Possibly motherboard problems?

[zdozbou]

I bought a new computer recently, and have been having problems with it. When i got the PC, i installed Windows Vista Home Basic, and everything seemed fine. After a couple weeks, i started receiving memory errors while multitasking. Eventually, the machine would also reboot itself at random times. I thought maybe Vista was screwed up, so i formatted and installed Win XP. It took 3 attempts of installing XP for it to finally complete (the install would error out at random points during installation). Once i got XP on the machine, i began installing all my software, and the problems started happening again. At this point, i thought maybe i had a bad stick of RAM (im running 1gb x 4). I removed all 4 sticks of RAM, and inserted 1 stick at a time. I continued to receive the error messages with each stick of memory. I also ran memory tests on all 4 sticks, and let the tests run for hours. According to the tests, the memory sticks have no problems. Finally, i put all 4 sticks back in, formatted again, and attempted to do another clean install of XP. I had to attempt the install several times before it was successful, but now im still receiving the same exact error messages, as well as rare random reboots. The error messages do not seem to be program specific, but they do seem to happen alot when i multitask. I've also downloaded all Windows updates, and they do not correct this issue. I've tryed to contact the business i purchased it from for two months now, and i cant get a response at all, so i guess im going to have to fix it myself. If i knew for sure it was a bad motherboard, i would just buy a replacement. If it matters, im running a nvidia 650i P5N board. Any advice is very much appreciated!

 

[b1gapl]

Is that the P5N-E?...because I have that motherboard. I did hear of it having problems with running memory in all the slots. So make sure you update the BIOS of the motherboard to the latest. I only use my black slots, because the yellows were giving me trouble.

And...
Welcome to Tech-Forums!!!

 

[wicked23]

Welcome.

Are you running a 64bit os or a 32 bit os? 4 gb of ram is only good for 64 bit os.

What do the error messages say?

 

[fireball]

I would try updating the BIOS. If the motherboard is the reason for the errors, updating hte BIOS usually helps

 

[zdozbou]

Yes, it is a P5N-E. I have tried running each individual stick of memory by itself (1gb at a time) and i get the same error messages. The installs ive tried are both 32 bit, and i realize since im running a 512mb video card, that i can only use 3.5gb of system memory, which is fine. Here is word for word the exact memory error message im receiving (please note, the memory locations are different every time it errors).

The instruction at "0x02254550" referenced memory at "0xbd75760d". The memory could not be "read".

Click OK to terminate the program
Click on CANCEL to debug the program

Thanks for the advice, and thanks for the very warm welcome! Going to see if i can figure out how to upgrade BIOS and see if that helps.

 

[b1gapl]

Maybe it's having memory compatibility issues, which the newest BIOS should fix. I believe the newest one is 0901.

 

[veedubfreak]

Ya, its a common thing for some nvidia chipset boards to not like having 4 sticks of memory in it. Have you tried running with just 2 sticks?

 

[zdozbou]

Well, i flashed BIOS to 0901, and everything so far seems to be running smoothly (knock on wood!). Running three everquest boxes right now, trying my best to make it error out! lol. Thank you very much for advice all, will post back tomorrow to let you all know if this solved my problem or not.