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#1
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HELP! Having trouble with memory and bus speed
Ok, here's my problem:
I have a Biostar M7VIG Pro motherboard (http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails...odel=m7vig+pro). I just replaced the AMD Duron 1.2 ghz CPU I had with an AMD AthlonXP 1800+. My system memory is two 512meg SDRAM modules. The system bus is set to 100mhz. My OS is Windows XP Home. When I had the Duron installed, if I attempted to change the bus speed to 133mhz, the computer would just beep at me when I turned it on. I found out that this Duron did not support 133mhz bus speed. When I installed the Athlon, I expected to be able to up the bus speed to 133mhz. When I did this, the computer appeared to be loading just fine, but just before it got to the user login screen (I have 2 profiles - 1 for me and 1 for my wife), it freezes up at the Windows XP logo screen (the little green bar that is moving from left to right stops moving). I attempted to install two 1 gig DDR modules when I upgraded to the Athlon. When I boot up (remember, we're at 100mhz bus speed), I get a ton of memory errors and unstable performance to the point of the computer rebooting itself. I got the same results with the Duron. I understand that I may need to buy a better quality memory module, and I understand the registered vs non-registered aspect. The modules say "1GB DDR333 Module 16C G37 Y34" and have what I can only assume to be a part number (since they both have the same number) under the barcode on the memory's label: 00020040628. So here are my questions - can you think of any reason why the computer wouldn't accept the 133mhz bus speed? Other than buying registered memory, can you think of any other reasons for the erratic behavior of the memory? |
#2
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"Andy in NJ" SHORECOGS at COMCAST DOT NET wrote in message ... Ok, here's my problem: I have a Biostar M7VIG Pro motherboard (http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails...odel=m7vig+pro). I just replaced the AMD Duron 1.2 ghz CPU I had with an AMD AthlonXP 1800+. My system memory is two 512meg SDRAM modules. The system bus is set to 100mhz. My OS is Windows XP Home. When I had the Duron installed, if I attempted to change the bus speed to 133mhz, the computer would just beep at me when I turned it on. I found out that this Duron did not support 133mhz bus speed. When I installed the Athlon, I expected to be able to up the bus speed to 133mhz. When I did this, the computer appeared to be loading just fine, but just before it got to the user login screen (I have 2 profiles - 1 for me and 1 for my wife), it freezes up at the Windows XP logo screen (the little green bar that is moving from left to right stops moving). I attempted to install two 1 gig DDR modules when I upgraded to the Athlon. When I boot up (remember, we're at 100mhz bus speed), I get a ton of memory errors and unstable performance to the point of the computer rebooting itself. I got the same results with the Duron. I understand that I may need to buy a better quality memory module, and I understand the registered vs non-registered aspect. The modules say "1GB DDR333 Module 16C G37 Y34" and have what I can only assume to be a part number (since they both have the same number) under the barcode on the memory's label: 00020040628. So here are my questions - can you think of any reason why the computer wouldn't accept the 133mhz bus speed? Other than buying registered memory, can you think of any other reasons for the erratic behavior of the memory? Well first you state that you are running SDram, then you say later you install DDR modules? So the board supports both? Or one or the other? As far as your SDram modules are concerned, they are 100MHz I assume and then what you were doing was effectively "overclocking" the memory modules by going to 133Mhz which they could not handle so you started to get the freezing. As far as your DDR goes...buying registered most likely will *NOT* fix your problem. Are these modules used? Is it possible they are actually damaged? -Chris |
#3
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-- 73! de Andy KC2SSB http://shorecogs.tripod.com AIM: shorecogs "Chris Stolworthy" wrote in message ... "Andy in NJ" SHORECOGS at COMCAST DOT NET wrote in message ... Ok, here's my problem: I have a Biostar M7VIG Pro motherboard (http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails...odel=m7vig+pro). I just replaced the AMD Duron 1.2 ghz CPU I had with an AMD AthlonXP 1800+. My system memory is two 512meg SDRAM modules. The system bus is set to 100mhz. My OS is Windows XP Home. When I had the Duron installed, if I attempted to change the bus speed to 133mhz, the computer would just beep at me when I turned it on. I found out that this Duron did not support 133mhz bus speed. When I installed the Athlon, I expected to be able to up the bus speed to 133mhz. When I did this, the computer appeared to be loading just fine, but just before it got to the