Bad Stick of CMX512-3200c2

[brilliz]

I bought a twin pack of paired ram about 3 or 4 months ago and was recieving periodic memory errors that i at first thought were mostly program related. Eventually the northbridge fan failed and the computer froze so i had to shut it down without doing the proper shutdown methods. After i had replaced the fan i tried to boot it up and the system went into a boot cycle where it would start to load windows then crash and reboot over and over, so i just turned it off. I then tried a repair install of windows which worked for a little while but after my first time of shutting down the computer and turning it back on i got a windows could not load due to curruption in windows config file.

 

So i tried another repair install and then a full reinstall of windows (foolishly before checking memory since i have never had corsair memory go bad on me before) and i couldn't get the windows to isntall all the way it would blue screen 3/4ths through install and say bad pool header then reboot. So a while after this the bios was making long drawn out beeps and just not booting at all so i pulled out one stick of ram and got the same thing then the other stick and everything worked perfectly. I know the cause is a bad stick of ram but i am wondering if this could have been caused by a unpaired pack of ram (they came in the same package but aren't the twin ones) or if it is some kind of bios or chipset problem? I have been reading that I've been reading "a lot of people have been getting better performance running their RAM at 11 Tras on nforce 2 mobo's." Which was a thread in the FAQ section and it said that if the tras setting was too low it could cause file curruption. I have no idea how to change this or even check it so if i could get some help with that. Also, how to flash/update the bios on an A8N-SLI deluxe mobo since i don't want this same problem to happen again.

 

I bought some new ram and am going to send in the old pair to be replaced as soon as i get an RMA but the new pair that i got is a different version "XMS3202v5.2" which was the closest i could find in a matched memory pair of 512mb 400mhz xms ram. The old stick is "XMS3202v1.5" 512mb 400mhz xms. Since the board is dual channel i would think i have to have all the same type of memory or at least for the paired memory? Will the different versions work ok? Will i be able to get the replacements in the same version of paired memory so that they all work well together? I don't want to put in my new memory yet if i don't have the bios and everything configured properly so right now i am just running it off the one good stick from the old set. If anyone could tell me weither or not bad bios settings / version could cause memory curruption or how to change the memory lat settings for an A8N-SLI deluxe board it would be most appreciated.

 

Sorry for long post but i wanted to be detailed.

[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!