am using. So that maybe the problem as I see it. also here's the mobo info page;
http://uk.asus.com/products4.aspx?mo...=3&l2=12&l3=45

Quote:

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For dual channel mode it seems to suggest you either need to use 2 or 4 slots, not 3 as i am using.

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Yep, or use identical sticks in all 4 slots.

EDIT: Sorry i didnt expand.............That seems to be the only feasible explanation, when did you purchase the newest stick of RAM? Could you replace it at the shop for a stick the same as your current 512's?

Take a look back at this edit after Train's suggestion is tried, :) (If you need to that is)

Liam

Now WhileI go through your manual, Download and install EVEREST Home Edition v2.01
After the install, open Everest, in the left pane, cilick the + mark in front of Motherboard, then click the letters SPD.
Now the right pane should split and top show each stick of ram and when you select the stick in the top, the spec's for it will show in the bottom.

Now this is what it will look like and to save the report, I went to Report in the menu, select Quick report, then TXT file and then saved it to my hdd.

This part that we are interested in.

Memory Module Properties:
Module Name Micron Tech. 8VDDT6464AG-40BDB
Serial Number 698C644Ah
Manufacture Date Week 18 / 2005
Module Size 512 MB (1 rows, 4 banks)
Module Type Unbuffered
Memory Type DDR SDRAM
Memory Speed PC3200 (200 MHz)
Module Width 64 bit
Module Voltage SSTL 2.5
Error Detection Method None
Refresh Rate Reduced (7.8 us), Self-Refresh

Memory Timings:
@ 200 MHz 3.0-3-3-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 166 MHz 2.5-3-3-7 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 133 MHz 2.0-2-2-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

As you can see I am using Micron also. And this is just on of two sticks I have installed. So verify that your memory timings are the same for all sticks and let us know the outcome.

well did all that stuff on Everest and all seems to check out ok. Here’s the report; NB; i removed the debug, as I didn't think you would need it.

As for what Liam said I’m a little confused. To clarify i am currently using 3x 184pin 512mb 3200. All made by crucial. Bought the first stick a while back(about 4-5 months) and the other 2 were both bought in the last 3 weeks. i am not using the 2700 at the moment.

Found this chart in your manual.
http://home.comcast.net/~copn/web/DDR400.jpg

And from that chart, it seems to me, any memory other than that listed could well cause use to have a case of the fits trying to figure out the errors.

My ram even though it is Micron, is on the list of approved memory for my board.

I got your manual from http://support.asus.com/download/dow...&model=P4S800D

^ well they can **** off! thats 140pounds of memory we are talking about. and it's worked fine with 2x3200 512mb crucial and 1x2700 512mb matrix. only when i put the new 512mb 3200 crucial it it's gone strange.

Quote:

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To clarify i am currently using 3x 184pin 512mb 3200. All made by crucial. Bought the first stick a while back(about 4-5 months) and the other 2 were both bought in the last 3 weeks. i am not using the 2700 at the moment.

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Ahh, Ok, just ignore my previous post then, i thought you were using the 2700 stick still, it seems Train has you going in the right direction(No pun intended), i will butt out.:)


Liam

Those 2 sticks Listed as evaluation may not be completely compatable with the 16VDDT6464AG-40BGB stick.

So time do a bit of testing. Remove the 16VDDT6464AG-40BGB stick and then check out the other two sticks. Throw a good load on them and let us know what happens.

In other words, let us do some tsting and see what we can salvage.

ok will do but it may take quite a few minutes. but all the sticks were bought from crucial and are all the exact same specification so i can't see why they wouldn't be compatible. will have to test them out until they crash (if they do) so it may take up to 30min.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by judge john

. will have to test them out until they crash (if they do) so it may take up to 30min.

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That is a lot faster than what I was expecting.

well seems to be fine for now with the other 2 in. but the one i took out i have been using for about 5 months with no problem. so i don't see how that could be causing it?

I can, as there is sometging different in it that does not completely match the newer ram.

well the only thing i can see if different is that the stick i took out is made in the US and the other 2 are made in the UK! i blame Americans! lol
but i bought exactly the same memory, exactly the same specs and it was recommended by their system scanner. As such do you think it's something i can claim a refund or replacement on, as it never mentioned any difference in the sticks when I bought them?

Weelll, see if you can RMA it so it will match the other sticks you have. Or the revese. I know, it is pain! :(

Need to learn to spell again I do.

well that is the one stick i can't return. i got it about 5 months ago and they only do a 30day return policy. they do however offer a limited lifetime warranty if it brakes but i don't think that’s the problem here. i might try and ring them up and see how reasonable they are as it isn't my fault( is it?). all i did was order 3 of this memory
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/part...ULE=CT6464Z40B
and if it's different i don't see how i can be liable for it.

