Does this sound like bad memory, or something else?

[losimagic]

RMA'd - going to wait for the new sticks now


Thanks a lot for helping me get this fairly sorted

[Splash]

2.1 is still within spec for DDR2, only reason I suggested it was that some Asus boards in particular are funky about RAM, in particular Corsair. Mine was... iffy stability wise on Auto.

[losimagic]

OK, let's say the wrong voltage was selected in Auto, would that lead to memtest showing errors on one stick, but no errors on the other?

[sleepyhead]

OK, let's say the wrong voltage was selected in Auto, would that lead to memtest showing errors on one stick, but no errors on the other?

I believe RAM should work at JEDEC standards, so 1.85v should be fine when the timing is also selected to auto (usually laxer timings than advertised on the part).

[losimagic]

New RAM should be here shortly so hopefully my problems will go away.... will leave it at auto to begin with

[sleepyhead]

Just make sure your voltage is set to what the RAM makes specify. Check with memtest and if you want to you can try and undervolt it to as close to or at JEDEC standard. Your choice on that.

[losimagic]

Just make sure your voltage is set to what the RAM makes specify. Check with memtest and if you want to you can try and undervolt it to as close to or at JEDEC standard. Your choice on that.

Instead of Auto voltage? Shouldn't Auto 'just work'?

This is the RAM - http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=632574

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18

[sleepyhead]

Like I said, it should work but motherboards/chipsets can be fussy. I'm not familiar with your board but splash mentions his Asus board (I am assuming he is inferring he has an Asus board) was "iffy" on auto.

[losimagic]

OK, thanks

I just checked http://www.corsair.com/products/go.a...N2X4096-6400C5 and it says:

Tested at JEDEC standard latency settings (5-5-5-18) at 1.9V

So I'll set it to 1.9V

[losimagic]

Well that's not helped, that's not helped AT ALL.

New RAM in - no POST and nothing on screen - not a sausage.

I reset the cmos with the jumper but that didn't help either

[losimagic]

just tried the 1 stick of old ram that i'm RMAing that had no errors and I got a BSOD

never been so happy to see a BSOD

so have Scan sent me 2 lots of bad ram?!

[losimagic]

with the 1 stick of old ram i set the bios to ddr2-800 and 1.9v, then placed 1 stick of the new ram in and it booted

tried restarting/shutdown/restart a few times and occasionally it got to vista, occasionally it blue screened, but I understand, that could be a bad vista install caused by the first lot of bad ram

so now I'm running memtest on this first new stick, then I'll do the same on the 2nd new stick and if they're both ok i'll install both of them and format/install

[sleepyhead]

WinXP Pro was b0rked for me after my faulty RAM made a meal of it. Ramp the voltage upto 2.1; it's what I left my 2x1GB PC6400 at.

Definitely run memtest with each RAM module individually and then together in the correct slots (I was assume from a picture that it is bank 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 for dual channel mode).

[EDIT] I thought mine was faulty RAM but it was the memory controller on the motherboard that went.
[/EDIT]

[losimagic]

Yes, A1 and B1 - 2 yellow slots

[losimagic]

1st stick passed memtest

put the 2nd stick in the same slot - nothing, no POST/beeps/nothing on screen

what the hell?

[losimagic]

Update:

I've now put in one GOOD stick from each set of ram that passed memtest.

Trying to install Vista, it copied the files, installed, then did it's first reboot - i've been staring at a black screen for 10 minutes now
something is very very wrong

Getting desperate for suggestions now

lol what the.. powered off/on...

'please wait while windows sets up your computer...'
'completing installation'

and now that's just ticking away with the . .. ... animation at the end of the line


and after a couple more minutes of waiting...

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH

motherboard gone?