Before I got my DDR ram, i didn't have any problems. Now that i got DDR, whenever i play a game, the computer will freeze after about 10 minutes. Does anybody know the correct BIOS settings i should have for my DDR RAM? I have an AMI BIOS on a ECS K7S5A motherboard. Thanks, Jon

What RAM do you have in your machine? Is it generic? There are no defintive BIOS settings to make RAM run correctly and generally depends on trial and error more than anything else, especially if you're overclocking. One thing you could try is underclocking the RAM and retry doing what crashed the system before. If it works then you may have a RAM problem or you may just have to tweak the voltages. Another typical error with bad RAM is problems with installing from larger cab files. Also a good idea would be to monitor your 5v line, if it drops too low, then the system will just freeze, and gaming puts the system under a lot of strain. If this is dropping too low, a number of power supplies have a pot to adjust the 5v line. You may want to consider buying a new power supply perhaps. Finally is there any restrictions on using RAM in your motherboard, ie can you mix registered an non registered etc etc, and are you? Anyway a few things to consider, hope this is of some help?!?

Yes, it is a generic brand. I just got a new Power supply, thinking that was the problem. I now have a 400w. How do i ajust the 5v line? What do you mean by restrictions on my RAM? Thanks

Underclocking generic RAM is a pretty good way of testing whether it is good or not, so try running it slower. Clock it down from 133 to 100 (or equvivalent for your machine) and try doing what crashed the system before. Even if this yields the same results I wouldnt be surprised if it might well still be the RAM. Getting good quality RAM is actually far more important to a system than many people realise. If you have a 400w supply, don't worry about adjusting the 5v line, that shouldn't be a problem. You may have restrictions on the amount of RAM you can have and what kind of RAM you can mix on your motherboard so you should check that out and make sure your not doing anything wrong there. I'll give my motherboard as an example, I have the KG-7 RAID and with this board you can't mix unregistered and registered RAM and also if you use unregistered RAM you can only have half the total amount of RAM as you can with registered. This is a restriction of the chipset, not the board, so you should find out about your motherboard and the chipset it uses.

Is this the reason my system only detects 1/2 of the installed 512 DDR? system info Os Version : Windows XP 5.1 (Build 2600) (DBCS) User.exe Version : False Debugging User.exe Version : False - Processor : Quantity : 1 Processor Type : GenuineIntel Processor Name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz Identifier : x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 4 Speed : 1817Mhz Level : 586 Granularity : 64K Revision : 516 High-End Processor : True - Windows Network : Machine Name : ANYBETH User Name : anybeth Security Present: False - Memory Information : Total Physical Memory: 261616 KB / 255 MB Used Memory: 156508 KB / 153 MB Free Memory: 105108 KB / 102 MB