Chaintech ZNF3-150 and 2x 512 MB XMS3200

MB: Chaintech ZNF3-150

CPU: AMD 64 2800+

Mem: 2x 512MB XMS3200 400MHz kit (CMX512-3200XLPRO)

Video: BFG NVidia 256MB 6800 GT OC

OS: Windows XP Home

First off, I know this isnt a very good mb, I never would have got it if it hadnt been for the fact that I got it and the processor for $150. Heres the problem:

I just upgraded from one stick of 512 MB 333MHz DDR SDRAM from a different company. It had been running fine with just that in, but its not the best memory and I thought it was time for an upgrade to a much better option. When I first put my new memory in, everything worked great, and continued to work great even when playing games (Day of Defeat Source, Psychonauts, Half-Life2: Lost coast) for about 2 days. On the thrid day, I tried to show a friend Half-Life2:Lost Coast (which I had played through twice with the new corsair memory in) and, when I tried to enter the game, it crashed. I attempted to restart the computer and got a C1 error every time. I looked it up and that error said that it had to do with detecting the memory, so I pulled out the new sticks and switched back to the older, slower 333 memory. It booted up and worked fine. I tried one stick of the corsair by itself and it booted, got to the windows log in screen and restarted itself while windows was initializing, the next time, it restarted while windows was loading before it ever got the log in screen. The third time, it loaded, got into windows, and crashed when I tried to open Day Of Defeat Source.

I have read about a coule of options here, such as switching to the 3500 memory, or upgrading to the 250 mother board. What im wondering is what is the best option here. I love my new memory as the preformance is much better with it installed so I dont want to go back to to the older, slower module. Would it be best to just upgrade to a 939 pin mb and cpu?

Would it be best to just upgrade to a 939 pin mb and cpu?

Not IMO.

Just for the fact that you have a decent video card.

There are 939 MOBO's with AGP, but what's the point.

Unless you want to shell out for a new video card (PCI Express) and change

everything, the only advantage over what you have now is Dual Channel.

Have you tested each stick with Memtest?

What is your Dimm Voltage set to?

Ok, I tested the memory in a different computer and, as far as i can tell its working fine. I plan on trying the memtest utility as soon as I have a chance. Im new to changing the settings on memory so Ill have to teach myself how to do that as I go.

On another note, I sent that exact same question to Chaintech tech support to see if they might know something about an issue with that board itself and this was the response:

Go to Frequency Voltage Control--ïƒ DDR SKEW FINE TUNE--ïƒ Enable---ïƒ

DDR SKEW ADJUST--ïƒ Change from 0 to 1 to have it operate on both

memorty sticks.

No idea what that means, but I thought it might shed some light on this problem.

Ok, did a little research and adjusted the memory voltage to 2.7v and the mobo voltage to 1.7v (just in case), then changed my memory timings to 2.0,3,3,7. I tried several variations on that at 2.7v then I tried 2.8v and 2.9v. I can pretty consistantly get Windows to load, it just restarts after about 5 seconds.

Im going to see if i can figure out what the hell that emial from chaintech is about next.

***edit***

I made the change suggested by chaintech and a single module will now work up until the point where I try to play a game of same kind (tested with call of duty 2). I tested several different voltage/timings and none of them worked. When I tried to put the second module in, it failed to boot (same 0d error as before in the post). Ill be sending this info to chaintech too to see what they have to say. If I cant get this figured out soon, I probably just return it for two 512 DIMMS of DDR333 and see if the problem was just the FSB speeds (when I tried to change them in the BIOS it didnt even have 200MHz as an option even though the MB says it supports up DDR400.