Failed Memtest86+ - What's up?

[sje_123]

Hi guys,

I've been sent here to seek advise from Yellowbeard, but any help from other guys would also be much appreciated!

Over the last two days of gaming (a number of different games), after between 30seconds and 5minutes of playing, the games would crash back to the desktop. Also, I have had 2 blue screens of death and a couple of complete system hangs within windows. Previously my PC has played the games flawlessly and Vista has been stable as a rock.

I ran orthos twice, once just stressing the CPU and another time just stressing the RAM. Within 5-10 seconds of starting the RAM stressing the PC starts beeping and the test stops, CPU tests run fine.

I decided to run memtest86+ and it has produced this, but I have no idea what it means! Does it mean my RAM is knackered?

(Oh seems I'm not allowed to post links, was just the pic of memtest86+ results. Basically 7 lines of red, all relating to test #4 and all to 1792.5mb)

At the moment I cannot play a game for more than 5 mins and my system isn't stable at all. Even tried upping the voltage to the RAM slightly but no effect.

Any thoughts or comments?

Spec
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
E6600 @ 3.2
2x1GB Corsair 5-5-5-5-12 PC6400 (I can get the exact code for the memory if you need it)
BFG 8800GTX OC 768MB
X-Fi Fata1ty
2xSeagate 320GB Raptor RAID0
Watercooling, Fuzion on the CPU and EK Fullcover for the 8800gtx

Thanks in advance guys!

I haven't changed any voltages or overclocks in over 3 months and the PC is normally rock solid.

[Yellowbeard]

If you have CAS-5 PC6400, the suggested voltage is 1.9v. However, if you are unstable at 1.9v you can go as high as 2.1v if needed.

Also, you must disable Legacy USB Support when using Memtest. The ASUS boards have a conflict between this setting and Memtest so, disable it for the testing.

What PSU do you have? I don't see it listed.

[sje_123]

Hi, thanks for the reply!

I have a Seasonic 600W PSU. I'll have a look for the lagacy USB support, disable it, and run it again.

The RAM has been running at 1.9V, when things started to go wrong 3 days ago I tried upping the Voltage in stages to 2.1 with no luck.

Would having that enabled bring up the faults in memtest?

Thanks

[Yellowbeard]

Originally Posted by sje_123

Would having that enabled bring up the faults in memtest?

Thanks

Yes, Memtest cannot complete and will show errors when Legacy USB Support is enabled even if the memory is good.

[sje_123]

Where in the BIOS is the option to turn off Legacy USB support?!

[Yellowbeard]

I don't have that specific board. But, that function is going to be in the USB Configuration, probably under the ADVANCED tab. Your manual will tell you also.

[sje_123]

Thanks Yellowbeard, I couldn't see for looking!

I disabled the Legacy USB suport and ran memtest again 4 times, from 1.9V to 2.1V in 0.5V incraments. Each time I get 300+ errors on memtest86, with the most being 384 of which I took a picture to post, but it seems I haven't posted enough on here yet, but if you want to see it to look at the details then let me know and I can email you it or something.

My system is becoming more and more unstable, firefox crashing constantly, and just had a blue screen on boot up. I've never had a blue screen in almost 12 months of running this PC, and now I've have about 15 or so in the last 4 days!

Where do I go from here?

Thanks again.

[Yellowbeard]

Just to be thorough, test each DIMM individually for 3-5 passes each. If they still fail, I'd suggest you RMA and have them replaced. If they will pass seperately you may have some other issue.

[sje_123]

OK, Ill give that a try now.

Thanks.

If i do have to RMA I can't have my PC out of action for so long so I'll buy some more RAM, can you suggest some Corsair to buy? I'll be upgrading my mobo and CPU in Nov when the new 45nm Intels come out, so it needs to be quick enough to keep up with the new FSB speeds without overclocking. I dont think I'll go DDR3 yet so just some good, fast DDR2 please!

[Yellowbeard]

If you are buying temporary RAM, I'd suggest the cheapest thing you can find at your preferred retailer. It's good to have a spare set around anyway. Or, you could buy a duplicate set of what you have and you'd have 4gb of memory.

FYI, DDR3 won't work in your board so that is not an option.

[sje_123]

Yeah I realise DDR3 wont work, but I would be buying new RAM for the upgrade of the CPU and mobo in Nov, so I thought I'd buy some new decent RAM now, and keep the RMA stuff as a spare set as you said! So opinions for DDR2, I like the look of the DOMINATORS, would you recommend them?

[Yellowbeard]

The Dominator is great memory. Just keep in mind that due to the 975x chipset, your OCing may be limited. Those chipsets usually won't go over about DDR1000. They also don't seem to like dividers too much so your CPU will play into it as well.

[sje_123]

Thanks again,

Having read up on the new Intel 45nm chips etc, a quad pumped 6600 runnning at a max of say 1333fsb, prob lower, 1033fsb, my 400MHz RAM should be fine for a small overclock without any RAM overclocking, therefore I think I'm going to order another set of what I have and installed the RMA'd stuff as you said, so I'll have 4GB when ti returns.

Thanks for all the help YB, any idea on RMA turnarounds in the UK?

Steve

[GoNz0]

check for a BIOS update, it may fix the issue?

[Yellowbeard]

Originally Posted by sje_123

Thanks for all the help YB, any idea on RMA turnarounds in the UK?

Steve

No idea really. If you have the option, you may try RMAing with your retailer. If you RMA directly with us, which we are happy to do, currently you still have to ship the memory to California, USA. So, your method of shipping will play into how fast your turn around is.

[sje_123]

I BIOS version is 2004 which is the most recent I think except for the beta version.

I actually bought the RAM from SCAN.co.uk which have a forum on here so I'll ask to see if I can RMA with them! Thanks a lot for the help!