A7V333 333MHz Memory problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frankie
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Frankie

Hello all,

I've been struggeling for 5 days now with the following issue:

Last week I bought 3 PC3200 modules of 512MB from Transcend.

When I clock these 3 DIMMs at 333 MHz my PC crashes after a few minutes,
sometimes I even see blue screen flashing by.

When I clock these 3 DIMMs at 266 MHz everything is stable.
When I use 2 DIMMS at 333 MHZ it's also stable (tested in sockets 1&2, 1&3
and 2&3)

I also ran Windows Memory Test to check it. Only LRAND failed is the first
situation, in all the others it passed.

My mainboard is an A7V333 rev. 1.04 with bios 1018-4, but I also tested with
1016 and 1017.
I have a AMD XP 2000+ Palomino, nothing overclocked, so running at 133 *
12.5.
All bios setting set on auto.
Jumpers JP1 and JP2 set on 1-2

I don't have a clue what's wrong. Can somebody tell me what to do?

Can it be my +3.3V? Asus PC Probe says it's value is +2.94V, so it's to low.

Regards,

Frank
 
"Frankie" said:
Hello all,

I've been struggeling for 5 days now with the following issue:

Last week I bought 3 PC3200 modules of 512MB from Transcend.

When I clock these 3 DIMMs at 333 MHz my PC crashes after a few minutes,
sometimes I even see blue screen flashing by.

When I clock these 3 DIMMs at 266 MHz everything is stable.
When I use 2 DIMMS at 333 MHZ it's also stable (tested in sockets 1&2, 1&3
and 2&3)

I also ran Windows Memory Test to check it. Only LRAND failed is the first
situation, in all the others it passed.

My mainboard is an A7V333 rev. 1.04 with bios 1018-4, but I also tested with
1016 and 1017.
I have a AMD XP 2000+ Palomino, nothing overclocked, so running at 133 *
12.5.
All bios setting set on auto.
Jumpers JP1 and JP2 set on 1-2

I don't have a clue what's wrong. Can somebody tell me what to do?

Can it be my +3.3V? Asus PC Probe says it's value is +2.94V, so it's to low.

Regards,

Frank
Click to expand...

Your results are exactly what the manual insert says as well:

http://www.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/kt333/a7v333/ie1010_a7v333.pdf

Two double sided DIMMs work at DDR333 rates
Three double sided DIMMs work at DDR266 rates

The performance gain is benchmarked here:
http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/asus_a7v333/8.shtml

In the "buffering disabled" picture, compare "133 1:1 Turbo"
to "133 4:5 222" 1372 vs 1446. (That is as close as I can find
to two comparable sets of conditions. 4:5 is running the memory
at DDR333 while the FSB is FSB266.)

That is 5% more memory bandwidth, which will give 1.5-2% more
application performance. Rather than running asynchronous, you
might be better off running synchronous and trying to overclock
the FSB a bit instead.

Also, get a copy of memtest86 from memtest.org, as it can test
_all_ bytes of the memory. The program is unique, in that it
has no OS, and the program moves itself out of the way, and
tests underneath itself. The download from memtest.org, when
executed, will format a self-booting floppy. The computer boots
from the floppy and testing begins immediately.

The spec for the voltage, at least at the power supply, is
5% on +3.3V. You have a 10% drop, so perhaps verifying the
voltage with a multimeter would be a good idea. The low
voltage can be caused by a bad PSU, or it can also be
caused by a damaged ATX 20pin connector. Try reseating the
connector first, and see if the voltage is any better after.

If not, disconnect the power cable and examine the pins for
signs of heat damage. If the connector has been damaged, then
replacing the PSU would only work for a short time, before
the new connector on the new PSU would get damaged as well.
Unsoldering and replacing connectors like this, is not a lot
of fun, as much heat is required to work with those pins. So,
I hope this is not a case of connector damage.

In most cases, another power supply will fix it, if the power
supply is the source of the problem.

Memory does not use that power directly. Power is regulated on
board. Asus uses some linear regulation designs, so the memory,
for example, could be linearly regulated from 3.3V down to 2.5V.
If your 3.3 drops to 2.9, and the memory voltage is 2.6V, there
is 0.3V drop across the MOSFET, which I'm guessing is still
workable.

HTH,
Paul
 
Pull the jumpers off jp 1 and 2 on one end of the agp slot and see if
that does it. It worked for me.
 
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