The curse of the 2 Ram Chips . . . .

[Shmootill]

Hi all,
I just built a comp, and have 2X 512MB Kingston Value Ram DDR3200 RAM chips (I know they're crap . .. ) My problem is that when they are both installed at same time, they make my games crash. (Battlefield Vietnam, City of Heroes.) When I take 1 out and run on 512MB, no problems. Even tried each chip individually, by themselves, they work fine. They are not in Dual Channel positions. Is it my motherboard? The RAM? Is there something in my CMOS i can change, or what? Any ideas appreciated.

Shmoo

Specs:
AMD XP 3200+ Barton
2x 512MB Kingston Value DDR 3200
Gigabyte 7NNXP (Nforce2 motherboard) (Max 3GB RAM)
Albatron 5900xt 128MB AGP 8x
420W Power Supply
6 internal fans, DPS Power, dual CPU cooling

 

[HippyWarlock]

Try putting the modules in slots 1 and 3?

What timings ie - 8-5-5- 2.5 timing
What Voltage ie- +0.2 dimm V
What cpu multiplier ?
What FSB?

 

[Shmootill]

thx guys, but I already tried ur suggestions, and they're not dual channel sticks. I'll keep plugging away at it. Any other ideas?

Shmoo

 

[ChaosBlizzard]

Check your motherboard for a bios revision. Many bios revisions include added support for new and diffrent DDR memory....

 

[Shmootill]

Update:
Have run memtest86:
1. With both chips occupying slot 1 and2 - Result: MANY errors above the 512MB point

- so I wasn't sure if this meant bad RAM, or bad DIMM slots, so:

2. tested chip1 in slot 1 Result: no errors

3. tested chip2 in slot 1 Result: no errors

4. tested chip2 in slot 2 Result: ERRORS

5. Also tried the RAM in another comp, it seems to run fine, did not crash my Battlefield Vietnam.

So, I guess DIMM2 on my mobo is shot . .. right? Please let me know what u guys think, as it looks like I'm goanna RMA my old mobo.

Thanks,

Shmoo

 

[ChaosBlizzard]

I would say it sounds like that memory slot went bad. If the warantee covers it, get an RMA. Worst that can happen is you wait a few weeks for a new motherboard to come in..

 

[mikesgroovin]

Shmoo, sounds like the DIMM slot actually went bad. Could be the chipet or BIOS still though. Is this the new board that you bought? I'm sure you already check for a newer BIOS revision on thier website right?

-Mike

 

[mikesgroovin]

BTW, welcome to T-F dude!

 

[Shmootill]

Mikeisgroovin,

Haha, gald you found my post, I wanted u to see it but didn't want to post in your area. Ya, it's a brand new mobo, and it's got a web-based bios update program, so I updated that like 1st thing. I'm pretty convinced it's a bad board, I'm getting other wierd symptoms as well. It will randomly lock - up before the POST forcing me to cut the power, clear the remaining charge, then try again. after a try or 2 it will boot. And, it has a built-in warning alarm if a fan is not working. IF I enable the "power fan" warning in the BIOS, it gives me an alarm, but all my fans are spinning fine. (alll 10 of them, lol). Anyhow, this forum rocks, the people have been very helpful so far. We need to shoot some fools soon.

Shmoo

 

[CrucialLabs]

It maybe a driver related issue as well, but from what you said about memtest failing the module when in slot 2 the board is causing the issue. Sounds like a bad slot. Might want to try taking the 1st dimm and installing it in slot 2 just to confirm this. Get a new board.