ByteCoder Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I recently assembled a system and the only problem I've is that it shuts off randomly after getting into the OS or sometimes before that as well. ~~ Here's the system configuration. - Asus P4C800 Deluxe - Pentium 4C 2.8GHz Retail - 2 Sticks of Corsair CMX512-3200C2 (One in Bank0 of Channel 1 and Second in Bank0 of Channel 2, Running in Dual Channel Mode) - 2 Western Digital 120GB SATA HDD - Soundblaster Audigy LS Sound Card - 3COM V.92 Modem (Yes I actually use dialup..) - ATI All-in-Wonder 9700 - 450W Enermax PowerSupply - Chieftec SOHO Mid-Tower Case with 4 active fans (2 in front and 2 in back). ~~ Steps I've performed to isolate the problem. - Removed all misc Add-in (Sound & Modem) cards and ran the sytem, random shutdown occurs. - Changed the ATI Video card with a nVidia GeForce4 TI4200 Video Card, shutdown still occured. - Replaced the Power supply with a Antec 400W power supply, shutdown still occured. - Updated Asus Bios to the latest v1014a, crash still occured. - Changed the orientation of the Two Sticks of memory so it runs in a Single channel mode, shutdown still occured - Swapped the two stick of RAM with one stick of CMX512-2700C2 from my other system, NO shutdown occured. ~~ Deduced problem... The way I had the memory configured or the module is bad which I find hard to believe as at POST it detects all of it. I never changed any values and went with Auto for most of the items in BIOS. After reading most of the threads in this forum I decided to post my question as the bios layout mentioned by RAM Guy and others doesn't match the one I have (or i'm a fool who can't understand it, I think it the second one but that's why we have this excellent forum). Below is the listing of Memory related options as displayed in my BIOS (It's done by AMI) Configure DRAM Timing by SPD: [Enabled/Disabled] DRAM CAS# Latency: [2.0/2.5/3.0] Clocks DRAM RAS# Precharge: [2/3/4] Clocks DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: [2/3/4] Clocks DRAM Precharge Delay: [5/6/7/8] Clocks DRAM Burst Length: [4/8] Clocks Performance Acceleration Mode: [Auto/Enabled] DRAM Idle Timer: [Infinite/0T/8T/16T/64T/Auto] DRAM Refresh Rate: [Auto/15.6 usec/7.8 usec/64 usec/64T] (u=micro) Please prove me suggestion on how to configure the Memory related entries in Chipset section to get the most stability. Thank you very much in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC_SAVAGE Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Since you have no problems using a different stick altogether, try using each of the 3200's individually. The spec'd timings for the C2's are 2-3-3-6, and try a 2.7 Dimm voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByteCoder Posted December 23, 2003 Author Share Posted December 23, 2003 I understand your response but am not familiar as to what values I need to change in my BIOS as listed in my message. Where do the 2-3-3-6 setting apply to? [COLOR=green]Value Name: [Value options][/COLOR] [QUOTE] Below is the listing of Memory related options as displayed in my BIOS (It's done by AMI) Configure DRAM Timing by SPD: [Enabled/Disabled] DRAM CAS# Latency: [2.0/2.5/3.0] Clocks DRAM RAS# Precharge: [2/3/4] Clocks DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: [2/3/4] Clocks DRAM Precharge Delay: [5/6/7/8] Clocks DRAM Burst Length: [4/8] Clocks Performance Acceleration Mode: [Auto/Enabled] DRAM Idle Timer: [Infinite/0T/8T/16T/64T/Auto] DRAM Refresh Rate: [Auto/15.6 usec/7.8 usec/64 usec/64T] (u=micro) [/QUOTE] I do know how to change the power supply settings to the memory and they're currently set to 2.75volts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted December 23, 2003 Corsair Employee Share Posted December 23, 2003 These would be the suggested tiimings for 2 single XMS3200C2 modules. Configure DRAM Timing by SPD: [Enabled/Disabled] DRAM CAS# Latency: [2.5] Clocks DRAM RAS# Precharge: [3] Clocks DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: [3] Clocks DRAM Precharge Delay: [7] Clocks DRAM Burst Length: [4] Clocks Performance Acceleration Mode: [Auto] DRAM Idle Timer: [Auto] DRAM Refresh Rate: [Auto] Dim Reference Voltage [2.75 Volts] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByteCoder Posted December 23, 2003 Author Share Posted December 23, 2003 Thank you very much for your response but I have one more question on this matter.. The settings you have suggested are they for to run the memory in single channel mode of Dual channel mode to get optimal performance out of it. (Both sticks on the same channel or on different channel on the same Bank(0 or 1). