A7N8X Have Bad Memory?

Battlefan

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Mar 8, 2003
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My computer reboots itself in windows and drops out of programs. Is my memory bad? I have pc2700 ram. Running memtest says mem is bad and needs replaced when I have mem frequency chosen by SPD (166 freq). When set to auto it sets freq at 133 and memtest doesn't find any errors. I tried moving the 2 sticks of ram to different slots with same results. I have 2 sticks of Crucial totaling 512. Athlon XP2100. No overclocking. Even though my processor is 133 the memory should still work at 166 right? Thanks for any help or ideas.
 
My friend had the same problem with pc2700 ram and a similar intel board. Basically flash your bios and if that doesn't work then you will have to just run your memory synchroneously with your cpu at 133 fsb. It's kindof a waste of pc2700 memory but that fixed his problems so it might work for you too.

To err is human... to really screw things up you need a computer!
 
If your memory is reporting errors at it's rated speed, you probably do have at least one strip of bad memory there. Ram usually carries a 1 year warranty, so unless it's out of warranty you should be able to get it replaced free.

It's unlikely that Bios or software updates will help you if there's a reported memory error.... Just take it back and get it replaced.




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Well I'm wondering if there is a problem with the motherboard being picky about its ram at higher speeds? The ram is new and I tried each stick separately and each one had errors at 333 but none at 266. It seems to me it would be rare to get 2 bad sticks of ram from Crucial? I am waiting for an e-mail reply from Crucial. Seems to me lots of people are having trouble with random reboots. I'm actually hoping its a problem with the ram because that would be an easier fix than having a problem with the motherboard.
 
IF you are getting errors at the memory's rated speed there are 2 possibilities:

1) you have bad ram
2) you have a bad motherboard

Given all the problems I'm seeing with A7N8X boards, I'd say it's a coin toss... Is there another machine --one not using A7N8X-- you can stuff that memory into for testing? If it tests ok on a different machine, you know it's the motherboard. If it tests bad on a different machine you know it's the ram.





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I did put the memory into a MSI K7N420 Pro and it ran good with memtest. I don't think it was running at 333 though? I couldn't find anything in the bios that I could change to that speed for the memory. Is there any programs that tell you what speed your memory is running at? I'm getting to the point where I feel like returning everything.
 
Last week I received my brand new ASUS A7N8X Deluxe along with my AXP 1700+ and a couple of Winbond DDR400 256MB Memory modules.

Installed everything, fired up windows install, drivers loading all is well until all of a sudden it hangs.

Uh oh.

I've run memtest86, and as expected a bunch of errors came out, apparently from the second stick.

I take out the second stick, run memtest, all is well. I replace the stick that passed the test with the other one, run memtest86 and all is well. That one really had me stumped.

I put them both together again, and voilla, errors again.

I then tested some combinations of single/dual sticks in each slot, apparently memory slots 2 and 3 are causing these errors. 2 sticks or even a single stick in one of these slots would cause errors in memtest86.

RMAd the board, waiting for replacement :/
 
The A7N8X is very picky about using Dual Channel DDR. It's highly recommended you purchase a matched set tested for DualDDR. For example Corsair provides the XMS Twin Sets.