Defetive Ram Questions

[Yatta]

I have four sticks of Kingston Rambus RDRAM PC 1066, eat operating at 128 MB. I know for sure that one of them is damaged. I need to know:

if I can identify the damaged ram stick without trying every stick through software. In other words, is there a program that will run memory tests (I know there is), but that will tell me which stick is malfunctioning?
My computer starts up fine with all four sticks in place. Is it possible that defective ram can only *sometimes* malfunction and cause system failure (in my case WinXP bluescreen/restart)?

[Jeff]

Heard the guys talking about this one (http://www.memtest86.com/). Just run that overnight. It's a memory diagnostic test.

[Wamplet]

memtest is one. I used another one as well, but have to check my work computer.

I think you can tell with memtest, based on the number in megabytes where the failure is, in the case of having multiple chips.

Following that, if the crashing is not all of the time, it most likely is a chip further away from the first bank.

I had a laptop with 2 sticks of 256. The second one was bad. Didn't always crash, unless it was on a full load sometimes.

In addition, for the last time. You are using the wrong memory for that computer. Give it up. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Just get a new mainboard, chip and memory case closed. They ripped you off. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[Jeff]

Yatta if you've gotta Dell, lay off it. Gotta build yourself a new system next time. Mine works like a breeze.

[Yatta]

Wamplet said:
In addition, for the last time. You are using the wrong memory for that computer. Give it up. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Just get a new mainboard, chip and memory case closed. They ripped you off. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif


Negative. I'm not denying that my ram may be incompatible with my motherboard, but it was working fine for the for the first 2+ years. It wouldn't have worked so well in the first place if the problem lay in the incompatibility.

Now.... to try memtest. I would have tried it earlier because I knew about it--if I had known it would also tell me where my defective stick was based on the # MB it stopped on. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Jeff: It's not a Dell. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Bludd]

You can't really know which stick is malfunctioning without testing them one at a time, or swapping out sticks if you have/can get hold of an identical/near identical stick to swap with.

RDRAM needs to be run in pairs or else it won't function, right?

[Wamplet]

Bludd said:
RDRAM needs to be run in pairs or else it won't function, right?



Yeap.



Yatta, Jesus F. Christ of the Latter Day Saints...A Mormon Message.


Maybe it's the fact that they overclocked your shit and were running incompatible memory on your computer all that time.

It could also have just eaten shit on it's own and died.

[Yatta]

Well shit. The computer goes crazy every time I take out 1 or 2 sticks from RIMM 3/4. I tried them in pairs of two, and any combination possible. Memtest gives errors at 506MB. Looks like the last stick is faulty?

[Rellik66]

Some motherboards are picky about the combinations of memory, so check the manual carefully.

I have had a situation where I would get errors no matter what, only to find out the Motherboard was crap and the memory was fine

[Bludd]

http://www.memtest86.com/#display

specifically:


2) Rotating modules
When none of the modules can be removed then you may wish to rotate modules to find the failing one. This technique can only be used if there are three or more modules in the system. Change the location of two modules at a time. For example put the module from slot 1 into slot 2 and put the module from slot 2 in slot 1. Run the test and if either the failing bit or address changes then you know that the failing module is one of the ones just moved. By using several combinations of module movement you should be able to determine which module is failing.

[Tedski]

Yatta said:
Well shit. The computer goes crazy every time I take out 1 or 2 sticks from RIMM 3/4. I tried them in pairs of two, and any combination possible. Memtest gives errors at 506MB. Looks like the last stick is faulty?



See what Bludd says above. It is also not beyond the realms of possibility - although I would say dodgy ram is more obvious - that one of the Rimm slots has become unusable. I would also have a good look at them while you're swopping memory about - check that all the connections to the memory are clean and undamaged.

[DudeMiester]

Another test I've used and works well enough, www.goldmemory.cz (http://www.goldmemory.cz)

Speaking of defective RAM, I just built a system for a friend that not only had defective RAM, but the PSU just blew yesterday, it was an Antec TruePower. Heading back over to fix it for the 5th time (20min drive), and the 6th visit to the computer store (15min drive). God help me.

[Yatta]

DudeMiester, how did you find out the ram was defective?

[Wamplet]

Yatta said:
Well shit. The computer goes crazy every time I take out 1 or 2 sticks from RIMM 3/4. I tried them in pairs of two, and any combination possible. Memtest gives errors at 506MB. Looks like the last stick is faulty?



It's been ages since I had to mess with my old P4 mainboard, but for RDRAM, I though banks 1 and 3 were linked, as well as 2 and 4. May want to check your mainboard to confirm. If you are leaving banks 1 and 2 filled, that may be why you get an error when you remove them.

I think a majority of the DDR slots are the same way.

[Wamplet]

Another thing to consider is that I beleive RDRAM uses those dummy sticks and you will need to put a pair in, when you remove your real pair for testing.

If your computer came with all 4 banks filled with ram, then you may need to order them. try newegg.com or somewhere similar. I'll help you find some if they are hard to come by.

[DudeMiester]

Yatta said:
DudeMiester, how did you find out the ram was defective?



First the system was really unstable and would constantly lockup, so I used www.goldmemory.cz (http://www.goldmemory.cz) and after 4 tries I managed to boot into the actual memory test without a lockup and the memory errored like mad. Plus, when I got some higher qualilty OCZ Performance DDR400, it problem was solved. Anyways, it's all fixed now, fully (i.e. excessively) loaded with software, and working like a charm. Took me 2 weeks to do it though.