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I've been posting in the Win9x forum about getting NTKERN protection errors, program crashes and registry errors, and that when running a RAM test in Norton Utilities, it fails. I have two DIMM modules, one is the original 256Mb, and the other is 128MB which i added later on. Both are PC133, and i know that one of them is CL3 because it says on the label.
Anyway, now i've found out that using either one of them on its own (thats just using one module and leaving the other available slow empty - there are 2 slots) is OK, and there are no crashes, NTKERN or memory errors - they both passed the Norton tests when used on their own. But when i put them both back in at the same time again - errors!
The motherboard is a PC Chips M810L (I think thats it) - are there any known issues with this board? Is this sort of memory problem common and can it be fixed?Thanks for any comments!
Alex
First, the Norton memory test is useless. Older versions give false errors with that much memory in the system.
Run a standalone memory test from a DOS boot diskette. Get both DocMemory_v2.0 and MemTest86_v3.0, and make their boot diskettes. You should be able to run both for at least 12 hours without errors to test your hardware. You should be able to use both memory modules. Once you know the hardware is working, you can address the software problems.
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Hi, thanks for your reply.
The thing is, as I mentioned in one of my other posts, i have already tried both DocMem (with the Burn-in test) and MemTest86, and although both reported errors, I know Norton must be telling it as it is because I get so many registry errors and Windows Protection errors during startup - so there has to be something wrong with the memory - i just cant figure out why the RAM/System works fine when only one module is used but not when both are used.
Alex
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It has been my experience that different brands & sizes of memory may not play well together. If you have 2 identical sticks I bet your problem wll go away. I NEVER mix memory; been there, done that.
CC Ryder
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Check your motherboard documentation, some computers require the ram to be the same speed, size etc in all slots.
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Thanx for the replies, I would like to be able to set RAM speeds like CL2/CL3, etc. (because im sure this type of thing could be the problem), like on most NORMAL PC's you can do this in the BIOS, but this board has the AMI Simple-setup with hardly any options, and definitely no memory options.
Alex
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OK I'm typing this message with a very similarly setup as you have. PC Chips 810/XP1600/320MB PC133.
Firstly remember the 810 is a very weird board in more ways than one. Do you have UDMA working properly for your drives? There is a bug in the BIOS that will only allow the IDE channels to work in UDMA when power management in the BIOS is set to 'ACPI Only'. That might sound unrelevent but if it's set to 'APM/ACPI' then weird errors occur.
Have you tried each stick in each DIMM slot? It might be that one of the DIMM slots is bad rather than the memory. If your using the onboard VGA one stick will have to be in DIMM 1 to supply the VGA memory.
What wattage PSU do you have?
Guys at the PC Chips forum say that if you use more than 1 stick of RAM in the 810 both have to be CL3 else it doesn't work. I don't think this is true however as I have 1 256MB CL3 and 1 64MB CL2 stick. Note that the CL2 stick is in DIMM 1 and CL3 stick is in DIMM 2. Could you try putting your CL2 stick in DIMM 1?
The main reason for these errors is not the memory but the motherboard. It has problems that can't be logically explained. I bet if you try those two sticks on another motherboard, they'll work flawlesslly.
If none of that helps, you could try posting your problem at the PC Chips forum and see what they say.
http://www.stud.fernuni-hagen.de/q3998142-bin/cgi-bin/ibrd/ikonboard.cgi
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Hi, thanx for the info. About the CL of the memory, only one of the sticks has a label on which says the CL, it says "PC133 128MB SDR/CL3" and thats the 128MB one i bought. The original 256MB just has a sticker with "256MB PC133".
As for the PSU...its only 250W! Yes, 250, and i know thats low especially for this type of system, but its not as though i built the machine - it was purchased from a shop.
And i know the option in the BIOS is set to "APM/ACPI", would setting this to ACPI only help in any way? Or is that just for hard drives, because i've not had problems with the UDMA (I think...i wouldnt know whether it was enabled or not)
Thanks again,
Alex
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Me again, I was reading on the PC Chips forum all about a new BIOS (jan2003 version) that has been released for the M810 series of boards. The people there have been writing about how much more stable it has made their systems, but I see a lot also about board "7.1" - i think mine is a board revision 3. Is the Bios for this and could it fix my problems??
Alex
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Your scraping it with a 250 watter. What are the voltages like? Have a look in the BIOS at the +12, +5 and +3.3V Rails. I'd leave the power management alone for now and if your confident about flashing BIOS' go along that road as I think it's got more chance of fixing your problems than anything else. I know for sure that the new BIOS makes AGP graphics cards run at their proper speed on the board.
Here is the latest BIOS. It will work for all revisions.
ftp://ftp.pcchips.com.tw/bios-n/m810l//030103s.exe
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Right, i've got the voltages from my BIOS - i've included what the whole page read because i'm not sure exactly whats what so:
CPU Temp: 45°C/114°F
System Temp: 23°C/73°FVcore: 1.760V
VCC 2.5V: 2.416V
VCC 3.3V: 3.232V
VCC 5.0V: 4.919V+12V: 12.288V
-12V: -12.459VSB3V 3.408V
SB5V 4.972VThats all of it. I hope it means something to someone lol.
Thanks,
Alex
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Voltages all look fine to me. Both temperatures are very good for the CPU also.
I saw you posted at the forum. It is probably the motherboard itself. Has anybody got any other suggestions cos I'm out of ideas.
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