"~mike~" said:
My m/b is an Asus P4S533 (rev1) and has a single strip of 512meg PC2700 RAM
installed. I decided to upgrade the RAM and purchased an additional 512
stick of PC2700 (Corsair VS512MB333) for a total of 1gb RAM. Now my PC
seems to reset and what seems like random times, maybe 3-4 times a day. Any
ideas what might be causing this?
PC spec:
Windows XP (pro) SP2
P4 2.6gz proc
SB Audidgy Platinum soundcard
ATI Radion 9600XT gfx card.
First off, get a copy of memtest86+ from
http://www.memtest.org/
Scroll half way down the page, to find the downloads. There is
a .ISO format, suitable for burning a test CD, and there is also
a binary that can be used to prep a test floppy (bootable).
1) Install the memory in slot 1 and slot 3.
2) Set DDRVOL1 jumper to middle position (pins 2-3) = 2.7 volts
While this should only be needed for DDR400 memory, it may
help you, without hurting the memory.
3) Set CPU/Mem ratio. Your CPU frequency is either set by DSW1
or, if you are running in JumperFree, is set in the BIOS screen.
Select the CPU/Mem ratio accordingly. For example, if your
processor is FSB533, the CPU frequency is 133MHz (as the FSB
is quad pumped). A selection of 4:5 would give 166MHz memory
clock, which is DDR333 (rated speed of a PC2700 DIMM). Your
memory settings are determined by which of your DIMMs is the
slowest one, so if one DIMM is a PC2100, use DDR266.
4) Now, set the boot order to include the floppy. (I leave the
floppy first in the boot order, to make it convenient to test
with memtest86.) [Use either a test CD or a test floppy, to
test the memory.] Run at least two complete passes, error free,
before concluding the memory is ready for real use. If you
have a lot of memory errors, they will scroll down the screen.
5) If the memory will not pass, with the above conditions, there
are two further options. One is, to visit the section 4.4.1
of the manual, that discusses memory timing. It is likely
set to [By SPD] right now. You can set it to manual, and
enter timings according to the manufacturer's data. (Corsairmicro
doesn't have a datasheet for ValueSelect RAM, but sellers of
the product claim it is CAS 2.5 memory.) I would try 3-3-3-8
as the four timing parameters, where "RAS Active Time" is set
to 8. That will relax the timing slightly, and may make the
difference. Another change you could try, is setting
Trcd (RAS to CAS delay) to 4 - that timing parameter is relaxed
when you want to overclock a memory, and may help a bit.
Test with memtest86+ after each change, to see if things have
stabilized.
If all this fails, change the CPU/Mem ratio to 1:1 and set the
memory back to [By SPD], so the BIOS can calculate more aggressive
timing at the lower memory speed.
You should also, always be naturally suspicious of Asus BIOS. I
have a BIOS here, where the timings you enter in the BIOS screen,
are not applied by the BIOS. I noticed this, by using
http://www.cpuid.org/cpuz.php , a Windows utility for finding out
how clocks and timing are being set. If the memory is reasonably
stable, and you are feeling lucky, boot into Windows and use that
utility to verify the clocks and timing. With the BIOS on my board,
I have to use CPUZ to determine what timing is really being used.
When you get a new stick of memory, you should always consider
testing it by itself first. That way, you'll get a good idea as
to whether the new RAM is good or bad. Memtest86+ is one test
you can use. If you pass memtest86+, a test with Prime95 "torture
test" (mersenne.org) is a test you can run in Windows, to verify
the memory works under load. If all of that passes, then try
two sticks of RAM in slots 1 and 3 and repeat the tests.
HTH,
Paul
