Troyusa Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 I just bought a set of 2 GByte Twin X CMX2048-3200 in an attempt to upgrade my system and hopefully speed up game load time and FPS. However, every time I try to use these new memory sticks, I get system crashes. Sometimes it drops me out of games, to desktop, and other times it reboots from post. My present memory is 2 sticks of Corsair CMX512-3200 C2 DDR400 which has worked great with my ASUS A7N8X ver2.0 Deluxe motherboard. With the new 1gig sticks I have tried: -Setting all BIOS Advanced Settings to 'Normal' and 'Auto' which did result in correct (200) clock and (3,3,3,8) timings. -Moving them around in memory sockets 1+3 and 2+3 -Trying the somewhat risky step of flashing BIOS to latest ver. -I even unplugged the HHD and DVD when running memory tests to make sure power was not a problem. With all BIOS CPU/Memory settings at normal/auto, I ran memtest86 on the 1 gig sticks and did not get any error messages. However, when I ran Microsoft's Windows Memory Diagnostic 'mtinst' program it would report sporatic failures during the 'Stride6' test. At these same settings I continue to get system crashes when in Windows XP OS. The only way I was able to get the these sticks to not generate an error on Microsoft's test was to slow down the memory timings to 3,4,4,10. I am beginning to get a bad feeling that these should have been sold as Value memory and that Corsair is lowering their standards for their memory. Maybe the CMX name does not represent the quality product that it once did. Any suggestions on on correcting this problem. Are Twin X CMX2048-3200 memory modules truely compatible with my mother board? Thx, Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Try 2.75 volts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 Ya.. I forgot to mention.. I did boost memory voltage from 2.6 to 2.7 volts. My ASUS A7N8X BIOS has 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 memory voltage settings. I was reluctant to push the voltage to 2.8 without approval from a Corsair representative. Does Corsair recommend running this memory at 2.8 volts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 warrantied up to, but not over, 2.90 volts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 OK.. Thx.. I'll try 2.8 volts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 Well, I tried the 2.8 voltage setting for my memory, but I got the same result. I still see memory write failures during the Windows 'stride6' test and my system still reboots after using Windows for 5 to 10 minutes. This is very frustrating to have spent some serious money on new CMX memory and have to waste my holiday time trying to get it to work. May I send this back under warranty so that Corsair can (hopefully) send me some memory that will function properly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted January 4, 2006 Corsair Employees Share Posted January 4, 2006 Errors in that test might suggest some other problem, please set the memory voltage to 2.7 Volts and test the modules one at a time with http://www.memtest.org. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 OK, I'll try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 I tested both sticks of the CMX1024-3200 individually, in memory slot 1 OF 3. The memory voltage was set in BIOS to 2.7volts. I used the memtest86+ (ver. 1.65) as requested. Both memory sticks were tested for at least five full cycles of the 86+ memory test and did not generate any error messages. This does not surprise me as I had tried this same scenario using an older version of the original memtest86 early in my testing trials. During the later half of my testing I was using the memtest86 ver3.2. I was hoping that the memtest86+ might produce some new info on what is going on. Testing the 1gig sticks individually with the Microsoft Windows Memory Diagnostic 'mtinst' program (for multiple passes) also results in no errors. What continues to puzzle me is how the older dual Corsair CMX 512MB-3200C2 works fine on my system, but the dual CMX 1024-3200 is giving me such trouble. I KNOW that they have different timing latencies, I have been testing the CMX1024 at their specified 3-3-3-8 timings both during memtest and during Windows OS usage. As mentioned before, when I actually increased the memory timings (to slower 3-4-4-10) I was able to run the two new dual sticks with online games for hours without crashing to post. So, what's next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted January 5, 2006 Corsair Employees Share Posted January 5, 2006 What slots do you have the modules in and have you tried to reset your bios and load setup defaults and then set the timings manually like this? Also do you have the latest bios version installed? CPU Freq: 166/200 MHz System Performance: User Define Memory Frequency: 100% DDR333/400 respectivly to CPU FSB Dim Voltage to 2.7 Volts Resulting Frequency: 166MHz Memory Timings: Manual/User Define SDRAM CAS Latency: 3T SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T SDRAM Row Precharge (tRP): 3T SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 8T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 As mentioned earlier, I have tried both 1 + 3 and 2 + 3 memory slots for memory testing. Probably about 60% of the testing was done with 1 + 3 slots, as this is the configuration that I have been running my original CMX512 dual sticks in. Also, as mentioned earlier, I did flash to the latest BIOS for my motherboard. As far as setting the BIOS to default, wouldn't it be at default after a flash upgrade? But to answer the question, I have not reset the BIOS during my testing. The majority of my testing has been with the BIOS settings at auto/normal so that there would not be any incorrect settings on my part. I did set the memory voltage to 2.7 early on when I read on the Corsair website that they test the CMX memory at 2.75. When running the various memtest86 utilities, they reported correct memory settings as follows: FSB: Ram 200MHz Settings: Ram 200MHz (DDR400) CAS: 3-3-3-8 This seems to confirm that the basic memory settings were correct. I haven't set all the Advanced Settings manually as you suggested. I can do this as yet another test. I don't understand why you have a "166 Resulting Frequency" listed. Both the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Ver. 2 and the new CMX1024-3200 are specified to run at DDR400, or a 200MHz memory frequency. I will reset the BIOS and manually set up CPU and memory as you suggest, but will test at 200MHz, which is the exact same setting that I have been running my previous dual sticks of CMX512-3200C2 (for the last year). