XP Issues with over 512MB ram.
I am having similar issues as this:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/Q.20278059.html
However mine is a little different.
Here is the Scenario, I have 512MB PC2100 DDR ram. I put another 256MB of PC2100 DDR Ram. And things crash. I take that out put in another 512MB PC2100 DDR Ram of Like and unlike types this produces better results however the programs still crash after a little while. I take both the 256 and either of the 512 sticks and everything works fine. Other than the ram my hardware looks like this:
Soyo Dragon K7V Plus Motherboard
240 Gig of various drives (three 45 gig drives, two 20 gig drives, and an 80 gig drive)
ATI Radeon 8500 64MB DDR Retail
SB Audigy
Adaptec 2940 UW Controller
HP SCSI 40x (Plextor Rebadged)
Plextor 40x12x40x
Pioneer 16x DVD Rom
And some other odds and ends.
Of course 512MB 2100 DDR Ram to 1.25 gig.
Symptoms:
Internet Explorer Crashes and has to restart IE not the computer. And Medal of Honor Allied Assault crashes and has to restart the game not the machine.
RTCW crashes has to restart.
C&C Renegade crashes and has to restart.
So this is a big issue with my computer.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/Q.20278059.html
However mine is a little different.
Here is the Scenario, I have 512MB PC2100 DDR ram. I put another 256MB of PC2100 DDR Ram. And things crash. I take that out put in another 512MB PC2100 DDR Ram of Like and unlike types this produces better results however the programs still crash after a little while. I take both the 256 and either of the 512 sticks and everything works fine. Other than the ram my hardware looks like this:
Soyo Dragon K7V Plus Motherboard
240 Gig of various drives (three 45 gig drives, two 20 gig drives, and an 80 gig drive)
ATI Radeon 8500 64MB DDR Retail
SB Audigy
Adaptec 2940 UW Controller
HP SCSI 40x (Plextor Rebadged)
Plextor 40x12x40x
Pioneer 16x DVD Rom
And some other odds and ends.
Of course 512MB 2100 DDR Ram to 1.25 gig.
Symptoms:
Internet Explorer Crashes and has to restart IE not the computer. And Medal of Honor Allied Assault crashes and has to restart the game not the machine.
RTCW crashes has to restart.
C&C Renegade crashes and has to restart.
So this is a big issue with my computer.
ASKER
Hmmm ya could be true...One other thing that I can remember which may not be the ram thing, was that I upgraded my ATI Radeon 64MB DDR Vivo to and 8500 64MB DDR Retail. And that is when I started having ram issues. But I dont think it is a bad video card. I may check to see if that is the issue tho...I am running the latest off of ATI's web site. Any other ideas?
I'd bet there is a relationship to the upgrades you did and the problem.
Can you revert to the old configuration?
Can you revert to the old configuration?
Sounds like the video card could be the culprit?
Go with jhance and see if you can revert back...
Go with jhance and see if you can revert back...
I have a Soyo Dragon with 768MB installed (Win2000) and never any crashes. I suspect leftover drivers from the old card and/or just flakey drivers for the new one.
With all the memory installed, run:
www.memtest86.com
Since this tester boots from floppy, there are none of those pesky Windows drivers to confuse things. If it tests all the memory correctly, you have a driver issue.
regards,
magarity
With all the memory installed, run:
www.memtest86.com
Since this tester boots from floppy, there are none of those pesky Windows drivers to confuse things. If it tests all the memory correctly, you have a driver issue.
regards,
magarity
ASKER
K will try those things, however the video card (Old has since been replaced and sold.) no spare video card. Will see if I could try something else later on. I got some stuff to do today so will try again later tonight or tomorrow. for now keep posting ideas! thanks!
Which processor are you running, Athlon 1500+?
The optimum combination for that MB and an Athlon is 768MB of PC2100 DDR. You'll see some decline in performance at 1024MB and even more at 1536.
Dennis
The optimum combination for that MB and an Athlon is 768MB of PC2100 DDR. You'll see some decline in performance at 1024MB and even more at 1536.
Dennis
Another think to look at is whether the DDR is 2.5CL and non-parity.
ASKER
Athlon XP 1800. Sorry thought I put that in there. I will check to see if it is 2.5 CL...Non Parity it is. but not sure bout the 2.5CL. What is the best way to find out?
