VOGONS


First post, by nd22

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I want to share with fellow members my 775 builds. This period is one of the most interesting in history: going from single core Pentium 4 to core 2 quad which can still be used today! I have several LGA775 builds but only with the latest one I encountered problems.
The components are as follow:
CPU: Q6600 G0 revision
Cooler: cooler master hyper 412r
Motherboard: Abit IN9-32X MAX
RAM: OCZ DDR2-800 SLI edition 4 sticks
GPU: 7900GTX
HDD: WD 2tb
ODD: LG
PSU: Corsair RM1000i brand new
Case: open test bench
The problem is the memory: each stick tested with memtest is OK; 2 of them tested together pass memtest just fine; the problem appears with all 4 sticks installed - memtest fails and the system is highly unstable! I disabled SLI-ready memory in BIOS and put all timings on AUTO but to no avail! i set manually the voltage to 2.1V instead of 1.8 but still getting errors in memtest!
Should I lower the frequency of the memory to run synchronous with the CPU? Now is 800 MHz.

Reply 1 of 11, by tpowell.ca

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What size are your sticks?

I have an intel LGA775 board that supports (according to the manual) 8GB max at 667MHz, athough truth be told, I'm using 4 sticks 2GB each at 800MHz just fine.

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    Tesla: GA-6BXC, VIA C3 Ezra-T, 256MB, 120GB SATA, YMF744, GUSpnp, Quadro2
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Reply 2 of 11, by weldum

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I would say it's a psu problem, but your psu is more than enough and is also new so...
I know it's not exactly related but i have an athlon 64x2 5000+ on a biostar a770 a2+ board, it supports 4 sticks but, when using 4 800mhz sticks, disables dual channel and defaults to 667MHz, otherwise with 2 sticks works perfect
yours may be a similar problem, some kind of incompatibility

DT: R7-5800X3D/R5-3600/R3-1200/P-G5400/FX-6100/i3-3225/P-8400/D-900/K6-2_550
LT: C-N2840/A64-TK57/N2600/N455/N270/C-ULV353/PM-1.7/P4-2.6/P133
TC: Esther-1000/Esther-400/Vortex86-366
Others: Drean C64c/Czerweny Spectrum 48k/Talent MSX DPC200/M512K/MP475

Reply 3 of 11, by agent_x007

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1) Latest BIOS (THE MOST important thing to do) ?
2) Have you tried increasing NB Voltage (not sure which one is NB for nForce... SPP or MCH) ?
3) 4x2GB or 4x1GB ?
4) Have you tried forcing looser primary timings or Command Rate (if so what values you used) ?
5) XMP/EPP profile was made for Dual Channel memory with two sticks, BUT if Memory Controler can't take it on max capacity - you can't use it.
6) Incompatibility is possible, but ridiculus since OCZ memory has EPP profiles for nForce chipset MBs (which OP is using).

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Reply 4 of 11, by nd22

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1. I got the latest official BIOS which is version 15! On www.soggi.org - one of the best websites for Abit boards!!! - there is a Beta version which is 17. i downloaded but have not flashed to it - never used beta Bios!
2. I did not increased north-bridge voltage - the nvidia nforce 680i SLI is known for running hot and it is!
3. 4*2 GB OCZ DDR2-800 SLI ready memory with EPP profile: 5-4-4-15
4. I disabled EPP profile and let the memory run at 5-5-5-15 2T command rate
5. That is exactly why I disabled EPP profile with 4 sticks!
6. I used OCZ because it has EPP profile for 680i chipset!

Reply 6 of 11, by FFXIhealer

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Another option.... remove all power-drawing items that are not necessary to testing the memory from the system. If your MB has an integrated GPU, use it and take any discrete graphics card out.
Remove all memory sticks but one from the system. Make sure you put the remaining stick in the first, primary memory slot.
Test each memory stick fully in that same slot - verify there is nothing wrong with THAT STICK.
Once all sticks have been verified, boot the system and test with two memory sticks by putting a 2nd in the matching memory slot (usually DIMM1/2, or slots 1 and 3 in a 4-slot system). This is for Dual-channel mode. Re-test the memory with that stick.
After that, add a third stick into the third slot. Retest memory. If it passes, MOVE the 3rd memory stick to the remaining memory slot and retest.
If it passes, you have verified that all 4 memory slots work.
If it fails, then you've found a BAD MEMORY SLOT.
If after all tests, all 4 memory slots work through testing, yet fails the tests if all 4 are populated, then you can draw your attention to power delivery. This could be a bad PSU or bad capacitors that should be replaced (like on older motherboards).

Be thorough with your tests. You can eliminate possibilities until you're left with only one cause of your issues. Asking people online can only get you ideas.

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Reply 7 of 11, by nd22

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I tested each memory module 4 times in every single slot! All modules are good! Put a fan on the north bridge - temperatures are down - however 680i SLI is known for running hot!! Lowered the timings to 6-6-6-18 will result in fewer errors - from hundreds to dozens - in Memtest86 however I still get them!
The power supply is Corsair RM1000i brand new - already used in 2 other builds with no problems whatsoever! Should I increase the memory voltage, now is at 1.8V and I seen posts on the web with the same motherboard but different memory that recommends using 2.1V! I downloaded the BETA bios 17 from http://WWW.soggi.org which adds support for E0 stepping - should I flash it? - has anyone here used a Beta bios?

Reply 8 of 11, by Intel486dx33

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I use a Gigabyte motherboard GA-P43T-ES3G which you can buy on Aliexpress from $35 refurbished.
No problems and works great.

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Reply 9 of 11, by nd22

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The subject of this PC is to create an era correct build (for 2007) around an Abit motherboard! I tried already the CPU and the RAM in an Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI with nvidia 650i SLI chip-set and the problem appears there as well: the system runs fine with 2 RAM modules but with 4 it crashes!
I can tell you that I already have one 2007 build around Abit AW9D-MAX and another one around IP35 PRO in progress and from my personal experience the boards with Intel chip-sets are far more stable and compatible with just about any RAM/GPU/HDD/SSD than these boards with nvidia chip-set! It seems that nvidia chip-sets for LGA775 are not as good as those for socket 754/939/AM2!

Reply 10 of 11, by SW-SSG

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^Well, Nvidia is responsible for the memory controller in LGA775 motherboards with Nvidia chipsets, so that's not completely surprising; Nvidia may not have had as good a knowledge of how to design a memory controller as Intel or the other chipset vendors did. The memory controller on AMD K8 boards is in the CPU itself, preventing most any possible meddling by the chipset vendor.

Reply 11 of 11, by zstandig

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In my experience, some boards just don't like some memory and vice versa. I've had boards accept some sticks and reject others that were otherwise fine and were the same model and make.

Some things to try:

Check if there's a "new" bios update, or look and see what the bios updates handle
Re-seat the RAM
Try the RAM in different slots
Try different sticks
Make sure the sticks are absolutely identical
Check documentation that the sticks are within spec

That's the only advice I can think of, best of luck