XMS 3200XL 1GB matched pair - Suspected problem

[blacksh33p]

Hi Peeps,

 

Got an annoying system problem - I've had these superb DIMMs for about 4 months now and they have been ultra stable @ 230 with fairly relaxed timings on my Gigabyte Nforce 250 - GA-K8NSNXP for 3 months ... then suddenly the system overnight started being unstable.

 

... random lockups in windows and in games

 

I took settings back to 200 at defaults and the system was more stable but still had the odd lockup in windows.

 

So I thought maybe it's the motherboard as I have problems in the past where instability was caused by a dodgy motherboard with much the same symptoms - with RAM problems I would usually get BSOD errors.

 

Bought an Abit Nforce 250 - NF8 and had immediate problems with the system looping reset just before booting into Windows and the only way to overcome this was to cold boot at each reboot.

 

The system also corrupts on boot every 1 in 4 (approx.) times - i.e. missing system file messages in both WinXP and Win2K which can often be cured by "fixmbr" via the recovery console, but not always.

 

I've also run the memory benchmark recommended on this site booting from floppy and found that I usually get errors with both DIMMs in after about 7 mins.

 

I'm running with 1 DIMM at the moment without a problem (it seems).

 

Now my question is - is it likely there's a problem with one or other of my 512MB DIMMs? I really don't want to buy another motherboard or replace any more parts to attempt to troubleshoot - I have tried another PSU as well and the same problems ... also tried different HDD's booting from SCSI and booting from SATA and still manages to get corrupt.

 

The system is running pretty cool (52c - CPU), (54c GFX), (30c MOBO) so heat's not an issue.

 

*** I really need this system stable for work and games as I use it on average 8 hours per day ***

 

System spec as follows:

 

Processor: A64 (754) 3200 1MB Cache

Motherboard: Abit AN8 (Nf3)

Memory: Corsair XMS3200XL (512MB * 2 matched pair)

PSU: OCZ PowerStream 520w

GFX: Gainward 6800GT Golden Sample

SCSI controller: LSI Logic U320 PCI (32-bit)

SCSI HDD: Seagate Cheetah (ST336732LW) U320 (15K) - 36GB

SATA HDD: Maxtor Plus 10 (6B300SO) - 300GB

SATA HDD: Samsung (SP1614C) - 160GB

OPTICAL: Plextor DVDR PX-716A

 

Help or advice on what to do next much appreciated.

[blacksh33p]

Update:

 

Screen corruption (lockups with gfx corruption) was also a problem sometimes in games - which hasn't happened over the last 24 hours benchmarking 2005 and playing other games ... even with the GFX card set higher than usual (420/1000).

[RAM GUY]

Please follow the link in my signature “I think I have a bad part!” and we will be happy to replace them or it!