AN-M2HD graphics crash?

[blakelock]

hi all,
i've recently built a system with winXP running on an Abit AN-M2HD motherboard and an AMD Athlon 64 4800 (2.5Ghz) cpu. occasionally the image on the LCD screen would turn into a scrambled image and the system would not respond. i thought the problem might be related to the fact that i had been swapping between the hdmi and vga outputs. i generally just use the vga output to an lcd computer screen. so i removed the nvidia drivers and reinstalled freshly downloaded drivers. things were perfect for ~month then the graphics crash occurred again. it seemed to occur when the system was idle.

i've seen this problems on other forums but no clear solutions. does anyone have advice?

[blakelock]

the bumps

[ABIT Sean]

Please post your full system specs.

[blakelock]

here are my detailed specs:

os: WinXP pro SP2 + all updates
cpu: AMD Athlon X2 4800+ (2.5GHz)
motherboard: AN-M2HD Socket AM2 mATX, Geforce 7050PV
RAM: 2 x 1Gb OCZ Platinum DDR2 800 Dual Channel 240-Pin
hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s
pwr supply: Antec EarthWatts 430W ATX12V
case: Antec SOLO Quiet mini tower

[ABIT Sean]

What settings have you set your memory to in the bios?

[blakelock]

actually, based on some other posts, i just changed my memory settings in the bios.

my current settings are:
trfc0 = 105ns
trfc1 = 105ns
(originally these were not the same value even though i have 2 identical sticks of DDR2 in these slots)
i manually increased the RAM operating voltage to 2.0 V
set other RAM timings to 4-4-4-15-2T

the system seems to be stable so far. i played helf-life 2 for ~20min just fine (previously this would crash the system).

i was annoyed when searching the OCZ website (they make my RAM). i was looking for their recommended settings and couldn't find anything! only on another forum was i able to get the correct settings.

[blakelock]

damn! never-frackin-mind my last post. the problem is NOT fixed!

i've been all over the OCZ website and cannot find a listing of the proper settings for my memory. i'm forced to scour various forums and blindly take the advice of anonymous "experts".

here are my current memory timings that seem to result in a crash every day or so:
DDR2 voltage = 2.0V
DRAM status (printed at top of bios page) = 800-4-4-4-15-2T
CAS latency = 4
command rate = 2T
TwTr command delay = 3 cycles
Trfc0 for DIMM1 = 105 ns
Trfc1 for DIMM2 = 105 ns
Trfc2 for DIMM3 = 75 ns
Trfc3 for DIMM4 = 75 ns (DIMM 3 and 4 are empty)
Twr = 6 clocks
Trtp = 3
Trc = 23
Trcd = 4
Trrd = 4
Trp = 4
Tras = 15

how's that look?
any obvious errors?

[BUFF]

i've been all over the OCZ website and cannot find a listing of the proper settings for my memory. i'm forced to scour various forums and blindly take the advice of anonymous "experts".

original Platinum DDR2 800 or Rev. 2.0?

[blakelock]

i'm using Rev. 2.

[BUFF]

CL 4-4-4-15
(CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)
1.9 - 2.1 Volts

OCZ Technology | Products | Memory | OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Platinum Revision 2

Think that someone already pointed that out to you on the abit USA forums.

[specia1ized]

I've also got the same issue with my AN-M2HD, randomly locking up and requiring a power reset. Sometimes its stable for over a week sometimes only a few minutes. I have tested my memory using memtest and it looks fine.

My setup is fairly similar to yours, these are my specs.

AN-M2HD
Athlon X2 4800+
2x 1GB Crucial DDR2 PC2-6400
Earthwatts 430 PSU
4 x Samsung Spinpoint 500GB hard drive

My Bios memory settings are left at autodetect. I can dig out what they are if needed

Have you managed to test your system with a different power supply? Think I might try that next providing I can get my hands on another to test with.

[ABIT Sean]

I've also got the same issue with my AN-M2HD, randomly locking up and requiring a power reset. Sometimes its stable for over a week sometimes only a few minutes. I have tested my memory using memtest and it looks fine.

My setup is fairly similar to yours, these are my specs.

AN-M2HD
Athlon X2 4800+
2x 1GB Crucial DDR2 PC2-6400
Earthwatts 430 PSU
4 x Samsung Spinpoint 500GB hard drive

My Bios memory settings are left at autodetect. I can dig out what they are if needed

Have you managed to test your system with a different power supply? Think I might try that next providing I can get my hands on another to test with.

Using the auto settings will not adjust the DRR2 voltages to the recommend settings. You may need to adjust the voltages for the DDR2 to ensure the stability of your system. Check your memory with the crucial website.

[specia1ized]

my memory is Crucial DDR2 PC2-6400, CL=5, 1.8V and the auto settings on my an-m2hd have set to

1.85v
800-5-5-5-18-2T

how would you suggest I manually set these to make it stable?

Al

[blakelock]

well i'm still fighting this one. my memory timings are 4-4-4-15 2T and i was running the RAM voltage at 2.0V. this same graphics crash happened again so i'm upping the voltage to 2.1V.

good luck to me.