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Hardware issues, troubleshooting help


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I've been having interesting issues with my desktop lately (see sig), and wanted some advise about my options...

 

It started with my nvidia onboard LAN, it decided to die (continuely disconnecting/reconnecing). Driver updates unfortunately did not fix the issue, so I've had to rely on the marvel yukon onboard LAN (which has the same issues, random disconnects/reconnects, but not as frequent). Shortly after this occurred, my PSU died. Having got a replacement, all other components seemed ok, apart from the LAN. To add to that, my system seems to have a problem cold-booting. I'll get a BSOD (usually "IRQ less than or equal to") the first couple of attempts, after which it'll boot up fine like nothing ever happened. On some occasions, after booting, my antivirus (previously symantec corporate, now kaspersky) will state that my definition files have become corrupt, but once updated are fixed. Otherwise I don't notice any particular instability in my usual computing activity.

 

I thought a reformat w/XP SP2 might do the trick, but unfortunately it didn't and I'm having the same issues...My system is not overclocked. I've checked my new PSU's rails and they seem fine under all conditions. If anyone has some suggestions, I'd love to get this issue under wraps! Thanks in advance, cheers

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I recall from my o/c days that BSODs usually pointed towards RAM. From when I first setup this rig, I used to get a lot of instability. I found that when I changed RAM slots (formally slots 1 and 3, now 1 and 2), it solved the issue, and my pc was for all accounts rock-solid for over 1yr, up until the onboard LAN and finally PSU died recently.

 

Once I'd installed the new PSU, I did notice my computer seemed a bit more laggy. Upon looking in the BIOS, I found that the ram was set to 133 Mhz (the m/b was using "BY SPD" setting) and voltage 2.5v. This ram is rated to 250mhz @ 2.8v, so I bumped the voltage up to 2.8v and its speed up to run 1:1 with my processor @ 200mhz. Upon closer inspection of my BIOS, I found it strange that the genie bios reports the ram voltage as "DRAM 2.5V voltage", so I'm wondering if in fact I changed the right setting (manually adjusted using "DRAM control voltage" setting)? I'm a bit lost on this DFI board...I'll run some memtest overnight, and hopefully have some results. Otherwise, any other suggestions appreciated cheers.

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By changing the slots the ram is in definitely point to ram instability. With the ram currently in slots one and two you are no longer running dual channel. There is not as much load on the memory controller so it is more forgiving with incorrect timings.

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By changing the slots the ram is in definitely point to ram instability. With the ram currently in slots one and two you are no longer running dual channel. There is not as much load on the memory controller so it is more forgiving with incorrect timings.

 

Agreed! Put the ram back into dual channel mode and the correct stock voltage and speed and run memtest of the BIOS. Let see if you get some errors!

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Thanks for your replies. I recall from when I was researching components to purchase for my new rig that particular ram brands played well with particular slots on the DFI boards, and I thought perhaps that had something to do with why I was getting more stability from one configuration rather than the other. I also attributed it to perhaps having one of my DIMMS too close to my HSF, not creating a "healthy" environment. I would've thought the fact that I'm not running DC should mean there's less strain, hence less chance for BSOD. I just checked my timings with CPU-Z, and I'm running 3-3-3-7 @ 200mhz (by SPD 3-4-4-10 @ 250mhz). I shall investigate further...cheers

 

*UPDATE* I just fiddled inside genie bios, and I found all RAM settings "auto" by default...also noticed the BIOS had a couple of bugs, like for example when I was seeing what FSB speeds I had available for my ram, it was displaying values in the "400mhz" range, or wouldn't let me cycle below 200mhz. BIOS date 07/06/2005 is it worth updating? Cheers

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Is this the memory you have? If yes I had it as well and it run for about 3 months! I knew that you shouldn't OC the 2x1GB kit's because they die quick but I did it anyway! Can you post your memory settings so we can take a look on it! :)