user login screen (I have 2 profiles - 1 for me and 1 for my wife), it freezes up at the Windows XP logo screen (the little green bar that is moving from left to right stops moving). I attempted to install two 1 gig DDR modules when I upgraded to the Athlon. When I boot up (remember, we're at 100mhz bus speed), I get a ton of memory errors and unstable performance to the point of the computer rebooting itself. I got the same results with the Duron. I understand that I may need to buy a better quality memory module, and I understand the registered vs non-registered aspect. The modules say "1GB DDR333 Module 16C G37 Y34" and have what I can only assume to be a part number (since they both have the same number) under the barcode on the memory's label: 00020040628. So here are my questions - can you think of any reason why the computer wouldn't accept the 133mhz bus speed? Other than buying registered memory, can you think of any other reasons for the erratic behavior of the memory? Well first you state that you are running SDram, then you say later you install DDR modules? So the board supports both? Or one or the other? As far as your SDram modules are concerned, they are 100MHz I assume and then what you were doing was effectively "overclocking" the memory modules by going to 133Mhz which they could not handle so you started to get the freezing. As far as your DDR goes...buying registered most likely will *NOT* fix your problem. Are these modules used? Is it possible they are actually damaged? -Chris |
#4
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"Chris Stolworthy" wrote in message
... Well first you state that you are running SDram, then you say later you install DDR modules? So the board supports both? Or one or the other? As far as your SDram modules are concerned, they are 100MHz I assume and then what you were doing was effectively "overclocking" the memory modules by going to 133Mhz which they could not handle so you started to get the freezing. As far as your DDR goes...buying registered most likely will *NOT* fix your problem. Are these modules used? Is it possible they are actually damaged? -Chris The motherboard has 2 slots for DDR and 2 slots for SDR. Only 1 type can be used at a time with support for up to 2 GB of ram. The SDR is 133mhz. The DDR is new memory and were tested prior to shipping. |
#5
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On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 12:00:24 -0400, "Andy in NJ" SHORECOGS at
COMCAST DOT NET wrote: Ok, here's my problem: I have a Biostar M7VIG Pro motherboard (http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails...odel=m7vig+pro). I just replaced the AMD Duron 1.2 ghz CPU I had with an AMD AthlonXP 1800+. My system memory is two 512meg SDRAM modules. The system bus is set to 100mhz. My OS is Windows XP Home. When I had the Duron installed, if I attempted to change the bus speed to 133mhz, the computer would just beep at me when I turned it on. I found out that this Duron did not support 133mhz bus speed. When I installed the Athlon, I expected to be able to up the bus speed to 133mhz. When I did this, the computer appeared to be loading just fine, but just before it got to the user login screen (I have 2 profiles - 1 for me and 1 for my wife), it freezes up at the Windows XP logo screen (the little green bar that is moving from left to right stops moving). Any time system has FSB or memory bus increase OR DECREASE (since memory timings may drop as a result) it is very helpful to run http://www.memtest86.com for several hours prior to booting the OS. Booting OS while system has memory or other errors may corrupt who-knows-what and at best you'd then realize it and reinstall whole OS, but at worse the problem was intermittent and much data was corrupted, even parts replaced beyond those causing the problem. After determining if memtest86 shows errors, you can procceed from there. Also check bios health monitor (and if you have a multimeter, the power supply plugs) for voltage levels, and CPU temp. I attempted to install two 1 gig DDR modules when I upgraded to the Athlon. When I boot up (remember, we're at 100mhz bus speed), I get a ton of memory errors and unstable performance to the point of the computer rebooting itself. I got the same results with the Duron. I understand that I may need to buy a better quality memory module, and I understand the registered vs non-registered aspect. The modules say "1GB DDR333 Module 16C G37 Y34" and have what I can only assume to be a part number (since they both have the same number) under the barcode on the memory's label: 00020040628. So here are my questions - can you think of any reason why the computer wouldn't accept the 133mhz bus speed? Other than buying registered memory, can you think of any other reasons for the erratic behavior of the memory? 