Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB PC4000 kit gone bad (merged)

[LanceDiamond]

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!! :sad: :sad:

 

Just got a BSOD:

 

Stop 0x0000008E params 0xC0000005, 0x805B0EC6, 0XB2D29AB0, 0X00000000

 

I got a full memory dump which I'll look at but initial research indicates stop 0x8e tends to be....MEMORY PROBLEMS! :sad:

 

This is 3 week old Crucial Ballistix PC4000 2gb (2 x 1gb) kit from Newegg. I am going to run some memtests and call Newegg and see what my options are. One BSOD is one too many for me. I'm not one of those people that thinks Windows just crashes and it's normal - it's not.

[red930]

What are the complete settings do you have the RAM running at?

 

Is the system overclocked?

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!! :sad: :sad:

 

Just got a BSOD:

 

Stop 0x0000008E params 0xC0000005, 0x805B0EC6, 0XB2D29AB0, 0X00000000

 

I got a full memory dump which I'll look at but initial research indicates stop 0x8e tends to be....MEMORY PROBLEMS! :sad:

 

This is 3 week old Crucial Ballistix PC4000 2gb (2 x 1gb) kit from Newegg. I am going to run some memtests and call Newegg and see what my options are. One BSOD is one too many for me. I'm not one of those people that thinks Windows just crashes and it's normal - it's not.

[LanceDiamond]

DRAM Voltage: 2.70v

CPU VID Control: 1.500v

 

260mhz 3-3-3-8 (CPU running 260 x 10 - so yes, it is OC'd - I spent a week finding max CPU, max memory, running tests - CPU is good up to near 2700 but with more voltage/heat than I am happy with.)

 

CPC: Auto

TCL: 3.0

Trcd: 03

Trac: 08

Trp: 03

Trc: 07

Trfc: Auto

Trrd: 03

Twr: 03

Twtr: 02

Trwt: 03

Tref: Auto

Twcl: Auto

Interleave: Enabled

 

This had passed 21+ hours of dual prime95, 7 or 8 hours of the HCI Design memtest, BIOS memtest, SuperPi, OCCT and maybe a few other tests I found. After the BSOD, I fired up HCI Design memtest and it quickly found errors - running 2 instances of it with affinity set via Task Manager checking 803mb of memory in each instance (the max it says it can check.) Dropped to 250 x 10 and ran memtest no problem. Changed back to 260 x 10 but changed settings thus:

 

Trc: Auto

Trfc: Auto

Trrd: Auto

Twr: Auto

Twtr: Auto

Trwt: Auto

 

(pretty sure that's it - I changed a bunch of stuff to "Auto" but left 3-3-3-8 settings) and now it just ran 200% on HCI memtest dual instances. I am going to go back to my original non-auto settings and see if it fails.

 

What bothers me about this is that tests which initially passed have now failed - the HCI Design memtest ran for hours 2 weeks ago, then it failed and now it runs again with a bunch of "Auto" settings.

 

FWIW - I had just mounted a DVD-video ISO and played a few minutes of it, then closed the player when I got the BSOD. I also got a BSOD yesterday or day before after playing BF2 for a little bit and then leaving the game open - it had minmized and when I clicked the game on the task bar to go back into the game, it blue screened - I kind of figured it was some odd ball video driver thing and unfortunately had auto-reboot and didn't get a good memory dump on that one so I can't say if it was the same BSOD as the one today. But 2 BSOD in 2 days when I'm really not doing a hell of a lot other than playing games and watching a few minutes of a DVD is WAY unacceptable.

[LanceDiamond]

Now seems stable at these settings:

 

fsb 260

cpc Auto

tcl 3

trcd 4

trac 8

trp 4

trc Auto

trfc Auto

trrd Auto

twr 3

twtr 2

trwt Auto

tref 2592

twcl Auto

 

Not real sure what is going on - I am going to run over night HCI memtest at least one night this week and overnight BIOS memtest with these settings. If it works and shows no further sign of problems, I'm happy with it. I expected to be doing some tweaking in the first month or so. If the tests this week pass and then I start having problems again in a few weeks, I'll be wondering if I shoulda gone with this memory.

 

I am going to call and talk to Newegg tomorrow and see what they say since I am still within 30 days on these - I'd really rather not swap these modules if they work at stock speed/timings and the Crucial web site says the timing on these is 3-4-4-8 at 250 - I'm now running 3-4-4-8 at 260 which is pretty darn close to stock.

[DeepGan7]

Same problem here.

 

Watercooled system with active RAM cooling + excellent airflow.

