SiliconJon Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 My main system started to develop problems [after nine months of smooth sailing]. The problem coincided with a software install, so I thought at first my OS had become corrupted/damaged. When I tried to reinstall Windows XP Pro it became apparent my diagnosis was incorrect, as I then experienced issues common to hardware failure that prevented a successful resinstallation of the operating system. My first thought was the RAM, and being the easiest to change, I swapped out my two sticks of VS512MB400 for a single stick of another brand 512MB PC2100. All is well now except for these two sticks of RAM. Two questions: do all RMA's have to begin here in the forum? And do I need to troubleshoot these sticks further to see if it is one or both sticks that has gone bad? I bought them in a mfg packaged pair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 The RMA request can be made three ways: A link to our online form can be found here. Complete the form, and submit it to Corsair. You will receive a response within 24 hours, usually sooner. OR you can print the PDF version and fax it to Corsair. You will receive a response within 24 hours, usually sooner. An editable Excel version can be found here. Complete the form and email it to RMA@corsairmemory.com. You will receive a response within 24 hours, usually sooner. You can also call them @ 1-888-222-4346, or go to http://tsxpress.corsairmemory.com What system specs did you test them @, and at what timings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiliconJon Posted December 19, 2005 Author Share Posted December 19, 2005 You can also call them @ 1-888-222-4346, or go to http://tsxpress.corsairmemory.com What system specs did you test them @, and at what timings? I have not tested them. I did replace them and everything went back to normal. I could try to test them if required, but if both sticks are equally bad I won't get a POST out of my system as was the state when I swapped them. If I have to try and test them I will, RAM permitting. I don't recall the exact settings as they were made in March or April, and my log for my home systems have been slacked. I do know it was set to SPD on an ECS KT600-A, just not sure what those settings resulted in other than 400Mhz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted December 19, 2005 Corsair Employee Share Posted December 19, 2005 What are the bios settings you have set for the memory and CPU? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiliconJon Posted December 19, 2005 Author Share Posted December 19, 2005 Settings currently in BIOS: CPU FSB: 166 DRAM : 200 Clock : SPD Timing: Auto By SPD ... Burst Length : 4 Command Rate: 2T Command Write Recovery: 3T "..." consists of the following readings not adjustable due to SPD setting CAS: 2.5 Bank Interleave: 2 bank TRP: 5T TRAS: 7T TRCD: 5T This is with both sticks of RAM as I am currently getting into my OS with these sticks. Though I won't say the problem is resolved as this is how my system worked for nearly 9 months without issues, then one week I went from KRISH KRASH to KAPUT. Time to run some test while it's operating... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted December 19, 2005 Corsair Employee Share Posted December 19, 2005 I am sorry but with a 166 Mhz CPU speed you would be limited to DDR333. This is a chipset limitation. Please try these settings: CPU FSB: 166 DRAM : 166 Clock : 1-1/100% Timing: Manual ... Burst Length : 4 Command Rate: 2T Command Write Recovery: 3T CAS: 2.5 Bank Interleave: 2 bank TRP: 3T TRAS: 7T TRCD: 3T Memory Voltage: 2.7 Volts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiliconJon Posted December 20, 2005 Author Share Posted December 20, 2005 The shaded areas (CAS: 2.5, Bank Interleave: 2 bank,TRP: 5T,TRAS: 7T,TRCD: 5T) do not represent the settings on the RAM when they are shaded on this motherboard, they merely display the last manual settings used. I will have to see if Sandra of some other software will display those for me from windows. Manually changing my settings to your suggested numbers resulted in a hanging boot immediately after the first RAM check, though a hard reset and she booted to my memtest cd. Neither settings have produced any errors in memtestx86+ 1.65 for two complete passes each so far. I'm curious as to why you say my chipset will not use 166fsb on the cpu and 200 on the RAM as it operated that way just fine for nearly 9 months. I had even run benchmarks (SiSoft, PCMark, 3Dmark off the top of my head) on both settings to see if 1:1 would run faster and got noticeable improvement for the 166/200 settings. I have been unable to find any mention of this chipset limitation elsewhere. Perhaps you can answer this, but what could cause my RAM to be an unreliable issue in my system. I have had this happen before on systems in the past where they would work one moment and pass all tests, and later develop issues and fail tests. At first I thought it was the motherboards, but I shelved both the RAM and the motherboards to continue to test and eventually the RAM issue would become realiable, and the motherboards would work 100% with good replacememt RAM. I am diligent in ESD prevention as well as careful handling and storage. I would love if some test data could shine some light on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted December 20, 2005 Corsair Employee Share Posted December 20, 2005 That is a chipset limitation and if you are not getting errors in memtest then there is some other problem. But the memory and CPU Frequency must be in sync with this platform or it will cause a bottleneck in the chipset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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