Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB PC4000 kit gone bad (merged)

[rahtid]

don't know if its just me but crucial ballistix are no good bought a set rma'ed quickly after running memtest at stock settings with error after error. corsair-gskill-ocz thats the good stuff . but then again thats just me

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dfi nf4 sli-dr

amd 4800x2 @2.77*12 1.42v

corsair 2gigs pc 4400 2.8v

xfx 7800 gtx oc'ed koolance block

asetek waterchill 120mm radiator antartica cpu block

audigy 2zs

thermaltake armor case

[Voltes-5]

My Ballistix 2x1GB is sitting at home, arrived yesterday from vendor. You guys are scaring me. I intend to test both sticks seperately on my rigs. I hope they do not fail.

[Sharp]

People with new (just been bought/new from RMA) sticks need to use them and see what happens.

 

DoubleJ, maybe the DFI bios settings are wrong.

Do you have a 2x1GB kit?

[DoubleJ]

DoubleJ, maybe the DFI bios settings are wrong.

 

Oh no, please don't tell that has something to with any settings. That's what everyone tells me but it has nothing do with it!

 

I tried almost everything... single channel, dual channel, running only one of both sticks (yes, 2x1gb kit), trying another bios, rising vdimm, relaxing timings...

 

You are not going to tell me it has something to do with settings when my ram fails to pass memtest when operating at 100 (hundred!) mhz, 3338 timings, 2.8vdimm, do you?

 

The ram is supposed to operate at 250mhz, but it wont do so, in none of my two dfi ultra-d boards. My question is: Why is this ram failing on dfi (nf4), but working on msi (nf3)?

[deathman20]

DoubleJ: My ram has issues with low speeds also. Actually its worse then faster speeds. It will actually lock my computer at 185 on my memory. Yet I know 230+ works, but of course it gives out lovely little red error messages in memtest.

[rhiridflaidd]

Ballistix won't run slow. Micron memory always needs to be run at aggressive speeds; so it isn't surprising that it gives errors at 100mhz.

 

I'm not saying that your memory is error free; but I am saying that running ballistix memory at low speeds as a definitive test is a misleading thing to do.

[Sharp]

DoubleJ

GENIE BIOS Setting

>DRAM Configuration..................Press Enter = New Menu

FSB BUS Frequency....................200

LDT/FSB Frequency Ratio..............X 4.0

LDT BUS Transfer Width...............16 16

CPU/FSB Frequency Ratio..............AUTO

PCI eXpress Frequency................100Mhz

K8 Cool 'n' Quiet Support............Disable

Cool 'n' Quiet MAX FID...............AUTO

CPU VID StartUp Value................StartUp

 

CPU VID Control......................1.4v

CPU VID Special Control..............104%

LDT Voltage Control..................1.30 V

Chip Set Voltage Control.............1.60 V

DRAM Voltage Control.................2.70 V

 

Run MemTest86+.......................Enabled, disable later

GENIE BIOS Setting >DRAM Configuration

DRAM Frequency Set (MHZ).............200 (DRAM/FSB:1/01)

Command per clock (CPC)..............Disabled

Cas latency (tCL)....................3

RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)..............3

Min RAS active time (tRAS)...........8

Row precharge time (tRP).............3

Row cycle time (tRC).................11

Row refresh cycle time(tRFC).........14

Row to Row delay (tRRD)..............3

Write recovery time (tWR)............2

Write to read delay (tWTR)...........2

Read to write delay (tRWT)...........2

Refresh period (tREF)................AUTO

Write CAS latency (tWCL).............1

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

 

DQS Skew Control.....................AUTO

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

DRAM Drive Strength..................AUTO

DRAM Data Drive Strength.............AUTO

Max Async Latency....................6ns

Dram Response........................AUTO/NORMAL

Read Preamble Time...................5ns

Idle Cycle Limit.....................AUTO

Dynamic Counter......................AUTO

R/W Queue Bypass.....................AUTO

Bypass Max...........................AUTO

32 Byte Granularity..................AUTO

[Squid1]

Sharp, any chance you can replace the "AUTO" with actual settings, e.g. from A64Tweaker?

 

Folks who don't have it running at stock speeds: be sure to start from an actual clear CMOS, jumper, battery out, all that Jazz.

 

This is not voodoo advice, here is the problem: if you have RAM A in the box, then pull it out and insert RAM B, then the BIOS will autodetect and take from the SPD new settings for this RAM. However, it will not do this for all paramters. The BIOS tries to obey to you, the user, and not just reset everything when it thinks that one setting is what the user wanted. Only when you go in from a full clear CMOS do you have a fresh start.

 

Those experiencing problems at stock speed will have to compare complete A64Tweaker shots. The BIOS listings with the "AUTO"s in there are useless since we don't know what the BIOS will pick. This can and will be different depending on BIOS version, SPD values (no doubt not all SPDs in Ballistix is set the same way), the CPU inserted and its memory controller and possibly other factors.

 

A great start would be to also post the SPD values that working and non-work Ballistix has.

 

I would, however, recommend that those who want to debug stock speed problems split off into a different thread so that this one can concentrate on Ballistix that went bad with constant settings.

[Keekles]

Started getting MEMTEST errors now @ 250.

Worked fine for 2 weeks.

 

Im just sending them in for an RMA.

I dont want to deal with the hassle.

[Forza971sbh]

for the guys that haven't tried yet:

 

704-2BTA made miracles for me:

 

just load optimised settings, turn cpc to 1T and tref to auto, set cas 3-3-8-3......

 

my ram was tapping out @ 255 before this bios/settings..... now they're memtest 16 passes error-free up to 275, lol

 

I was loosing "faith" in crucial...... now I just wish I could afford a 2*1024k kit :tooth:

[squire]

By any chance crucial decides to discontinue this product because of these serious problems, do you think they will still honor their "lifetime warranty"?

[DoubleJ]

Ballistix won't run slow. Micron memory always needs to be run at aggressive speeds; so it isn't surprising that it gives errors at 100mhz.

 

I'm not saying that your memory is error free; but I am saying that running ballistix memory at low speeds as a definitive test is a misleading thing to do.

 

They wont run at 200mhz either. I began all my testing with 200mhz (of course), and after nothing helped, in my desperation I set the frequency to 100mhz ...

@Sharp, thanks, but already tried those settings.

 

And as if I had not got enough misfortune, the samsung uccc were marked as "in stock", but actually the shop has no uccc in stock (they are awaiting a new delivery)... so I wont get new ram before monday.

 

atm everything sucks :sad: