New PC Help - Random Restarting

[greymole]

I built a new computer and it randomly likes to restart. No indication it will restart, the screen just goes black and the computer restarts. I have: Win2000 SP4, MSI P6NGM MS-7366 v1.0 MoBo with onbaord Nvidia MCP73 graphics and Realtek HD Audio. I've installed 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-6400 C5DHX memory modules.

 

I sent a help request to corsair and they said to return them, but the motherboard website sais to make sure the timings are set correctly in the BIOS. Corsair's website also pointed me to a memory test program after I submitted my question, memtest86 2.0. I ran that at midnight last night and at 11 AM this morning it was still going and I pushed ESC to reboot. Before the reboot, the screen showed Test: 98%, Pass: 16% and at the bottom part of the screen it had a bunch of TST 5 going on and the errors listed 646656 and counting. The display table had column headings: TST, PASS, FAILING ADDRESS GOOD BAD ERR-BITS. The first two lines were 1) 5, 0, 0001e368068-483.5MB, f3ffffff, deffffff, 20000000. 2) 5, 0, 00020008768-512.5MB, 02000000, 00000000, 02000000. And it looked like these just keept repeating.

 

If the BIOS settings (all automatic right now) are incorrect, I'd like to avoid sending the modules back in. The Corsair site doesn't give all the settings that the BIOS is asking for. They just list Latency=5-5-5-18-2T 1.8v 800MHz. The BIOS has settings for: tCL, tRCD, tRAS, CMD, tRRD, tRC, tWR, tWRT, tREF, Burst Length. I haven't changed any of thess off AUTO, but the voltage was at 1.9 and the corsair website said my memory is 1.8v so I did change that.

 

Any suggestions?

[DerekT]

Download Memtest version 1.70 from http://www.memtest.org. Burn the ISO Image to a CD. The Memtest you are using is known to be buggy.

 

Set your DRAM Voltage (Vdimm) to 1.9v as your board is known to undervolt the DRAM and this is why it sets to 1.9v at Auto.

 

Boot to the Memtest v1.70 CD and allow for two full passes. If there are failures, then shut the system down and remove the second stick. Test with one stick, then remove that stick and test with the other stick.

 

Results?

[greymole]

Ran Memtest86 v1.7 and ran with both memory modules in and it got to pass 3 with around 190 errors when I quit the test. I removed one module and ran again, this time around 330 errors when I quit on pass 3. I replaced with the other module and it got to pass 4 without any errors. I think I'll start a RMA and get new memory modules.

 

Thankyou for the help!

[DerekT]

If you are finding errors on both sticks, then this would point to issues other than the DRAM. You can get RMA if you wish but it would be better to do some checking and testing to be certain that it is the DRAM and not the system settings. It's up to you though.

[RAM GUY]

Please make sure that you have the latest Bios version and then load setup/optimized defaults and set the Dim Voltage to 2.0 volts (+.2 Volts W/Giga-Byte) and then set the timings manually to the tested settings for the specific module you have, or if you have Value Select "BY SPD" and then test the module/'s one at a time with http://www.memtest.org! If you still get errors, please follow the link in my signature “I think I have a bad part!” and we will be happy to replace them or it! However, if you get errors with both modules that would suggest some other problem and I would test them in another system or MB to be sure. In addition, with some MB's (Mostly ASUS) you have to disable legacy USB in the bios when running any memory test.