Memtest 86 Finds Errors... sometimes?

[natejj]

PC Details
Q6600
Crucial Ballistix 2x 1 gb 6400 Ram
P35-DS3L Mobo
8800GT 512 Vid Card

XP SP2

Anyways, PC has been crashing a lot recently. I've formatted countless times, and tried 3 different hard drives, so it is NOT the hard drive. I get BSOD, and it goes into a boot loop, sometimes it boot, sometimes it wont. Here's the thing. If I run a memtest right after a BSOD, I get like 16k errors. If I let it cool down for a bit, sit for 10-20 minutes and run memtest, memtest finds nothing. I've tried 2 different sets of ram. This means it has to be the mobo or the PSU? I am so annoyed. It has ran fine for the past year, no OC.

[Zero102]

Does it on different ram?.. thats bad. Next thing to try is the motherboard. Very unlikely it is the PSU generating memtest errors, and if it is the cause it is very difficult to directly prove without just replacing it.

P35-DS3L, well I guess its a good argument to update to an X38 chipset board and overclock your Q6600? ;)


What voltage is your ram running at? How hot is it when you start getting these errors? What blocks are the errors at? Are they always the same location or is it every single location when it is showing errors?

[natejj]

Yeah it does on both sets of ram. Maybe I have 2 sets of faulty ram! I also doubt it is the PSU. The MOBO seems to be the culprit.

Ram is running at 2.5, which is stock. The sticks get a decent amount of hot... but nothing out of the ordinary.

Will continue to investigate, thank gawd for backup macbook pro running XP. What would i do without windows....

[evoXfan]

are you sure your RAM is running stock voltage?


2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 memory module
BL2KIT12864AA80A

* Module Size: 2GB kit (1GBx2)
* Package: Ballistix 240-pin DIMM
* Feature: DDR2 PC2-6400
* Specs: DDR2 PC2-6400 • 4-4-4-12 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-800 • 2.0V • 128Meg x 64 •

[Mibz]

Originally posted by evoXfan
are you sure your RAM is running stock voltage?

I was gonna say, 2.5v seems pretty high and the issue sounds like overheating. I'd turn the voltage down to 2.0v and see what happens.

[Cowtown_Raider]

Natejj, this is an awesome forum for Gigabyte motherboards. I was able to get the help I needed here. There's a tech from gigabyte that moderates it and answers pretty much every single thread.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/

[Zero102]

2.5V is CRAZY high for most ram. Mine is rated at 1.9, after 2.2 it gets extremely warm. I am starting to think this is your issue. Run it at 2.0 and let us know what happens.

[eblend]

also, if you go into the bios on most mobos you can monitor the current voltage coming in to the motherboard from different components, if it jumps up and down, your PSU could be the problem. Worked as a comp tech before and see this first hand

[Spawn]

I had some older Intel LGA775 motherboards giving memory issues and crashing, didn't seem to matter what stick of ram were in there, memtest kept finding issues.
All it took was a bios flash and everything was good.

[SpireTECH]

DDR2 definitely will not operate properly above 2.3v, and most likely will become permanently damaged at 2.5v. If the RAM settings in the BIOS are all set to AUTO then something is seriously wrong with that board.


Originally from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2#Overview

According to JEDEC[1] the maximum recommended voltage is 1.9 volts and should be considered the absolute maximum when memory stability is an issue (such as in servers or other mission critical devices). In addition, JEDEC states that memory modules must withstand up to 2.3 volts before incurring permanent damage (although they may not actually function correctly at that level).

[Quickstrike]

Originally posted by natejj
I've tried 2 different sets of ram.

2 sets of Ballistix ram, or another brand?

I had similar problems with the PC2-8500 version. Worked for a year or so and then I got random blue screens.

Exchanged it for another pair of Ballistix.. that worked for another couple of months.

Ended up exchanging it for OCZ memory and have been problem free for close to a year.

I talked with the staff at Memory Express and they said that they had a lot of returned defective Ballistix PC2-8500 ram.
Compatibility problems with P35 motherboards, heat spreaders failing and the ram overheating.

I wouldn't settle for direct replacements, go for another brand!

Just look at some of the comments on NCIX regarding this ram.

8500 (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=24378&vpn=BL2KIT12864AA1065&manufacture=CRUCIAL%20TECHNOLOGY)
6400 (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=28916&vpn=BL2KIT25664AA80A&manufacture=CRUCIAL%20TECHNOLOGY)

[natejj]

I made a mistake, the ram is running at stock voltage. I've tried my Ballistix ram, and OCZ ram, 2 different brands. I'm on vacation, will troubleshoot some more when I get back, thanks for help so far guys.

[Zero102]

What is "stock" voltage? I had a set of ballistix and it auto-configured at 1.9V, but if you check the sheets for it they say the correct voltage is 2.2V. When I ran it at 1.9V it would randomly throw batches of memtest errors on the same blocks. As in, it would go fine for an hour or two then throw errors for a few minutes, then fine again. At 2.1V it was happy but as that was the limit for my mobo I changed it out for some g-skill ram.