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Chaintech 7NIF2 motherboard - memory problems
Not a question. Just posting some facts.
The Chaintech 7NIF2 is a microATX motherboard using the nForce2 chipset. It has onboard video (Geforce 4 MX) and TV out. This board is EXTREMELY picky when it comes to memory. If you've got weird problems with this board, particularly video corruption or crashes when playing MPEG videos, it's definitely the memory. Triple check that you're running the memory at the proper speed for your CPU. If relaxed timings don't solve the problem, you've got the replace the memory. Chances are that there's nothing wrong with it, so you'll need to explain to your vendor that it's a compatibility issue and not a defective chip. Otherwise, they may test it, not find anything wrong and send it right back to you. I bought a 256-meg DDR chip at my local Microcenter. With the correct memory timings it solved all of my problems and the system has been running perfectly ever since. I was building two of these systems, so I went back and bought another one of these chips -- same packaging, SKU number and price. The second system couldn't even complete the Windows XP installation when using this chip. I found that windows WOULD install completely if I used a separate video card instead of the onboard one. That meant that either the video chip was bad or the RAM wasn't compatible with the onboard video. But this was the same memory that worked on an identical system just a day before. Maybe it was a flaky chip? I took it back to Microcenter and discovered (to my delight) that the chip INSIDE the clear packaging was DIFFERENT. The memory that works with the 7NIF2 had a hologram sticker on it (Spectra or something) and the other memory had a white paper sticker. They let me exchange it without a hassle and now the second system is up and running beautifully. I have never encountered a motherboard that was this picky about memory, with the possible exception of an old Dell system that I worked on once that I NEVER managed to find compatible memory for. If you're in the market for a microATX motherboard with TV-out, the Chaintech seems to be ok. Just don't skimp on the memory. Get some name brand and make sure you can easily swap it if you need to. -Wuahn |
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