ASKER
My Memory is rated this for the 512mb ram:
AMD, VIA, ALI approved
PC2100 = 266MHz FSB
Rated 2.5-3-3 @ 133MHz
64x64 Module
32Mx8 Chip Density
And I know that my 256MB ram is at least this:
PC2100 = 266Mhz FSB
AMD, VIA, ALI approved
PC2100 = 266MHz FSB
Rated 2.5-3-3 @ 133MHz
64x64 Module
32Mx8 Chip Density
And I know that my 256MB ram is at least this:
PC2100 = 266Mhz FSB
Does this mobo have ali magic chipsets? there is an issue with that chipset and dual ddr dimms, the
dimms are under powered On Asus mobos there is a jumper right behind the agp slot (J10?) move it and
it increases the RAM voltage by .1 volts, and stabalizes it.
dimms are under powered On Asus mobos there is a jumper right behind the agp slot (J10?) move it and
it increases the RAM voltage by .1 volts, and stabalizes it.
ASKER
No it's not the ALI chipset, it's the KT266 Chipset.
Please run the current version of Memtest86 as indicated in the link I've given. You may need to use the advanced settings to get it to detech all the memory, but if this program can run successfully, you do not have a memory problem but a software configuration problem.
In addition- I would check the Video aperature. Set it for 64 MB as a start, and try to decrease/ increase until the problem goes away.
I hope this helps !
I hope this helps !
Wakeup, this particular MB is very sensitive to memory compatibility, especially in those situations where memory may be from different manufacturers or even from different manufacturing batches. Soyo has been having a problem slaving their DDR slots, which gave rise to this release of their Bios "kvxa2ba2.bin". Unfortuntely testing that to insure this is (or may be) happening would require 2 additional sticks of 256MB each (identical to that which you already have). You're limited success with slaving the 2 512MB sticks points to this as well.
ASKER
Magarity, I did run the memtest86. It did not work...I kept getting:
X:8000
AX:0212
BX:8600
CX:0201
DX:0000
Scrolling on my machine. I did read the page and it said bad floppy throw it away, so I reinstalled it onto another floppy and got the same problems. So I gave up on that.
SysExpert: Had already tried the variations of the AGP Video Aperature. As low as I could go to as high as I could go. Also tried changing from 1x-4x And no change. Crashes still occur.
Stevenlewis: My board is a Soyo Dragon, not Asus. Thanks tho.
X:8000
AX:0212
BX:8600
CX:0201
DX:0000
Scrolling on my machine. I did read the page and it said bad floppy throw it away, so I reinstalled it onto another floppy and got the same problems. So I gave up on that.
SysExpert: Had already tried the variations of the AGP Video Aperature. As low as I could go to as high as I could go. Also tried changing from 1x-4x And no change. Crashes still occur.
Stevenlewis: My board is a Soyo Dragon, not Asus. Thanks tho.
I run Memtest86 daily on my prototype test motherboards. It is the most excellent test of memory available. Please do not blame bad floppy disks.
ASKER
Magarity,
I understand, just didn't work on two known good floppy disks, I reformatted them and they worked fine...I tried another one just now so a third and retried on the two ....Same issues. So I dunno why those are not working.
But anyway on the brighter side of news I think I may have figured out my problem or lessen the crashes. I Changed my sound card settings from Full hardware acceleration to Basic. And now everything runs for a whole lot longer. Instead of crashing every 2 minutes or less. I may be able to work within the programs for a few hours or so. But it seems that it does still lock up.
So if you have any other Ideas I will consider them still. Again I have the Sound Blaster Audigy card.
I understand, just didn't work on two known good floppy disks, I reformatted them and they worked fine...I tried another one just now so a third and retried on the two ....Same issues. So I dunno why those are not working.
But anyway on the brighter side of news I think I may have figured out my problem or lessen the crashes. I Changed my sound card settings from Full hardware acceleration to Basic. And now everything runs for a whole lot longer. Instead of crashing every 2 minutes or less. I may be able to work within the programs for a few hours or so. But it seems that it does still lock up.
So if you have any other Ideas I will consider them still. Again I have the Sound Blaster Audigy card.
Well then it doesn't sound like a system RAM problem if changing the sound card has such a dramatic effect. Can we assume you have the latest XP drivers for the sound card in question?
ASKER
Last I checked I did have the latest. Let me double check.
ASKER
I have the latest sound drivers. I did run the memtest86. Ram all tested good. I went to mushkin's site and downloaded the memtest from them and it worked fine. Dunno why it didn't work the w/ the other site.
Check you BIOS settings, are you sharing video memory?