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 The motherboard isn't specified to run at a certain speed per se. It's spec'd to be able to run at the speeds that the CPU is capable of. That is, the CPU's FSB needs to match the memory speed, the motherboard is just capable at running the various buses at whatever is appropriate in relation to the FSB. That CPU have a 333 or 400 FSB? Note: That CPU came in both varieties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 6, 2006 Author Share Posted January 6, 2006 Right. But what I was indicating was that the motherboard is CAPABLE of 200MHz (as evidenced by my previous memory clocking at 200/400). My CPU is an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.1GHz Barton core, one of the later versions with the 200/400 FSB. I went ahead and reset the BIOS to default. Then I went in and manually set the CPU/memory timings as such: CPU Freq: 200 MHz CPU freq multiplier: 10.5 (2100MHZ) System Performance: User Define Memory Frequency: 100% DDR400 respectively to CPU FSB Dim Voltage to 2.7 Volts Resulting Frequency: 200MHz Memory Timings: Manual/User Define SDRAM CAS Latency: 3T SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T SDRAM Row Precharge (tRP): 3T SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 8T I went to some real world testing, as the memtest86 series did not seem to be picking up the problem. Firing up some games resulted in the same system lockups that I've seen from the start, for what?, over a week ago now? The system would either spontaneously reboot or totally freeze and require a hardware reboot. Of course the previous 2 sticks of Corsair CMX512MB-3200C2 has been working fine at almost identical settings (the voltage was 2.6 and CAS was 2.5). Just for the hell of it (and with some desperation), I decided to try the slower memory frequency that you mentioned. So I manually set the BIOS to: CPU Freq: 166 MHz CPU freq multiplier: 12.5 (2075MHZ) System Performance: User Define Memory Frequency: 100% DDR333 respectively to CPU FSB Dim Voltage to 2.7 Volts Resulting Frequency: 166MHz Memory Timings: Manual/User Define SDRAM CAS Latency: 3T SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T SDRAM Row Precharge (tRP): 3T SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 8T This has resulted in a stable system while gaming for the last couple of hours. What do you make of this? It looks like this memory only works with slower than normal settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted January 6, 2006 Corsair Employees Share Posted January 6, 2006 What does the CPU multiplier come up as if you leave it to AUTO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 CPU mutiplier in AUTO is: 10.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 9, 2006 Author Share Posted January 9, 2006 Well this discussion has been dragging on for almost 6 days. May I PLEASE get a RMA so that I can swap these for a new set of TwinX CMX 2048-3200? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabberwok Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 The reason they are asking you all these questions is because this particular motherboard is rather picky when it comes to memory. Please follow THIS link & read it ALL trying the various tips provided there. Because the problem you have sounds definitely familiar to me as I've had a similar problem once ( I got the '-E' variant motherboard but they are essentially the same board so )... Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 11, 2006 Author Share Posted January 11, 2006 Hey Jabberwok, thx for the link to your in-depth look at the A7N8X/memory settings. It looks like your efforts really paid off for a lot of us system upgraders. Unfortunately, it looks like I had already most of your recommended settings. The FSB Spread Spectrum has been set to [Disabled]. The only things I had to change to match your settings was the (to manual) AGP Frequency [66], and AGP VDDQ Voltage [1.6]. This did not make a difference. The system is still locking up and rebooting when in games, and I'm still wasting my time. I did notice that in your rather long forum thread a poster by the name of NICOLETTI was able to get his system to run after Corsair REPLACED his memory. That is where I think I am in after this long series of posts. The guys in my Clan have been reading this thread and have suggested that some other type of memory (company) should be considered. So please, no more try this and try that. I am satisfied that these are not performing to the rated specs. If it is really that tough to get these to work on ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboards, then they shouldn't be on Corsair's list as being compatible. So, for the third time Corsair, will you warranty these TwinX 2048-3200? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted January 11, 2006 Corsair Employees Share Posted January 11, 2006 Please follow the link in my signature “I think I have a bad part! Or *New* Tech Support Express” and we will be happy to replace them or it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troyusa Posted January 11, 2006 Author Share Posted January 11, 2006 Thanks, Ram Guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted January 11, 2006 Corsair Employees Share Posted January 11, 2006 Please let me know when you get the new modules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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