softnerd Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Hello. I've been building PCs for 11 years, and spent 3 years as the lead tech for a large company, so I'm not quite a newbie with this stuff. I purchased a matched pair of CMX512-3200C2PT sticks about 8-9 months ago from Newegg.com (they have a 'TWINX' label on them). The system ran fine for several months and then I started seeing periodic BSODs...a pretty even distribution of 'Page Fault in Nonpaged Area', 'Bad Pool Caller', 'PFN List Corrupt', and 'IRQL Not Less Or Equal...' -- you get the idea. All memory address/page fault messages. I didn't do much about it at first because it only happened 1-2 times a week. As time went on that got up to once a day. At that point I ran the gambit of updating all drivers and system BIOS, clean-sweeped and reinstalled audio and video drivers, etc. The crashes got more frequent until I finally decided to format and reinstall Windows XP. The clean install of XP, SP2, all new drivers, etc. didn't help. At that point I was even beginning to get corruption in my system registry and I/O problems like corrupt downloads, corrupt saves in games, etc. My web browser even stopped running JavaScripts regardless of my security settings. The system would BSOD with one of the above messages about every 2 hours, sometimes less. Since I was mostly having problems seeming to revolve around 3D apps I tried a different video card--which didn't help either. Once I noticed that I could delay the problem a bit by deleting and rebuilding my page file I knew it had to be RAM or something in the disk I/O. I tested my hard drive and ran surface tests and found no problems. Finally I tried some RAM test software, including MemTest86+ v3.0. What I found is that one stick of the RAM produces LOTS of errors in various tests and the other produces none at all. I tried different combinations of sticks in memory banks with no luck. I also tried upping the voltage for the RAM to 2.65, 2.7, and 2.75 with no luck. Now I'm running my system with the bad stick out and everything is back to normal. This seems pretty open-and-shut to me. This RAM has to be bad, right? Thanks! Here is my system config: Athlon64 3000+ averages 39C at full load MSI K8T-Neo Motherboard - newest BIOS 2 (now 1) stick(s) CMX512-3200C2PT @ 2.5-3-3-6 DDR400 ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Samsung SpinPoint 160GB SATA Hard Drive Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 Thanks again for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted December 1, 2004 Corsair Employees Share Posted December 1, 2004 Please follow the link in my signature “I think I have a bad part!” and we will be happy to replace them or it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softnerd Posted December 2, 2004 Author Share Posted December 2, 2004 Ok, these were actually purchased as a TWINX1024-3200C2PT product, so I'm going to have to send them both back. :[pouts: I got my RMA and notified them that I'd be sending two modules. Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted December 3, 2004 Corsair Employees Share Posted December 3, 2004 Yes, but please make sure the RMA is for 1 Twinx set and not 2 CMS modules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softnerd Posted December 3, 2004 Author Share Posted December 3, 2004 The customer service rep asked me if it was a TWINX set. I replied that it was and she said I would need to send both. She said I could use the same RMA she originally issued for the 1 module, so I'm assuming she updated the RMA record to show that I'm sending a TWINX set. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted December 3, 2004 Corsair Employees Share Posted December 3, 2004 No problem, I would send an email to her just to confirm it. But please let me know if you have any questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softnerd Posted December 10, 2004 Author Share Posted December 10, 2004 Ok, I got my RMA for the two modules and am preparing to send them in. I just purchased another CMX512-3200C2PT module from Newegg.com to use in the meantime and I will keep it for a total of 1536MB of RAM. Unfortunately, this new module has a different number in the upper-right of the label and will not work when installed along with my working CMX512-3200C2PT module. The modules work when installed separately, but not when installed together. When I install them together the system won't POST...it just beeps like it can't use the memory. I've tried less aggressive timings to no avail. Also tried swapping them around to different slots. The modules are apparently not compatible despite having the same part numbers (CMX512-3200C2PT). Should I return the new module or do you think my replacements for the old modules will be compatible with my new one? My motherboard has 3 DIMM slots which are one bank each, so I can't understand why 2 (or 3) nearly identical modules wouldn't work together. My old pair worked fine aside from one causing errors...still the system would POST. The system won't POST when I combine the new module with the old. Any ideas? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted December 10, 2004 Corsair Employees Share Posted December 10, 2004 First thing, with AMD64 platform, you need to have all modules identical both in part# and revision, or the system as you found out will not post. So yes I would send it back or use it in another system. In addition, the CPU white papers suggests DDR 333 when you use more than one double sided module and DDR266 with all three slots filled, I would suggest you check with the MB maker and see what they have to say, but they would not be able to change the basic limitations of a given platform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softnerd Posted December 10, 2004 Author Share Posted December 10, 2004 I've already tried DDR333 and DDR266 with no luck. Great, so if I ever want to fill that 3rd DIMM slot I somehow have to find a revision of the module that you guys probably don't even make anymore, on top of the fact that vendors don't specify a revision on their websites. Seems to me that I read about people using unmatched modules in their Athlon64 boards all the time. Could this be an issue of these particular modules or my particular mobo (MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R) being extra sensitive to this? I've never heard of Athlon64 systems refusing to POST unless the modules were drastically different or not compatible at all. Will the modules I'll receive to replace my old set be the same revision as the ones I send? If I could get them to replace the modules with the new revision that would solve my problem. Otherwise it looks like it will be pretty near impossible to ever upgrade my RAM in this system. :mad: My other system uses 168-pin DIMMs, so the extra module is useless to me if I can't make it work in my main system. Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softnerd Posted December 10, 2004 Author Share Posted December 10, 2004 By the way, I'm on a single channel platform. From what I'm reading, this should definitely not be a problem. Now I'm actually getting a little annoyed about this situation. If Corsair makes a really significant revision to the architecture of a module they should give it a new part number or somehow make it possible to locate a compatible module thru a reseller (include the revision in the part#?). Otherwise, how are people supposed to be able to find a compatible module to upgrade? This must be a huge difference for the modules to be incompatible in a single channel system (uses different chips that don't like each other = bad decision). It sounds like what's going on is that Corsair decided to make a major design change to this part (got a sweet deal from another chip fab) and now anyone with the old version is S.O.L. on ever upgrading their system RAM without replacing all of the modules. I would have to find an old (likely used) module that matches my rev. of the design. That stinks. In all my years of system building and tech'ing I've never 1. Had a memory module go bad in the first place. 2. Been stuck unable to upgrade system memory because I couldn't find a module that's a close enough match (even the same part!?!?). Is there any way I could get my bad set replaced with a newer revision of the module since they're getting replaced anyway? If not can you tell me where I can get another v1.2 module? I would prefer another v1.2, but I don't know where to find one. I REALLY don't want to spend $350 on all new modules just so I can get another 512MB. I'm very dissatisfied with this situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softnerd Posted December 13, 2004 Author Share Posted December 13, 2004 Bump. Do you think that Corsair will help me do something about this? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted December 13, 2004 Corsair Employees Share Posted December 13, 2004 Yes, please send an email and explain the issue to them by email and we will replace them. Please follow the directions under "I think I have a bad module" under this forum or if you have trouble, Please send us a email with a copy of the form or all of your info name address and phone# and the Module part# and copy the link to this post and email it to Rma@corsairmemory.com. If after 1 day or 24 hours excluding weekends you do not get the rma please email the same to warranty@corsairmemory.com and we will help to resolve it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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