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Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB PC4000 kit gone bad (merged)


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FYI - Newegg has credited me the full amount (less whatever the shipping was - like $4 or so) for my RMA'd Ballistix - just got email from them.

 

I did order the Ballistix as part of a total order that was over $2k, so that may have had something to do with it but they never mentioned a restock fee when I called at about 23 days. They did not actually get the memory back until yesterday, just over 30 days - I was worried a little because the wording on the RMA sounded like they had to have it within the 30 days but I guess as long as you call before 30 days and get it back within the RMA time (14 days) then you're set.

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I just heard back from Newegg that they won't exchange my Ballistix for another brand and they will not refund my money. Even though I RMA'd the original set within 30 days and I have not had the replacement set for 30 days, Newegg is basing whether or not to refund using the original order date of 9-17-05. I wish I had just refunded the first set when they went bad instead of RMA'ing them for another! So it looks like I am stuck with using Ballistix for right now. I cannot afford to just dump the $300 already spent and spend another $300 for a different brand.

 

What do you guys think, does it appear that Crucial has fixed this problem? Or should I wait to return these for a while in hopes that a new batch will soon be in the pipeline?

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FYI - Newegg has credited me the full amount (less whatever the shipping was - like $4 or so) for my RMA'd Ballistix - just got email from them.

 

I take that as a strong hint that newegg is aware of a high failure rate.

 

It is very untypical for them to just waive the 15% restocking fee.

 

And they tooks your back after 23 days whereas the refund-15% rule is 15 days for memory.

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I have also been struggling to get my Ballistix stable over the past few weeks but I've been memtesting and Prime testing these for a few days now and I've finally got some stable settings that I'm really pleased with. I've tried going with higher clocks and other tweaks but these are now stable for me, printed from Everest Home 2.20.405:

 

Memory Controller:

Type Dual Channel (128-bit)

Active Mode Dual Channel (128-bit)

 

Memory Timings:

CAS Latency (CL) 3T

RAS To CAS Delay (tRCD) 3T

RAS Precharge (tRP) 3T

RAS Active Time (tRAS) 8T

Row Cycle Time (tRC) 14T

Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC) 16T

Command Rate (CR) 1T

RAS To RAS Delay (tRRD) 2T

Write Recovery Time (tWR) 3T

Read To Write Delay (tRTW) 4T

Write To Read Delay (tWTR) 2T

Write CAS Latency (tWCL) 1T

Refresh Period (tREF) 200 MHz 7.8 us

DQS Skew Control Disabled

DRAM Drive Strength Weak

DRAM Data Drive Strength 1 (50% Reduction)

Max Async Latency 8 ns

Read Preamble Time 5.5 ns

Idle Cycle Limit 16

Dynamic Idle Cycle Counter Enabled

Read/Write Queue Bypass 8

Bypass Max 4

32-byte Granularity Disabled

 

Error Correction:

ECC Supported, Disabled

ChipKill ECC Supported, Disabled

RAID Not Supported

DRAM Scrub Rate Disabled

L1 Data Cache Scrub Rate Disabled

L2 Cache Scrub Rate Disabled

 

Memory Slots:

DRAM Slot #1 1024 MB (PC4000 DDR SDRAM)

DRAM Slot #2 1024 MB (PC4000 DDR SDRAM)

 

 

I hope they're of use to people, I was going to RMA them as I was having all kinds of lockups, no reboot, reset issues and so on, but after trying the 704-2BTA BIOS, I wasn't getting anywhere so I went back to the 6/23 and did a clean, clear CMOS reset (following all the guides and advice), eventually got to these settings and now I'm pretty happy.

 

Temps seem to be OK, CPU goes up to 47 under gaming load, PWM about 65ish and GPU over 70 (it's OC'd to 630/1800 but no visible issues). Memory does seem hot to touch but I've put a spare 120mm fan blowing down across it then it gets blasted out the back.

 

I guess the proof of the pudding will be in a few weeks time but I'm going to try and see how things going with the system left on for a week, play some F.E.A.R., CoD 2, AoE 3, HL2 and Far Cry and see how things go.