EDIT: i used the system scanner and this is what it says;
'All you have to do is tell us what system you have, and the Memory Advisor tool tells you what upgrades will work for you. And, the memory it selects is guaranteed to be 100 percent compatible with your system, or we will give you your money back.'

Sic'em. I do wish you good LUCK in your endeviour.

Quote:

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Sic'em. I do wish you good LUCK in your endeavour.

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Ditto :)


Liam

lol. I’ll need it. well luckily i happen to have kept the e-mail receipts for all the memory i bought and the product code is identical. So they must have changed something along the way without telling me. Now that isn't my fault. The only thing is that i will ring them up and i bet they refuse to take what i am saying as true. They will probably get me to do lots of medial tasks and hope i go anyway :mad: . So i need to go to them with as much info as possible. As such i need your help again with some questions;

1) What was the difference you noticed between my sticks? The only thing i noticed different was that one was 512 MB (2 rows, 4 banks) and the other working 2 where 512 MB (1 rows, 4 banks). Is that the difference or are you just taking an educated guess there is an unknown difference?

2) I still don't see how the memory worked perfectly fine until now. Do you know what the reason could be for it happening now?

3) this isn’t a problem caused by something else in my system, so it’s defiantly the memory?

My statement:

Quote:

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Those 2 sticks Listed as evaluation may not be completely compatable with the 16VDDT6464AG-40BGB stick

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is what told me they probably would not be compatable.

I got that from your mem.txt which reads:


--------[ EVEREST Ultimate Edition 2005 (c) 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]---------------------------------------------------

Version EVEREST v2.00.335
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/
Report Type Quick Report [ EVALUATION ]
Computer JOHNA
Generator John Austin
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
Date 2005-07-16
Time 16:45


--------[ SPD ]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ DIMM1: Micron Tech. 16VDDT6464AG-40BGB ]

Memory Module Properties:
Module Name Micron Tech. 16VDDT6464AG-40BGB
Serial Number 1026D5F0h
Manufacture Date Week 6 / 2005
Module Size 512 MB (2 rows, 4 banks)
Module Type Unbuffered
Memory Type DDR SDRAM
Memory Speed PC3200 (200 MHz)
Module Width 64 bit
Module Voltage SSTL 2.5
Error Detection Method None
Refresh Rate Reduced (7.8 us), Self-Refresh

Memory Timings:
@ 200 MHz 3.0-3-3-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 166 MHz 2.5-3-3-7 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 133 MHz 2.0-2-2-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Memory Module Features:
Early RAS# Precharge Not Supported
Auto-Precharge Not Supported
Precharge All Not Supported
Write1/Read Burst Not Supported
Buffered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
Registered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
On-Card PLL (Clock) Not Supported
Buffered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Registered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Differential Clock Input Supported
Redundant Row Address Not Supported

Memory Module Manufacturer:
Company Name Micron Technology, Inc.
Product Information http://www.micron.com/products/category.jsp?path=/DRAM

[ DIMM2: [ EVALUATION ] ]

Memory Module Properties:
Module Name [ EVALUATION ]
Serial Number C508CA10h
Manufacture Date Week 26 / 2005
Module Size 512 MB (1 rows, 4 banks)
Module Type [ EVALUATION ]
Memory Type DDR SDRAM
Memory Speed PC3200 (200 MHz)
Module Width 64 bit
Module Voltage SSTL 2.5
Error Detection Method None
Refresh Rate Reduced (7.8 us), Self-Refresh

Memory Timings:
@ 200 MHz 3.0-3-3-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 166 MHz 2.5-3-3-7 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 133 MHz 2.0-2-2-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Memory Module Features:
Early RAS# Precharge Not Supported
Auto-Precharge Not Supported
Precharge All Not Supported
Write1/Read Burst Not Supported
Buffered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
Registered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
On-Card PLL (Clock) Not Supported
Buffered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Registered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Differential Clock Input Supported
Redundant Row Address Not Supported

Memory Module Manufacturer:
Company Name Micron Technology, Inc.
Product Information http://www.micron.com/products/category.jsp?path=/DRAM

[ DIMM3: [ EVALUATION ] ]

Memory Module Properties:
Module Name [ EVALUATION ]
Serial Number 2023C713h
Manufacture Date Week 26 / 2005
Module Size 512 MB (1 rows, 4 banks)
Module Type [ EVALUATION ]
Memory Type DDR SDRAM
Memory Speed PC3200 (200 MHz)
Module Width 64 bit
Module Voltage SSTL 2.5
Error Detection Method None
Refresh Rate Reduced (7.8 us), Self-Refresh

Memory Timings:
@ 200 MHz 3.0-3-3-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 166 MHz 2.5-3-3-7 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 133 MHz 2.0-2-2-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Memory Module Features:
Early RAS# Precharge Not Supported
Auto-Precharge Not Supported
Precharge All Not Supported
Write1/Read Burst Not Supported
Buffered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
Registered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
On-Card PLL (Clock) Not Supported
Buffered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Registered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Differential Clock Input Supported
Redundant Row Address Not Supported

Memory Module Manufacturer:
Company Name Micron Technology, Inc.
Product Information http://www.micron.com/products/category.jsp?path=/DRAM

And having seen this type of error before, yes it is a educated guess.

