On 4 Dec 2003 08:37:51 -0800,
(larrymoencurly) wrote:

snip

...it
failed GoldMemory in a few minutes and MemTest86 in 3-5 hours, the
same bit in every bad location.

Sounds like a motherboard problem, not a memory problem.
A memory problem should have the same location, different bits, not
same bit, different locations.

Did you test only the new module in same slot old module was in or all
of them?

I tried another one of these modules,
and it also failed, but in different locations and with different
bits. I tried all sorts of BIOS settings with both modules, but the
only thing that eliminated all the errors was slowing the memory bus
speed from 266MHz down to 200 MHz. Kingston told me that the latter
part was a) exactly the same as the former, or b)slightly different
than the former and not made for my mobos (ECS K7S5A and P4S5A), and
they offered to exchange it for the former. I didn't feel like paying
to ship something that was free after rebate, so I just got a refund
from OfficeMax. A week ago, I bought yet more Kingston ValueRAM from
OfficeMax, again labelled KVR-PC2100DDR/256 and PC2100DDR/256 but
assembled in USA, and it worked OK with the K7S5A, but with the P4S5A
the default BIOS memory speed setting of "FAST" had to be changed to
"NORMAL" or "SLOW" to prevent errors. Again, Kingston offered to
replace the memory, but their tech support spoke only in generalities
and couldn't explain the problem.

This is very significant. EXTREMELY important. You should have never
set the BIOS memory to "FAST" manually unless you know the exact
chipset and memory timing specs, have previously compared them. If it
defaulted to "FAST", it shouldn't have. This is clearly a motherboard
or BIOS problem, not a memory problem. Budget memory is not supposed
to be able to run the FAST timings, that's WHY it's budget memory.
It is incredible to me that you were trying to get Kingston to deal
with this. There is nothing wrong yet you're trying to get them to
upgrade your memory. Changing the timings is essentially
overclocking, something which no memory manufacturer guarantees. When
you contacted Kingston did you specifically mention that you didn't
want to run the memory at it's spec'd speed, that it was only
producing errors when the timings were changed? What do you think
they would say to that?

There is only one situation where you should ever be changing those
settings from their slowest default/SPD values, when you have read
the SPD info from the memory and deciphered it yourself, confirmed
that when the motherboard uses the new memory timings, they are still
within the guaranteed spec of the memory.

Suppose the following:

You have memory that runs perfectly at it's spec'd speed and timings,
but the motherboard is instable with memory that doesn't have a large
margin of stability beyond that spec, that motherboard actually needs
to run memory at a lower spec to stay stable. Which motherboards
might have these issues? Any could, but it's a whole lot more likely
on low-end boards like you mentioned above. In particular many ECS
boards have questionable G-Luxon capacitors, which are among those
considered defective by many people... I've replaced a few dozen
myself and the boards worked better afterwards.

A cheap motherboard may run OK with good memory, or a good motherboard
with cheap memory, or an average board with average memory, but when
you cut too many corners you're asking for trouble.

Millions of Kingston memory modules are sold, but only a few people
have problems... if it was the memory then you'd be hearing of a LOT
more reports of problems. What's the varible? Motherboard, number of
modules, BIOS settings.


Dave