 

Hope this is helpful to people.

 

Cheers

 

BB

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What do you guys think, does it appear that Crucial has fixed this problem? Or should I wait to return these for a while in hopes that a new batch will soon be in the pipeline?

 

I sympathize with you, I have not been able to spend much time trying to get my nF4-SLI DR to run right with the memory, so I am way past the time where I can return it and order another brand. When I run both chips in yellow or orange and memtest in windows (2 instances) it fails before it hits 82% in first instance, just got through running both in single mode in orange and hit almost 500% on each, no problem.

 

What about it Crucial, what's being done - where's the Crucial support person, must be lonely hiding under that bed.

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For what it's worth, I have some 1 GB ECC memory sticks made with Micron -5B D chips, same as Ballistix.

 

I noticed that they prime higher/more stable when I don't use the settings autodetected by the BIOS, they go better when I use the settings I usually use for TCCD.

 

This is what works better for me:

http://www.cons.org/cracauer/oc-screens/mi...-after-tccd.png

 

However, keep in mind that these are ECC sticks. They are made from the same chips as Ballistix, but they are binned for PC3200.

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Guest ElAguila

After a month mine are starting to error out and no it is not due to heat. Outside of heatspreader under load s 33C. I am using 704bt2a bios. I am in the orange slots and I am only running at 255 with 2.7v. There is something going on with this ram and it is the 503 part number.

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Tried all settings which were posted here; no success.

 

Should I try other BIOSes? I'm using 623-3 right now.

 

And how to do a "clean" cmos reset? atm I do it by unplugging the power cord, taking out the battery and waiting about 3mins.

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Tried all settings which were posted here; no success.

 

Should I try other BIOSes? I'm using 623-3 right now.

 

And how to do a "clean" cmos reset? atm I do it by unplugging the power cord, taking out the battery and waiting about 3mins.

 

The jumper next to the battery.

 

The BIOS should be fine. I have just dual-mprimed 4 of the sticks I mention above at what I found is near their maximum. Still going good.

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The jumper next to the battery.

 

I think taking out the battery / changing the jumper will do the same?!

 

The BIOS should be fine.

 

He... actually everything should be fine and working properly here, but it isn't. Even the 2nd dfi ultra-d dislikes my two ballistix tracer sticks, which are working just fine on another board, so the ram should be in fact ok.

 

I heard from many people that it's sometimes very tricky to get dfi boards to work as they should.

 

Unless someone here has a deciding tip for me on how to get my ram (or the board) to operate properly, I'll wait for the UCCC which should arrive during the next week.

I would be glad if everything works with the UCCC - If not, I'm possibly going to kill some people at DFI (Don't takt it as as personal insult - but I think everyone would feel pretty much angry when they bought two mainboards and a 2nd kit of ram, only two see that it still wont work...)

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Guest ElAguila

I am still having crashes that just started a couple of days ago. The windows error that gets reported is that there was a problem in random access memory. I guess I will go to crucial and see about an rma.

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If not, I'm possibly going to kill some people at DFI (Don't takt it as as personal insult -

 

I expect that in this age of senseless killing across the globe that you would be wise to change your wording in that post. You have no idea what is monitored and what key words are looked for. And if the wrong individual sees such and has great distaste for the idea and reports that wording as a threat; you might find yourself under scrutiny that is not welcome.

 

RGone...

 

 

I think taking out the battery / changing the jumper will do the same?!

 

 

 

He... actually everything should be fine and working properly here, but it isn't. Even the 2nd dfi ultra-d dislikes my two ballistix tracer sticks, which are working just fine on another board, so the ram should be in fact ok.

 

I heard from many people that it's sometimes very tricky to get dfi boards to work as they should.

 

Unless someone here has a deciding tip for me on how to get my ram (or the board) to operate properly, I'll wait for the UCCC which should arrive during the next week.

I would be glad if everything works with the UCCC - If not, I'm possibly going to kill some people at DFI (Don't takt it as as personal insult - but I think everyone would feel pretty much angry when they bought two mainboards and a 2nd kit of ram, only two see that it still wont work...)

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