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted December 23, 2003 Corsair Employee Share Posted December 23, 2003 Dual channel, use slots 1 and 3! But if you are still getting this problem I would test the modules one at a time with [url]www.memtest86.com[/url] and turn off USB Legacy support when running this program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByteCoder Posted January 4, 2004 Author Share Posted January 4, 2004 Thank you for providing the settings. I tried those in Dual mode and Single Mode and the system still crashed. At that point I removed one of the Sticks and tested the system it still crashed. I then booted off a bootable CD and ran Memtest 3 as suggested one stick of RAM at a time, took a good 5 hours and no problems were found in either of the modules. So I contacted Asus regarding this and they for a change replied to my message with a giant "canned" response. (They are terrible when it comes to tech support via email or phone) Below is partial extract of their resoibse which pertains to the module design and fabrication which they needed for me to verify from you. [QUOTE]Please ask the memory manufacturer the following questions: Have you done any certification testing with this memory module and our MB (motherboard) or any MB using the same chipset at the density you are trying to use (ex. 3*512MB DIMMS totaling 1.5GB of memory)? If the answer is no and they just build to a certain specification/standard, then who's specification/standard do they use and how do they validate their design? If they just build the memory and do not validate it how do they know it will perform? When we design our MB we follow the chipset makers spec. with regards to memory. We do validate the memory IC maker's reference designs with our MB to make sure they are up to spec. and if we need to add support for Higher density IC. Most memory module makers do not follow the IC maker's reference designs so they can use whom ever IC's on their memory Module. There is nothing wrong with this, but the problem is if they deviate from the IC makers reference designs and or even if they use the IC makers reference they should do some level of validation to insure quality. We are one of the largest MB makers so one would think that if you were making a product you would test your product with the most popular associated products. Here is a list of memory manufacturers that use our MB's as well as others to do this type of testing and also will post a guarantee that their memory will work in our MB's as well as others. Please check the following websites for compatibility: [url]www.corsairmicro.com[/url] [url]www.unigen.com[/url] [url]www.smartm.com[/url] [url]www.mushkin.com[/url][/QUOTE] Thanks again for your help. [B]It appears I'm not the only one with problems getting Memory to work properly with P4C800.[/B] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted January 5, 2004 Corsair Employee Share Posted January 5, 2004 Well if the system is passing memtest86 then there is likely some other problem. Was this a fresh format and Fdisk of the hard drive on this MB? If not I would start fresh and see if that does not solve the problem. Also you might list your complete system spec and we can try to help you. Or you can also try the unofficial [url]www.ASUSforums.org[/url] as they may have some suggestions as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByteCoder Posted January 5, 2004 Author Share Posted January 5, 2004 You are correct it was a fresh install of Windows XP Professional and then installed SP1 after it. I even reformatted the HDD and installed Windows 98 SE and still kept on getting those random shutdown problems. System specs.. - Asus P4C800 Deluxe, BIOS version v1014a as posted on ASUS site. - Pentium 4C 2.8GHz Retail Boxed. - 2 Sticks of Corsair CMX512-3200C2 - 2 Western Digital 120GB SATA HDD (NOT RAID CONFIG) - Soundblaster Audigy LS Sound Card - 3COM V.92 Modem (Yes I actually use dialup..) - ATI All-in-Wonder 9700 - 450W Enermax PowerSupply - Chieftec SOHO Mid-Tower Case with 4 active fans (2 in front and 2 in back). - Windows XP Professional with SP1 and all post SP1 patches installed. - Asus Popup installed to monitor and record temperature, voltage and fan speeds. (Everything recorded is under normal parameters.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted January 5, 2004 Corsair Employee Share Posted January 5, 2004 I have no problem replacing your modules if you like but I would encourage you if possible to test the modules on another system as that might help to isolate the problem. For the RMA if needed please follow the link in my signature. Also you might try [url]www.asusforums.org[/url] as well they may have some suggestions as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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