ASKER
Well lets see, what I did. I reinstalled WinXP on a spare Drive. And it seems that everything is running smoothly with 1Gig of ram. So I may just try to rebuild my WinXP. All the hardware and all the drivers are fine. Motherboard and bios is fine too. So I will probably delete this question. Ram seems to be fine and tested fine. So thanks for the suggestions but none of those seemed to correct my problem. Reinstalling WinXP has corrected my problems so far. I will hold off on deleting the question for a few more days in case the issues come back. I will also attempt the throw the 256MB chip in as well. But right now I am running everything at the fullest and fastest settings possible and it runs fine. Go figure. heheh... Thanks again! will keep you updated..
You obviously had some drivers that weren't correct or another problem (OS related) that was corrected by a fresh install. Hardware errors just don't disappear.
ASKER
dew, yes you are probably correct. However I reinstalled video card drivers several times to no avail...Sound Card drivers to no avail. The games and programms to no avail...I Ran a windows XP repair. No avail. Updated my Moboard bios to no avail. I do not know what driver it is...Or what is causing or has caused the problems still.
So I dunno what else to say except it works on a Clean install. Which no one has suggested. But thanks for all your guys' help.
So I dunno what else to say except it works on a Clean install. Which no one has suggested. But thanks for all your guys' help.
ASKER
Gather this....here is the ultimate fix for my problem... After doing a complete reinstall, it fixed my prob temporarily. But then I started getting other issues. So I put back my old configuration (two hard drives) I changed out my logitec USB Optical mouse for a brand new one. All my problems went away!? Gather that! anyone have any ideas as to why that happened?
if I put back the old one....I get my lockups and stuff....
reallyyyy weird...Drivers are current....and all my other USB stuff works....
if I put back the old one....I get my lockups and stuff....
reallyyyy weird...Drivers are current....and all my other USB stuff works....
It could be a power problem or a defective mouse.
If you pull too much power out of a USB port all sorts of strange things happen.
I hope this helps !
If you pull too much power out of a USB port all sorts of strange things happen.
I hope this helps !
It's not unusual Wakeup. We don't sell USB keyboards or mice just because of those types of problems as well as the lack of support during the boot process. Although some later MB's are now supporting USB during boot, it's more of a headache then it's worth.
Hmmm, this was omitted from your system description too!
Hmmm, this was omitted from your system description too!
ASKER
Ya I already ruled the idea of it being a defective mouse, however I put in on another machine. With similar hardware not as powerful as mine. Less memory...same memory tried save video card and peripherals in the other computer and the Old USB mouse works fine no probs. Same games work and same applications have no issues. Reallly weird... Anyway I am going to see if I can delete the question....but keep the post up...how would I do that? I guess I will ask in community support.
Hello Wakeup, as per your question posted in Community Support, you must leave leave the solution to your problem here at the question before it can move to PAQ.
If someone in this question led to the your answer, by rule you must award an Expert(s) who may have led you to the answer. Please be aware that I am not questioning your motives, this is just how things here are done.
Should you not have a proper reply, this question will be re-evaluated by another Expert and the EAB (Expert Advisory Board).
Thank you for your time. I will contact the EAB after closing my comment here.
Kind regards,
ComTech
CS Admin @ EE
If someone in this question led to the your answer, by rule you must award an Expert(s) who may have led you to the answer. Please be aware that I am not questioning your motives, this is just how things here are done.
Should you not have a proper reply, this question will be re-evaluated by another Expert and the EAB (Expert Advisory Board).
Thank you for your time. I will contact the EAB after closing my comment here.
Kind regards,
ComTech
CS Admin @ EE
ASKER
ComTech,
Ok I am slightly confused...you want me to Leave the solution to my problem here? I thought I did....I can do it again?!
Basically like I said up above, I replaced my USB Mouse and all is well. I have been running for almost a month no with no problems. With my memory and OS. Everything is perfect.....?! No one suggested replacing the mouse. And maybe I did neglect to say I had a USB mouse but did not realize this could have been the issue till I replaced it myself. And no one led me to any of those ideas. Thanks for trying tho. And I appreciate all the suggestions.
Ok I am slightly confused...you want me to Leave the solution to my problem here? I thought I did....I can do it again?!
Basically like I said up above, I replaced my USB Mouse and all is well. I have been running for almost a month no with no problems. With my memory and OS. Everything is perfect.....?! No one suggested replacing the mouse. And maybe I did neglect to say I had a USB mouse but did not realize this could have been the issue till I replaced it myself. And no one led me to any of those ideas. Thanks for trying tho. And I appreciate all the suggestions.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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My suspicion would be a BAD RAM module or modules. It could also be that the particular type or mix of RAM modules is incompatible with your motherboard.