MemTest issues with Asus R2E & TR3XG2000C8GTF

Hi

I have just built a new i7 975 system and it has not been stable, and steadily getting worse and worse over the last few days. I have not been overclocking, just wanting to get a stable system.

Yesterday I ran a series of memtest checks to try to determine if the memory was a problem. I set the profile to XMP2000 which set the voltage to 1.65 and the timings to 8-8-8-24, and ran memtest for 2 passes for each DIMM individually, in each blue slot.

Each pass was successful. However when I put all three DIMMS back into the slots and ran a final memtest, I got heaps of errors on the second pass.

I have also got errors from memtest when running it with BIOS defaults.

At the moment I am not sure if the memory is faulty or not, and I am after some advice as to whether this is the case from these memtest results?

I don't have any spare DD3 memory to test against to see if I get errors which would indicate a faulty motherboard, however I do have some CM2X2048-8500C5D in another machine I could try. I haven't tried this yet because that memory isn't listed on the corsair site as being compatible with the R2E, and I am wary of putting in good memory if the mobo is the faulty item.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Matt

Done more testing tonight. I have set the bios back to its defaults, then set DRAM voltage to 1.65, QPI/DRAM voltage to 1.6, CAS timings to 8-8-8-24. Everything else is default (which is mostly auto) and this results in a cpu frequency of 3325 and memory frequency of 1333.

With these settings I can successfully boot into vista and run LinX linpack tests and it seems stable. (More stable than it has been with any other settings anyway). I have run 3 passes of 20 runs of LinX and all has been ok. However this has only been with 2 of the sticks of ram inserted. If I install the 3rd stick I get bluescreens when booting into vista, or lock ups. The BSODs are all Page Fault in Non Paged Area.

Can anyone suggest any settings changes that might allow me to install the third stick of memory?

I guess it's possible that I don't have any faulty kit and that it is just bios settings that have been the problem, and if I tweak it a little more I can get it stable with 3 sticks of ram in?

I've been reading the posts here about the 2000mhz memory, and it being suggested that it won't run at that speed with a 920 processor, when I set the only available xmp profile in the bios it sets the freq at 2006mhz with 1.65v dram and 1.6 qpi. I am running a 975 processor, so it looks like I won't be getting anywhere near that clock speed either (with standard air cooling anyway). I'll settle for stable though :)

Cheers

Matt

Hi RamGuy

I have version 1306 of the BIOS, I have set the bios settings back to default, but I don't know what EXM is.

There is XMP, RoG or CPU up or Mem up, or auto and manual for the overclocking settings.

Can you give me details of where I can find that setting in the Bios?

Thanks

Matt

Ok cool, I was wondering if it was a setting i had missed in the many that are available :)

I have to say that setting the bios to default, and then setting xmp to the only profile available (2000) was the first set of results I posted about.

I ran mem test on each of the dimms individually for 2 passes of memtest86+ (version 2.11) in each of the blue slots on the MB (this took a while :P ) and they all passed.

However once I put all three dimms back in, memtest failed, on test 6 of pass 2, I think.

Should the ram be stable at default bios settings? As I did some tests this morning before I left for work with stock bios settings.

Dimm Stick 1, mem test reports:

DDR3-1336, 9-9-9-24, 133

- failed mem test in first pass at test 6.

Dimm Stick 2, mem test reports:

DDR3-1376, 9-9-9-24, 137

- passed 2 passes of memtest

Dimm Stick 3, mem test reports:

DDR3-1336, 9-9-9-24, 133

- failed memtest, first pass, test 6

Then I tried changing DIMM slots, but I ran out of time, however:

Dimm Stick 3 in slot 2, failed to boot at all, lcd poster stayed at 'locked'

Dimm Stick 2 in slot 3 (which was a slot that dimm stick 3 failed in)

passed one pass of memtest, reported DDR3-1336, 9-9-9-24, 133

Not sure why the stick that passed tests was running with slightly higher frequencies, the processor freq was higher too, would this be because the intel turbo is enabled in the bios?

I will try to test each stick in each slot at default bios settings with XMP 2000 set again tonight and report results.

Oh and the bios was reporting around 1.5v dimm voltage and somewhere around 1.2v qpi voltage for all these tests at DDR3-1336.

I have ordered a set of TR3X6G1333C9 as a backup and test set of ram (always handy to have some spare), which should arrive early next week, so I can try these sticks to try and diagnose the issue. Although before I install any other memory can you confirm the exact settings I should have the BIOS set to? At least it might indicate a motherboard issue rather than ram issue then.

Many thanks for your help

Matt

Ok, just to confirm, I'll set the bios defaults, then set xmp 2000, then try each stick individually with memtest.

I will then try all three sticks together and if it fails I will raise qpi voltage and try again.

Thanks

Matt

Hi RamGuy,

Here are the results from my testing:

Tests at XMP2000 profile, using memtest86+ v2.11, QPI voltage at standard for XMP2000.

stick 1, dimm slot 3, 143 FSB, 1001mhz, DDR3-2002 8-8-8-24 Failed pass 0 test 3

stick 2, dimm slot 3, 143 fsb, 1001mhz, DDR3-2002 8-8-8-24 Passed 2 passes, no errors

stick 3, dimm slot 1-3, no post, machine would not boot, lcd poster stayed at 'Locked'

Tests at XMP 2000 with QPI set to 1.65v

stick 1, dimm slot 3, 143 fsb, 1001mhz, DDR3-2002 8-8-8-24, Passed 3 passes no errors

It seems that stick 3 has failed completely now, I tried putting it in slot 2, with one of the other sticks in slot 3, the pc would post and boot up, but only detected 2048mb rather than 4096.

I am running memtest again with the two working sticks of ram, with the qpi set to 1.65v to see if that configuration passes.

Matt

Thanks RamGuy

I'll fill the form in now.

Matt

I do have one more question :)

I have a set of TR3X6G1333C9 ram coming that I will use whilst the RMA is taking place.

What bios settings should I use on my Asus R2E that will allow it to run stable? Should I just set it back to BIOS defaults and leave it at that.

Also can you suggest settings for the Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME motherboard BIOS as I have access to one for testing purposes, just standard settings (not overclocked) for a stable system.

I am trying to determine if any other components in my system are faulty (fingers crossed they aren't) but I'd like to know what settings I should use for both motherboards with that ram.

Thanks for all your help!

Matt

Waiting to get my same ram your getting. I can't wait. :D:

Ps: new bios 1406 just released!