 

Ballistix worked perfect for ~4weeks (did 264, 3-3-3-8, 2.8V) and then could not even run

at stock settings anymore, no matter what settings.

 

My finding was that it could at least boot with high Vdimm + loose timing

 

e.g 200 FSB 3-3-3-8 but needed ~3.0V Vdimm !?

 

Still win memtest errors + random BDOD :-(

[LanceDiamond]

After more testing, I'm now running at 3-4-4-8, 250mhz - that's bone stock on the memory. Fails to boot or random reboots at 3-4-4-8/250 @ 2.6v - have to use 2.7v. At 2.7v with stock settings, modules get damn near hot enough to burn you touching them while memtest is running. They get even hotter at 2.8 or 2.9 of course... Airflow was and still is great through this case - the modules almost have active cooling - the 120mm fan on top of the XP120 blows air right onto them and my ambient room temp is 29c or so - not at all hot in here and actually much cooler than when I started building this rig 3 weeks ago and it was 85f outside.

 

At some point while messing around with memtest tonight I got another BSOD, stop 0x4e this time.

 

Looking at the two dumps in WinDBG, they both strongly indicate jacked up memory - bits getting flipped. Suddenly not real happy with this memory.

[Diverge]

There are A LOT of people having Ballistix go bad on them. Here is just one recent thread i happened across http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80780

 

I don't see how there isn't an issue with these sticks. Where did the crucical guy go? I'm gonna try my best to get a refund on mine, even though they are 2-3 months old.

[lordbane]

There are A LOT of people having Ballistix go bad on them. Here is just one recent thread i happened across http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80780

 

I don't see how there isn't an issue with these sticks. Where did the crucical guy go? I'm gonna try my best to get a refund on mine, even though they are 2-3 months old.

 

After reading the posts in that link, I can see the exact same problem I had:

 

The PC3200 sticks wouldn't post with anything less than 2.8v (I'd get LEDs of Doom and Beeping), but needed 2.9-3.0v to be stable on the SLI-DR. Anything over 2.6v seems to kill them, but you can't run them at that voltage and even POST. What the hell are we supposed to do in that case?

 

I can't wait for my RMA to get in. The replacement modules are getting sold, I'm buying OCZ and I'm blacklisting Crucial from my future builds.

[Yankee]

Since I've received quite a few PM's regarding my settings, I decided to post them here. Maybe it will help more.

 

DRAM Voltage: 2.60v

CPU VID Control: 1.525v

 

3-3-3-8

255mhz

 

CPC: Enable

TCL: 3.0

Trcd: 03

Trac: 08

Trp: 03

Trc: 12

Trfc: Auto

Trrd: 03

Twr: 03

Twtr: 02

Trwt: 03

Tref: Auto

Twcl: Auto

Interleave: Enabled

[Liquidfire]

hmm, runnin about a month now, wich seems to be peoples average time before the sticks start droppin deuces.

 

ill keep on the forums and let yall know how it goes, if they do go bad as alot of people have....ocz will be hearing from me :?

[splitter]

I know this is a thread about the 2x1gb ballistix kits but i seem to be having similar problems with 2x512meg kits.

 

System specs: ABIT AV8, AMD64 3200+, geforce 6800 gt, 2x512 ballistix.

 

Im on my third set of sticks currently, running the ram at the "stock" specs of [email protected].

 

The problem i am getting is major instability with the system when running in duel channel mode. It seems to occur randomly, it'll be fine for weeks at a time then it'll go through a spell of crashing every 5 minutes with a BSOD. Other ram tested in the system runs fine and the ballistix itself runs stable in single channel mode but in duel channel it just craps out.

I've noticed the heat issue with the 2x512meg config with these sticks as well whilst switching them around...they do get very hot considering its meant to be at stock. My case is well ventilated (CM stacker) and even has the crossflow fan which blows cool air straight onto the side of one of the heatspreaders...but having read a fair chunk of this post i cant help but think that the stick on the blindside of the airflow might just be overheating.

 

I'm getting to the end of my rope with this stuff, the longest the system has been stable since i bought this stuff over a year ago is about 3 months max. Im wondering if the lifetime warrenty covers refunds or just replacements.

[Craybit]

I'm getting to the end of my rope with this stuff, the longest the system has been stable since i bought this stuff over a year ago is about 3 months max. Im wondering if the lifetime warrenty covers refunds or just replacements

 

If you get an answer to this please post. I'll personally stick to the three strikes rule on the RMA's then I'll purchase the OCZ 4000 and, if I can't get the money back, I'll just keep letting the Ballistix die and keep RMAing for "life"...