NF7-S rev 2.0 power on random "memory test fail"

[luisbravo]

Hi,

I have an Abit NF7-S rev 2.0, Athlon XP 2800+ (333MHz) and Twinx512-3200C2 (DDR 400).

When I turn PC on I get frequent "memory test fail".

Then a turn PC off and on again a few times.

After a few tries, eventualy BIOS does not gives the error anymore and boots Windows XP.

Everything works stable almost always.

I already ran memtest and it gives no errors.

 

What BIOS configuration is the correct one for this configuration ?

My Athlon XP CPU is 333MHz but the memory is DDR400, can this clock mismatch the cause of the problem ?

Should I configure CPU/FSB ratio to 1:1 or would it be better to use 5:6 ?

If I use 1:1 will RAM work at 333MHz ?

Should I adjust BIOS latencys in this case ?

 

Thanks for your help,

Luis Bravo

[Jabberwok]

What's your DIMMs voltage? Is it still at 2.6v? if so, You may want to try 2.7v & see if it gives you stability because when your system post if your DIMMs don'y have enough juice to properly boot up the BIOS will think your memory is defective...

[RAM GUY]

With that CPU you should be running the memory in sync with your CPU. Or AKA DDR333. If you run them out of sync it will cause a bottleneck in the chipset and may generate errors that are not from the memory.

[luisbravo]

With that CPU you should be running the memory in sync with your CPU. Or AKA DDR333. If you run them out of sync it will cause a bottleneck in the chipset and may generate errors that are not from the memory.

 

After reading a few posts here I configured the BIOS as bellow:

 

DDR333, FSB/RAM 6:6, User define 2.5,3,3,6, SDR voltage 2,7V, AGP 1,6 (I have a ATI 9200).

I made these configurations after loading BIOS failsafe defaults.

Right after that I still got "memory test fail" during POST.

Then I changed lantency to 2.5,3,3,7, but I just booted once (without error) I still don´t know if it is stable now.

[luisbravo]

Well, just a follow up.

With 2.5,3,3,7 I still get "memory test fail" on POST.

This morning I had to turn on and off about 5 times before a normal system boot.

The strange is that after that the system seems to work pretty well.

[luisbravo]

Well, just a follow up.

With 2.5,3,3,7 I still get "memory test fail" on POST.

This morning I had to turn on and off about 5 times before a normal system boot.

The strange is that after that the system seems to work pretty well.

 

I made another test, first I upgrade my BIOS to the last NF7-S rev 2.0 BIOS available at Abit, then I borrow a pair of XXXXXXXXX 400MHz value DDR RAM from a friend.

His XXXXXXXXX memories are good ones, but my Corsair one is suposed to be better.

I am still testing this configuration, but untill now there were no more "memory test fail" messages on POST.

Its is working at 333MHz, 2.6V and 2.5,3,3,6 latency rock solid.

Tested with memtest86 1.55, and I also played half a hour of Need for Speed 2 underground without errors.

Unfortunately my friend is afraid to test my Coirsar memories on his PC.

There is one more test I had to do, I still didn't test my memories after BIOS upgrade.

[RAM GUY]

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

[luisbravo]

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

I will try to contact the reseller, but I bought these memories in Brazil, does the warranty covers them ?

[Wired]

Correctamundo.