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Probable Defective RAM


Rathanel

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I have recently begun to experience a series of STOP errors on my system, both PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (several times) and UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP (only once).

 

Note: I have not recently changed any settings. I have been running practically the same setup for about 2 years now.

 

I updated all the drivers I could think of, including the NForce drivers for my motherboard, but that didn't fix the problem. After looking at the information about the STOP errors on Microsoft's website, I downloaded the Memory Tester recommended by Microsoft, and left that running thorough checks overnight. It found 34 or so errors in 11 passes, most from the ERand test.

 

Since it was unable to narrow it down to a specific memory module, I removed one of the RAM cards (I have 2 256 XMS 2700 cards) and ran some of the programs that had been causing problems recently. They have not had a STOP error since I removed the RAM card.

 

So, unless there is something I'm overlooking, I need to get my RAM card replaced. Just wanted to post the details first, since that seems to be the proper procedure.

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  • Corsair Employees
Can you tell me the exact model# of your memory module and the make and model of MB you have along with the CPU speed and it’s FSB as well? In addition, please tell me if you have the latest BIOS installed on your system and the bios settings you have set for both CPU and memory and any performance settings that you may have set?
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Eep. Sorry for the slow replies.

 

What I do know:

 

Memory Module: (2x) Corsair CMX256A-2700C2 XMS 2700 256 MB 333MHz CL2

 

MB: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe

 

CPU: Athlon XP 2800+ (clocks at 2.25 GHz, normally)

 

FSB: 2x 166 MHz (332 MHz data rate)

same for memory bus

 

I have not updated my BIOS, being somewhat wary of messing around in an area I'm not entirely certain of. However, the memory was working for ~2 years with the same BIOS.

 

Also, I ran memtest on the "bad" stick of RAM last night. It returned no errors, but I forgot to make it run the extended tests. Since the windows memory tester found 99.9% of errors in the extended tests, I would think memtest would be the same.

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  • Corsair Employees

Please make sure that you have the latest BIOS for your MB and load Setup/Optimized default settings, and try the following BIOS settings;

CMX512-2700C2

CPU Freq: 166 MHz (333 FSB)

System Performance: User Define

Memory Frequency: 100%

Resulting Frequency: 166 MHz (333 FSB)

Memory Timing: User Define

SDRAM CAS Latency: 2.5T

SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T

SDRAM Row Precharge (tRP): 3T

SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 6T

DDR Reference Voltage: 2.7 Volts

AGP Voltage: Default *unless you have ATI (9200 or 9600) or NVIDIA (5200 or 5700) then 1.6 Volts suggested!*

All other settings are motherboards defaults

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!

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Actually, it seems it isn't the RAM after all. I noticed that when I took one stick out and ran the tests, I didn't get any errors. I switched the sticks, and still got no errors. I eventually realized I was testing them in the same RAM slot on my MB, and tested them both in the other slot.

 

They both returned errors, but not only that, they returned errors on exactly the same test (test #9 on the memtest86+, if that helps). Whether this is due to settings, or the slot on the MB going bad, or something else entirely, I'm not sure.

 

I'll try updating the BIOS and see if that helps.

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