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thnx for your reply, HITandRUN...and yes that looks like the kit I'm running. Haven't had a good look @ them for a while, particularly for corrosion...I don't recall ever reading or hearing about that issue when I was researching the kit, had heard very good reviews...having said that, the main settings I'm aware of I've posted (3-3-3-7 @ 200mhz), keep in mind since I'm not overclocking I've never really delved too deep into my genie BIOS and all RAM settings were set to "auto" from what I saw last night. I know there are some programs that might give more in-depth settings in GUI, if you want some screenies let me know what progs to use. Cheers

 

*EDIT* I was doing a thread search, and not too many results on bad kits, just those that I read on the newegg link. Although consensus seems that they don't behave with too high VDIMM, which seems weird considering they're rated to 2.8v. I might turn it down a notch to 2.7v since I'm not running @ DDR500, otherwise any other suggestions? I've been getting a lot of CRC errors when extracting archives lately, I guess that's not a good sign either...thought that was solely dependant on hdd, and since I'd reformatted I installed nvidia's IDE drivers without thinking (never used them before, read about similar crc issues). Cheers

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:)

thnx for your reply, HITandRUN...and yes that looks like the kit I'm running. Haven't had a good look @ them for a while, particularly for corrosion...I don't recall ever reading or hearing about that issue when I was researching the kit, had heard very good reviews...having said that, the main settings I'm aware of I've posted (3-3-3-7 @ 200mhz), keep in mind since I'm not overclocking I've never really delved too deep into my genie BIOS and all RAM settings were set to "auto" from what I saw last night. I know there are some programs that might give more in-depth settings in GUI, if you want some screenies let me know what progs to use. Cheers

 

*EDIT* I was doing a thread search, and not too many results on bad kits, just those that I read on the newegg link. Although consensus seems that they don't behave with too high VDIMM, which seems weird considering they're rated to 2.8v. I might turn it down a notch to 2.7v since I'm not running @ DDR500, otherwise any other suggestions? I've been getting a lot of CRC errors when extracting archives lately, I guess that's not a good sign either...thought that was solely dependant on hdd, and since I'd reformatted I installed nvidia's IDE drivers without thinking (never used them before, read about similar crc issues). Cheers

 

Well, like I said! Just run the memtest straight from the BIOS and if there is something wrong with your mem settings or the memory it self it will show errors.

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*UPDATE* Loosened my timings to stock (3-4-4-10), ran memtest during the day today (10+ hrs, standard tests), just came home and found one error =$ on the 9th pass during test #4. I recall when I had some bad ram in the past, it showed more than one error in memtest whereas this present case it had performed a further 2 passes after the first instance and not encountered any errors *shrug* where to from here? Cheers

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Well it could be your secondary ram settings! You should write all your settings down and show it here so we can take a look! Check this out this maybe helping!

 

Try the settings below! I used them when I had the sticks!

 

3-3-3-8 @ 250Mhz

 

DRAM Frequency Set............................ - 200=RAM/FSB:01/01

Command Per Clock (CPC)....................... - Enable

CAS Latency Control (Tcl)..................... - 03

RAS# to CAS# delay (Trcd)..................... - 03 Bus Clocks

Min RAS# active time (Tras)................... - 08 Bus Clocks

Row precharge time (Trp)...................... - 03 Bus Clocks

Row Cycle time (Trc).......................... - 11 Bus Clocks

Row refresh cyc time (Trfc)................... - 15 Bus Clocks

Row to Row delay (Trrd)....................... - 03 Bus Clocks

Write recovery time (Twr)..................... - 03 Bus Clocks

Write to Read delay (Twtr).................... - 02 Bus Clocks

Read to Write delay (Trwt).................... - 03 Bus Clocks

Refresh Period (Tref)......................... - 3120 Cycles

DRAM Bank Interleave.......................... - Enabled

 

DQS Skew Control.............................. - Auto

DQS Skew Value................................ - 0

DRAM Drive Strength........................... - weak 04

DRAM Data Drive Strength...................... - level 1

Max Async Latency............................. - 9ns

DRAM Response Time............................ - Normal

Read Preamble Time............................ - 5.5ns

IdleCycle Limit............................... - 256 Cycles

Dynamic Counter............................... - Disable

R/W Queue Bypass.............................. - 4 x

Bypass Max.................................... - 07 x

32 Byte Granularity........................... - Disable(4 Bursts)

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