1) It's a Biostar motherboard - not known for quality and not too many bios updates to resolve issues like memory compatibility 2) You're trying to run more than one double-sided module on a KM266 chipset, the integrated video derivative of a KT266A, which itself isn't particularly stable... hence Via releasing essentially same thing later as KT333 and KT400 which improved stability. Other issues could be (as briefly mentioned to test above) that system power supply is insufficient. Perhaps not, but often I see poor power supplies paired with these all-integrated low-end motherboards. Ignoring CPU and memory, even motherboard itself will tolerate poor power better at the lower 100MHz FSB rate. GIven you have all this memory and the two CPUs, I suggest building a second system... use the Duron, PC133 memory and Biosstar board for one system, and buy another motherboard for the Athlon XP1800, perhaps an Nforce2 board. In other words, just because a chipset can theoretically suport "X" amount of memory, it doesn't necessarily mean any given motherboard can really run that memory stabily, especially if the memory is only "standard" grade instead of premium memory running far underspec, which is a horrible value since a more modern board could cost less than the price difference for really good memory. Even a cheap board (like a Biostar) nForce2 might have no trouble running your two 1GB modules, though I've never tried that specific configuration and it'd depend on the specific memory too... then again, your Athlon does only need DDR266 FSB, there should be enough of a margin to do it. |
#6
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"kony" wrote in message
... Any time system has FSB or memory bus increase OR DECREASE (since memory timings may drop as a result) it is very helpful to run http://www.memtest86.com for several hours prior to booting the OS. Booting OS while system has memory or other errors may corrupt who-knows-what and at best you'd then realize it and reinstall whole OS, but at worse the problem was intermittent and much data was corrupted, even parts replaced beyond those causing the problem. After determining if memtest86 shows errors, you can procceed from there. Also check bios health monitor (and if you have a multimeter, the power supply plugs) for voltage levels, and CPU temp. I'm not sure I understand you. How will running memtest60 tell me if the DDR memory that I have will work with my motherboard? Other issues could be (as briefly mentioned to test above) that system power supply is insufficient. Perhaps not, but often I see poor power supplies paired with these all-integrated low-end motherboards. Ignoring CPU and memory, even motherboard itself will tolerate poor power better at the lower 100MHz FSB rate. I had thought about the power supply issue. I'm just not sure how to test how well my power supply is working. My other components a ATI Radeon 9600 pro video card, Santa Cruz Turtle Beach sound card. I also run a number of USB devices (such as a wireless keyboard/mouse). How could I determine if my power supply is insufficient? GIven you have all this memory and the two CPUs, I suggest building a second system... use the Duron, PC133 memory and Biosstar board for one system, and buy another motherboard for the Athlon XP1800, perhaps an Nforce2 board. Unfortunately this isn't an option right now, which is why I'm trying to improve on what I have. In other words, just because a chipset can theoretically suport "X" amount of memory, it doesn't necessarily mean any given motherboard can really run that memory stabily, especially if the memory is only "standard" grade instead of premium memory running far underspec, which is a horrible value since a more modern board could cost less than the price difference for really good memory. Even a cheap board (like a Biostar) nForce2 might have no trouble running your two 1GB modules, though I've never tried that specific configuration and it'd depend on the specific memory too... then again, your Athlon does only need DDR266 FSB, there should be enough of a margin to do it. I appretiate you taking the time to write the reply. It's very informative. |
#7
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On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 13:19:53 -0400, "Andy in NJ" SHORECOGS at
COMCAST DOT NET wrote: "kony" wrote in message .. . Any time system has FSB or memory bus increase OR DECREASE (since memory timings may drop as a result) it is very helpful to run http://www.memtest86.com for several hours prior to booting the OS. Booting OS while system has memory or other errors may corrupt who-knows-what and at best you'd then realize it and reinstall whole OS, but at worse the problem was intermittent and much data was corrupted, even parts replaced beyond those causing the problem. After determining if memtest86 shows errors, you can procceed from there. Also check bios health monitor (and if you have a multimeter, the power supply plugs) for voltage levels, and CPU temp. I'm not sure I understand you. How will running memtest60 tell me if the DDR memory that I have will work with my motherboard? Quite simply, in theory the memory IS supported, but in practice it may not run stabily. Testing the memory is the way to determine if it's stable, before booting to OS, risking