2) I still don't see how the memory worked perfectly fine until now. Do you know what the reason could be for it happening now?

Well as long as the PC2700 was restricting things to the slower speed, that can cause things to work correctly. BEST I can do to explain that. Sorry!

3) this isn’t a problem caused by something else in my system, so it’s defiantly the memory?

Yes, when you removed that one stick and things commenced to work right, in my book, you proved to me that that stick is not completely compatable with the newer memory.

Ok then i will ring them up and see how it goes. if that doesn’t work then i could always go back to my previous 1.5gig set up that worked and return the memory i have just bough as that is in there 30day return policy. And thanks very much to all the help. Been much appreciated.

NB. Don’t know if this means anything but because the Everest i got is only an evaluation copy, hence why it says evaluation here and there, it only tells you the Module Name of the first stick. As shown above that was ‘16VDDT6464AG-40BGB’ in the stick that doesn’t work and I have just found out it is ‘8VDDT6464AG-40BDB’ in the one that does work. If it's meant to be like that i don't know.

Well the first run in this case was what we needed. es I have seen them picked up by Everest later on. But that first run is what I take to be true in this siuation.

Yes the home edition is morethan good enough for normal usage and one I have been using for quite some time. Shocks people to see what all it does find out about there computer. But I for one really like it for what it does tell me. :D

Just a note for you, I have found anything from 768MB ad over that if you wish, to be the break point where my programs run thir fastest.
As you can imagine, I had to a lot of runs [ same program doing the same thing] and memory changes to find that out. The difference for me was 20 minutes faster times. :D :D

So it may just be worth your while to do some testing your self.

My virtual is split across 2 hdds , 100MB on C: and the rest [2 GB ]is on a hdd that is on another ribbon so I could cross the ide.

Just a tad of history here for you. I found that if I transfered 7GB to aother partition on the same drive or another drive on the same ribbon, it took 28 - 32 minutes to do so.
But if I transfered the same 7GB to another hdd on another ribbon, it only took 7 minutes. That I thought was worth while.

Plus the fact that I do use a ATA133 card, that just gives me more options to where I place things. Yep, 4 hdds on the card and one on the ide for a total of 5 hdds. Plus my burners, 2 dvds and a cdrw are on the ide. Just options that I have added over the years that might be advantages for you to check out.

ok cool, some big time savings there. i have only decided to go with 2gig cause bf2 is so stupidly memory hungry. i have real slow down problems in game. i also saw an interview with the head Bf2 producer at EA who said 2gig wouldn't go a miss. I noticed a big difference in the smoothness of the game from 1GB to 1.5GB so as memory isn't that expensive I decided that i might as well get 2GB. at least i wouldn't have to upgrade for a bit.

Well, I sure hope you get things settled out real quickly to your satisfaction.

Do not game myself, but 3D generation can be real mean time wise. ;)

great news! for me anyway. i had a small brainwave last night. When i originally had my 2700 in slot 1 and a 3200 in slot 2 it kept crashing to the blue screen. That was fixed when i realised you have to put the best one in slot 1. So that got me thinking that the memory configuration was very sensitive to what was in slot 1. When it was crashing to the blue screen yesterday i had the problematic stick of 3200 in slot 1 and the other 2x 3200 in slot 2 and 3. so as a last ditch attempt i put the 2 sticks that have cause me no problem in slot 1 and 2 and the other 3200 in slot 3 to see if that would work. Well some how it has. Seems to work perfectly fine now. So that may have saved me some money. i might now try and put the 2700 in slot 4 and see if that also runs fine so i can be back to 2gig. so cheers for the help once more as it's been fixed in the end.
i was just wondering if i did put the 2700 in and it all worked fine and they would all be running at 2700, would there be a noticeable difference? i mean is there really much of a difference between the speeds of 2700 and 3200? and is it worth 35 quid to get them all 3200?

The only real point in buying another 3200 stick would be for configuration, as in- if it did not work with the 2700 in at all, but you will not see a real improvement between 2700 and 3200, especially as the ratio of 2700 to 3200 sticks is 3:1 and they are all 512mb. Have you tried Battlefield 2, and any memory heavy programs to test the current configuration? if not Good Luck.



Liam

Well i have just played bf2 for an hour or so with no problems and before it was crashing within about 30 min if not sooner so that looks good. Also ran 3Dmark05, don't know if that is memory intensive or not? But all checked out ok.

If all is okay after some further testing, i would suggest some RAM heatsinks for those sticks, just to help you along with playing BF2 and other intensive games/apps:Example That Akasa is a little pricy to be getting four, but as an example so you know what to get, check ebay and other cheap component sites.


Liam