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My issue with Corsair XMS RAM


ZenWay

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My PC I've had for 2 years (not exactly but around that time)

 

Motherboard : Abit IC7 (BIOS 2.8)

CPU : P4 2.8C

Video : Ati Radeon 9700 Pro All In Wonder (Latest Drivers)

Devices : Hercules Fortissmo III Sound Card (Latest Drivers)

HDD: 3x Maxtor Drives 7200rpm (2x 120GB 1x 60GB)

CDROM : LiteOn CDRW

PSU : Enermax 480W

RAM : Corsair CMX512-3200C2 - 512MB - 400MHz (Ver 4.x)

 

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About 1 month ago I got a new stick of Corsair RAM (same as above only version 1.x). When I first installed it my computer had problems, I would boot up windows (Windows XP Pro) and after about 2 minutes it would restart or freeze up. After doing some researched and finding this website I checked a few suggestions (Changing BIOS settings). I tried these and changed the the voltage for the ram (I tried 2.6, 2.7, 2.8) Well on 2.7 it worked no more restarts and everything looked fine. Now I didn't notice any improvement and sometimes my computer would do weird things however I just ignored it thinking it was just XP and I needed a format soon.

 

As I carried on with the PC

 

a few days ago ... I got a new SATA Plextor (PX-716SA) DVD Burner

 

This is my issue I posted to Plextor, Abit and the company I got the Burner from

 

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My computer has been working fine (if I can say so) basically I'm new and have been looking all over for help after searching google for hours on end I came accross this site. I got a Abit IC7 (i875 with latest BIOS) Motherboard ...PC has been working fine however yesterday I got my new SATA DVD Burner (Plextor-716SA) when I first put it in everything seemed to go ok ... Started up windows and it found the new hardware, installed it and restarted after the reboot it reconized the device ok as a Plextor DVD Burner, however after about 5 min WinXp restarts and it would continusly do this after about 2 min after bootup

then after a while it wouldn't even boot up it would just restart after the bootup, so I booted into safe mode everything seemed to be ok but after about 10 min it started up again.

 

Now I decided to reinstall WinXp ...and during the installation I get a blue screen saying

 

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

 

STOP : 0x000000A or if I switch SATA 1 to SATA 2 I get 0x0000007e

 

I contacted both Abit and Plextor and each blame the other.

 

Then after doing all these steps I was told to do (Nothing worked), I took out the DVD Burner and still got errors

 

STOP: 0x00000024

NTFS.sys - Address F764E937 base at F7632000, Datestamp 3b7dc5d0

 

Anyways I tested each peice of hardware with 2 other computers, all worked fine

 

As soon as I put everything together except for the new stick of RAM I had it worked perfect no problems at all ...so of course its the stick of RAM, again I came back here and searched the forums, but nothing now I'm worried maybe its not a bad stick of RAM maybe it is, prehabs a BIOS setting but I'm affraid because if I put it back and everything messed up again I would have to fix everything again (which I don't want). Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

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You'll be sad to know your not the only one having problems when using the Plextor PX-716SA SATA optical drive. I've read that it would be bad news with my board for one. If you google it, it crops up alot. It's incompatible with a slew of boards out there and causes the faults and data corruption you're seeing, ie corrupting Windows Ntfs file system. cdfreak.com has a whole thread devoted to problems and solutions for various boards with this Plextor(just one example):

 

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=120684

 

The 716 series has been plagued with problems; many of which have been solved with a firmware update for the drive and/or a bios update. I doubt its your ram but you could download Memtest 86 and test it to be sure. I'd check out the aforementioned thread as someone may have posted a solution on one of the multiple pages for your particular board setup with that Plextor. Good Luck.

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Do you guys recommend I sitck the RAM back in and maybe change some BIOS Settings??

 

I will swamp the sticks of ram and post back if there is a difference or not (at work atm)

 

other then that this problem has got me running around in circles ill try the upgrade firmware on the plextor too (btw I have burned with it and everything seems fine now)

 

Just worried about getting problems again

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Ok gents!

 

I check both sticks of ram ran a memtest and here are the results

I've been reading alot on these forums and I think i can see the problem (due to many posts)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

CMX512-3200C2 XMS3202v4.2 0518069-0

 

Chipset : Intel i875P (ECC : Disabled) - FSB : 200 MHz - PAT : Enabled

 

Settings: RAM: 200MHz (DDR400) / CAS : 3-3-3-8 / Single Channel (64 bits)

 

Cached RsvdMem MemMap Cache ECC Test Pass Erros ECC Errs

512M 20M e820-std on off std 1 0

 

 

CMX512--3200C2 XMS3202v1.2 0336061

 

Chipset : Intel i875P (ECC : Disabled) - FSB : 200 MHz - PAT : Enabled

Settings: RAM: 200MHz (DDR400) / CAS : 2.5-3-3-8 / Single Channel (64 bits)

 

Cached RsvdMem MemMap Cache ECC Test Pass Erros ECC Errs

512M 20M e820-std on off std 1 0

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Is there a way to have these two stick work together? (BTW I did the test both in bank 1)

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As Wired noted above, it is usually a VERY bad idea to mix revisions of RAM, especially in a dual channel MOBO like your ABIT. In many cases, mixing RAM like you have will cause the system to not post.

 

You "might" be able to get them to run together. If not, you'll need to buy a matched TwinX pair of modules that have been prematched and tested by Corsair.

 

Try going into your bios and changing the memory SPD setting to disabled. Then, set the memory timings to 2.5,3,3,7. If this does not work, you'll need to either remove 1 stick of RAM or buy a matched pair.

 

Mike.

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Thanks Mike and everyone else who helped so far so good and its been a few hours I put the sticks in Bank 1 and Bank 2 (is that best?) I did what u said and changed the timing and voltage is at 2.7, hopefully everything will work out ok, thanks the tech suppor here is awsom!

 

edit: My system crashed after this post got the BSOD I now switched stick #2 to bank 3

 

Maybe your right I might have to get a new pair too bad this forum doesnt allow people to exchange would be nice don't feel like paying out the cash again but oh well thats life :)

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