RAM damaged with 5.2.2.2 settings?

[Stewart]

So, my PC went tits up a few days ago, and its down a mates house at the moment, as its only 3 weeks old, so he's finding out whats gone wrong, ready for a replacement.

Basically, its been running perfectly for the 3 weeks I've owned it, stable, nice temps, etc. 8:30pm yesterday I turn it off, 9pm yesterday it wont turn back on, just like that! All I get when I power on, is the power light and hard-drive light come on, and stay on, and the fans turn.

Nowt else. No attempt to boot, can't even get to the BIOS. Monitor doesn't even bother to turn on.

Now, can you damage RAM by running it at a lower latency than the bog standard?

The RAM was a 512mb DIMM of Crucial DDR400, running at 400mhz, with 5.2.2.2 settings. Could this damage it, and would it just go like that, instead of becoming unstable, etc?

[telfer12000]

I used to get this problem all the time when I played around with the RAM timings. I don't think you can damage the RAM with timing changes unless you also up the voltage.

Anyway, one of the by-products of the timing experiments was often total system shutdown along the same lines as you've outlined but I was able to get into the BIOS and reset the timings on the boards so everything worked out ok. One thing I noted is that I couldn't get into the BIOS immediately, sometimes I shut off the power and came back an hour later and it worked. One time it took till the following morning to get into the BIOS and then I got scared and stopped experimenting with RAM timings.

[Stewart]

Yes, but the system was stable for 3 weeks with the 5.2.2.2 timings, then it just went.

To be honest, it might not be the RAM, as the motherboard wont even beep telling me whats wrong, so I reckon that has gone, or the power supply is up the wall.

Bloody thing; cost me a grand, and lasted 3 weeks.

Still, at least its all under guarentee.

[Sweeney!]

didnt mean to post so ill say something a some relevance. cmos? :S

[Korky]

dejavue sweeney :S

[d_fresh1]

Originally posted by Vaul
The RAM was a 512mb DIMM of Crucial DDR400, running at 400mhz, with 5.2.2.2 settings. Could this damage it, and would it just go like that, instead of becoming unstable, etc?

wtf! crucial ram cant do those kind of timings!! do relax it to cas 3..then 3, 3, and 11 ...or somming like that...what vdimm was it? im thinking it was more than 3 vdimm...then it jus blew..

[Korky]

he cant run it at cas3, thats aweful, even crucial is worthy of better than that.

[Stewart]

Originally posted by d_fresh1
wtf! crucial ram cant do those kind of timings!! do relax it to cas 3..then 3, 3, and 11 ...or somming like that...what vdimm was it? im thinking it was more than 3 vdimm...then it jus blew..

Well, it was doing those timings, with no problems, for 3 weeks. You reckon it was too much, and thats whats caused the probs?

Anyway, I'll know for sure if it was the RAM or not in a few days. If I did have it on settings that it couldn't handle, would it just go, like that, or would I get a period of instability first?

I thought Crucial was quality...

Oh yeah - I hadn't changed the voltage, it was standard. Also, it was 2.5 CAS, not 2.

[SilentDeath]

crucial is rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishe, imo.

did you use with memetest86, or was ur idea of stability that it shouldnt crash?

[Trickle]

Um, what makes you think its the ram timings?

Tbh that would be miles down my list of things to consider if I were picking this PC to diagnose what failed.

Its worthless even speculating with the information stated thus far. I'ed take it easy and wait for your mates report

[Stewart]

Originally posted by |SilentDeath|
crucial is rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishe, imo.

did you use with memetest86, or was ur idea of stability that it shouldnt crash?

Yeah, stable as in it didn't crash for 3 weeks. Didn't test it with anything though.

Trickle: I don't think its the RAM mate, I just asked if the timings could fry the RAM, if you got them wrong. Its probably the CPU or something.

Crucial rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishe? What do the rest of you lot reckon?

[SilentDeath]

crucials main market is OEM for companys that build pcs, like dell or time for example, though i may be wrong, there site strongly suggests this. also, crucial ram is not known for good overclocking, because the sticks are rated a lot closer to the fastest they are able to run, where as samsung pc2700 can go upto pc3500 with a small voltage increase..

didnt crash for three weeks LOL, maybe in these three weeks u only used the first 50% of ur ram, the other half could easly not like the speed and give no crashes... go test it properly cos theres no point in guesswork, its possibly not even ur ram....

ull need these:
google - to find these apps
cdrw/floppy drive - to make bootable memtest86 disk
memtest86 - tests everything but mem/mobo mostly
prime95 - tests everything but cpu mostly
3d mark - tests everything but mainly gfx

[Stewart]

Originally posted by |SilentDeath|
didnt crash for three weeks LOL, maybe in these three weeks u only used the first 50% of ur ram, the other half could easly not like the speed and give no crashes... go test it properly cos theres no point in guesswork, its possibly not even ur ram....

Perhaps. I'll soon know. In fact, place your bets gentlemen; its the 3rd annual 'Whats Gone Tits Up On Stewarts Computer-a-thon.'

Minimum bet a quid.

Here's the latest odds, with a brief form guide:

The 512mb of Crucial DDR400 RAM. 2-1 fav.

Was being used on 5.2.2.2 settings, despite being 'rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishe' Crucial RAM, and is attracting a lot of the early money; but is that money misplaced? No evidence points to this being the cause of the problem, so it could just be pack betting.


Athlon XP 2600+. 3-1

Was being overclocked to a 3.2Ghz, making it a contender, but its early season form was solid, with temps of no more that 42c. Worth a punt?


The 'Eagle' Power Supply. 4-1

A good price, at those odds, as it came effectivly free with a V770 modding case, and says 'For Pentium 4' on it. The form is good, as the fans were still turning, but is this a good sign or not? Attracting a lot of bids from the other people in the house.


The £300 Sapphire Radeon 9800pro 128mb. 11-2

Had a good start to the season, with 6166 3D Marks, but has it peaked too soon, and blew a gaskget? It was being overclocked slightly, and only had stock cooling. Not to be discounted


The ABit NF7-s nForce II Motherboard. 7-1

Great value at this price, no bleeps could indicate a motherboard cock up, and despite a good solid win in the eBuyer stakes last month, it could have been a false dawn. Great value.


60gb IBM 180GXP Hard Disk. 12-1

Not attracting a lot of money, but an IBM hard drive is always worth a few quid. A bit of an unknown force this one, but not to be discounted completely. Should run from the back, and could make a late dash for glory


A screw or something else, shorting out the board. 80-1

Not really being taken seriously by the punters, but with odds that long, someone could be a very rich man in a few days time. Might come down if a few large bets are placed

Race to be run sometime between now and the middle of next week, 4:45 under the starters gun. I'll be at the race, and will report back once the results are known. Photo finishes to be decided by me, with my choice being final.

Good luck!

[telfer12000]

I'll have a couple of pennies on the board at 7-1 and a small saver on the screw loose at 80-1.


First past the post please and no stewards enquiry.

[RufusKing]

man, I didnt realise you could overclock a 2600+ that fast.... is that possible? Im pretty new to this all but I thought they ran at about 1.9ghz, thats over 1ghz of OC'ing....man... someone tell me if this is possible becuase I am buying my new comp ASAFP if so

[Trickle]

I want 6 - 1 odds or better on:

He takes it all to bits, puts it back together and it works

Sorry Val