any files/data manipulated while you might have memory errors. Other issues could be (as briefly mentioned to test above) that system power supply is insufficient. Perhaps not, but often I see poor power supplies paired with these all-integrated low-end motherboards. Ignoring CPU and memory, even motherboard itself will tolerate poor power better at the lower 100MHz FSB rate. I had thought about the power supply issue. I'm just not sure how to test how well my power supply is working. My other components a ATI Radeon 9600 pro video card, Santa Cruz Turtle Beach sound card. I also run a number of USB devices (such as a wireless keyboard/mouse). How could I determine if my power supply is insufficient? I already suggested taking voltage readings. What make/model power supply is it? Some generics may seem fine for a time, but rapidly degrade, such that "right now" you might only notice the problem when trying to upgrade the system, but with more time, further degradation of the power supply "could" make even the base, original system config instable. These are things we have insufficient data to determine. GIven you have all this memory and the two CPUs, I suggest building a second system... use the Duron, PC133 memory and Biosstar board for one system, and buy another motherboard for the Athlon XP1800, perhaps an Nforce2 board. Unfortunately this isn't an option right now, which is why I'm trying to improve on what I have. A nice theory, but if you simply can't get it to work, you'll have no alternative... if the board simply won't run the memory stable there is no magic bullet that will fix that, except possibly buying premium memory and running it at relaxed timings, which as i already mentioned, may end up being more expensive than the new motherboard. In other words, just because a chipset can theoretically suport "X" amount of memory, it doesn't necessarily mean any given motherboard can really run that memory stabily, especially if the memory is only "standard" grade instead of premium memory running far underspec, which is a horrible value since a more modern board could cost less than the price difference for really good memory. Even a cheap board (like a Biostar) nForce2 might have no trouble running your two 1GB modules, though I've never tried that specific configuration and it'd depend on the specific memory too... then again, your Athlon does only need DDR266 FSB, there should be enough of a margin to do it. I appretiate you taking the time to write the reply. It's very informative. You might also see if bios allows manually setting slower timings (higher numbers) at same (133MHz) memory & FSB speed. |
#8
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"kony" wrote in message
... I already suggested taking voltage readings. You're speaking greek to me. Take voltage readings? What make/model power supply is it? Not sure. Next time I open it up, I'll look. It came with the case (custom computer). Some generics may seem fine for a time, but rapidly degrade, such that "right now" you might only notice the problem when trying to upgrade the system, but with more time, further degradation of the power supply "could" make even the base, original system config instable. These are things we have insufficient data to determine. |
#9
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On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 18:17:28 -0400, "Andy in NJ" SHORECOGS at
COMCAST DOT NET wrote: "kony" wrote in message .. . I already suggested taking voltage readings. You're speaking greek to me. Take voltage readings? Yes, if you have a multimeter, take measurements at the ATX connector while system is on. If not, see what the bios hardware monitor screen and/or windows hardware monitor utility reports (for voltage levels, particularly 3V, 5V, & 12V). What make/model power supply is it? Not sure. Next time I open it up, I'll look. It came with the case (custom computer). Usually "unknown, came-with-case" power supplies are pretty low quality. However, it is less common for only memory to have errors from poor or insufficient power, if your bios allows setting asynchronous memory speed, you might see if the system is stable with FSB @ 100MHz but memory at 133MHz, or vice-versa, FSB @ 133 and memory @ 100. This would tend to isolate the faster bus somewhat. Even so, better to first test with memtest86, and see if relaxing the memory timings or changing FSB speed lower eliminates errors (assuming there are errors reported by memtest86). |
#10
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"kony" wrote in message
... Yes, if you have a multimeter, take measurements at the ATX connector while system is on. If not, see what the bios hardware monitor screen and/or windows hardware monitor utility reports (for voltage levels, particularly 3V, 5V, & 12V). Well, I don't have a multimeter. Here's what Everest gives me on voltage: Voltage Values CPU Core 1.76 V +3.3 V 3.22 V +5 V 5.00 V +12 V 12.34 V -12 V -12.12 V -5 V -5.20 V +5 V Standby 4.85 V VBAT Battery 3.26 V |
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