MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 939 w/ TwinX 3200C2PT

[TKarrade]

I am having some system stability problems and need some help in identifying if the issue is related to a bad stick of memory or not.

 

I'm running a fresh install of Win XP service pack 2, along with the following system specs.

 

Athlon 64 3500+

MSI Neo2 Platinum socket 939 motherboard. (bios 1.2)

2 x 512mb matched pair of TwinX 3200C2PT ram. (2-3-3-6 T1)

 

When using default motherboard settings it would set the timings to 3-3-3-8 T2 which caused numerous stability problems. After running MemTest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/) at those timings it displayed one memory address per test that would fail.

 

After manually setting the motherboard to 2.5-3-3-6 T1 (for AMD) I can run multiple memory tests on MemTest86 without a single failure... however I still have stability problems.

 

- Windows errors on startup. Description : "Windows has recovered from a serious error."

- Internet explorer crashes.

- Game crashes to desktop with windows errors.

- Random sytem reboots (followed by "Windows has recovered from a serious error" on startup)

 

These issues seem to occur more often under heavy load, however they can occur at any time even if no processes are running. I have ruled out harddrive errors by this point, but I am unsure if my tests ruled out a bad memory stick.

 

Stability DID improve when setting the correct timings, but random system reboots once an hour aren't a whole lot better than every 10 minutes.

 

Any help would be appreciated in diagnosing the problem. I do know that there is a new motherboard bios revision out (1.3) but flashing the bios is usually a last resort.

 

-TK

[TKarrade]

A co-worker suggested a possible problem might be my power supply. If my system is not getting enough power would that cause this type of behavior?

 

-TK

[RAM GUY]

Please make sure you have the latest BIOS installed in your MB and load optimized/optimal default settings, and try the following BIOS settings;

TwinX512 or TwinX1024-3200C2

Advanced Chipset:

Memclock Mode: Manual (400)

Bank Interleaving: 4/Enabled

Burst Length: 4

SDRAM CAS Latency: 2.5T

SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T

SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 6T

SDRAM Row Precharge (tRP): 3T

Frequency Voltage Control:

Spread Spectrum: Enabled

CPU FSB Clock: 200

DDR Voltage: 2.7/2.75 Volts

All other settings should be set to default settings!

Then please test them one at a time with http://www.memtest.org and let’s make sure it's not some other issue! I would run the test for at least 2-3 passes to be sure!

[MadProfessor]

i figured i would just post in here considering i am having probs with similar hardware...

 

here's the lowdown...

MSI K8N Neo2 (Latest BIOS 1.4)

Athlon 64 3500+ 90mn

Corsair TwinX1024-3200c2pt (2x512 matched)

WD 74GB Raptor

BFG 6800GToc

Audigy2 ZS

AeroPower II+SE 550W Power Supply

 

i noticed something not quite right while doing the first steps of installing XP... when it got to the point to where it was copying files, this machine kept saying it was having problems copying files from the disc... when i hit retry it would continue no problem... keep in mind ive tried to load windows several times, and it would never hang on the same files each time... hmm, peculiar... after trying different bios settings, i finally just went back to load fail safe settings, and made basic changes to match my config (i.e. First Display AGP, etc...) i was finally able to get most of windows installed... after the 1st WinXP splash screen (the one with the little blue bar scrolling back and forth) blammo... blue screen... i get 1 of 2 different variations... the 1st was IRQL_ NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and the 2nd was PAGE_FAULT_IN _NONPAGED_AREA... from looking around as much as i have, i am thinking.... is there some sort of memory incompatibility? i have run memtest86 from bootable cd through 2 complete cycles and no errors... thank you in advance for any input, and ill be happy to answer any questions to clarify....

 

since i posted this on another help forum, i have tried both sticks (1 at a time) in slot2.. (k8n book says you must use green slots for single channel config, when used in blue slot, computer will not even post)... by doing this, i get a new bluescreen error when each single stick is used... "A driver corrupted pool memory used for holding pages destined for disk"... this comes up right after the WindowsXP splash screen...

 

i have tried the suggestions you mentioned to TKarrade with these exceptions...

 

Memclock Mode: Manual (400) - i can only go up to 200

Bank Interleaving: 4/Enabled - unable to find this in my bios

Burst Length: 4 - unable to find this in my bios

 

i set everything else as you suggested and tried both 2.7 and 2.75 voltages...

 

is there some sort of incompatibility with this RAM???

 

thanks in advance :)

[RAM GUY]

Please try and install the modules in slots 2-4 or 3-4 for dual channel and then go to bios setup and load setup defaults and set the timings manually.

With this MB I would suggest you set Dim Voltage to +2.7 Volts:

CAS Latency CL=2.5

Row Cycle Time tRC Bios Default

Row Refresh Cyc Time tRFC Bios Default

Ras# to CAS# delay tRCD 3

Row to Row delay Bios Default

Min Ras# Active Time tRAS 6

Row Precharge Time tRP 3

Write Recovery Time Bios Default

Write to Read delay Bios Default

Read to Write Delay Bios Default

Refresh Period tREF Bios Default

Enable 2T Timing Disabled

Then test the system with http://www.memtest.org and make sure it's stable! If you have problems, I would set Enable 2T Timings to AUTO and test it again!