GA-K8NS Ultra 939 Dual Channel Memory Unusable

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

Problem:

My Kingston dual-channel DDR400 512x2 memory fails Microsoft's memory
test utility in dual-channel mode (slots 1&2 or 3&4). The LRAND test
gets between 5-20 errors. Both chips pass all tests fine individually
or with both in non-dual channel mode (slots 1&3). I have tried the
memory BIOS settings avialable (DDR +0.1V and +0.2V).

Question:

Is this bad memory or more a buggy motherboard (or both) or some other
thing?

Configuration:

Motherboard= GA-K8NS Ultra 939 w/nForce 3 Ultra chipset (Rev 1.0)
CPU= AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Newcastle) Retail w/AMD Fan
Video= BFG NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256MB (AGP8X)
RAM= Kingston ValueRAM Dual Channel KVR400X64C3AK2/1G 1GB Kit 400MHz
DDR PC3200 DIMM 3-3-3
HD= SATA WD360GD 10,000RMP 34.6GM DRive
OS= Windows XP SP2
PWR= EnerMax 460W

Info:

Latest BIOS ver. F4
Latest Chipset Drivers from NVIDIA for nForce 3 Ultra
Latest NVIDIA GeForce driver 66.93
Temps are fine (43 degress celcius)
Not overclocked, using 200Mhz and 66Mhz AGP
No RAID, using BASE configuration
I don't see anywhere on this motherboard where you can set the memory
timings, just the voltage.

Any previous experiences or helpful insight appreciated.

±Ray

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

Can you test the memory in another PC?, it is weird...perhaps memory
timings?


"Ray Letulle" <ray_letulle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e0b88ae9.0411151122.41ab7ddd@posting.google.com...
> Problem:
>
> My Kingston dual-channel DDR400 512x2 memory fails Microsoft's memory
> test utility in dual-channel mode (slots 1&2 or 3&4). The LRAND test
> gets between 5-20 errors. Both chips pass all tests fine individually
> or with both in non-dual channel mode (slots 1&3). I have tried the
> memory BIOS settings avialable (DDR +0.1V and +0.2V).
>
> Question:
>
> Is this bad memory or more a buggy motherboard (or both) or some other
> thing?
>
> Configuration:
>
> Motherboard= GA-K8NS Ultra 939 w/nForce 3 Ultra chipset (Rev 1.0)
> CPU= AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Newcastle) Retail w/AMD Fan
> Video= BFG NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256MB (AGP8X)
> RAM= Kingston ValueRAM Dual Channel KVR400X64C3AK2/1G 1GB Kit 400MHz
> DDR PC3200 DIMM 3-3-3
> HD= SATA WD360GD 10,000RMP 34.6GM DRive
> OS= Windows XP SP2
> PWR= EnerMax 460W
>
> Info:
>
> Latest BIOS ver. F4
> Latest Chipset Drivers from NVIDIA for nForce 3 Ultra
> Latest NVIDIA GeForce driver 66.93
> Temps are fine (43 degress celcius)
> Not overclocked, using 200Mhz and 66Mhz AGP
> No RAID, using BASE configuration
> I don't see anywhere on this motherboard where you can set the memory
> timings, just the voltage.
>
> Any previous experiences or helpful insight appreciated.
>
> ±Ray

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

This board (and it's 939 variants) are known to have problems with certain
memory. I have two sticks of Corsair memory and cannot run them in dual
channel mode for some reason.

F6 is the latest BIOS for the board (for mine at least, non Ultra), so you
may want to try that.

http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17496

Peter Geddes

"Richard Dower" <richarddower@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cnbfkb$hth$1@kermit.esat.net...
> Can you test the memory in another PC?, it is weird...perhaps memory
> timings?
>
>
> "Ray Letulle" <ray_letulle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:e0b88ae9.0411151122.41ab7ddd@posting.google.com...
>> Problem:
>>
>> My Kingston dual-channel DDR400 512x2 memory fails Microsoft's memory
>> test utility in dual-channel mode (slots 1&2 or 3&4). The LRAND test
>> gets between 5-20 errors. Both chips pass all tests fine individually
>> or with both in non-dual channel mode (slots 1&3). I have tried the
>> memory BIOS settings avialable (DDR +0.1V and +0.2V).
>>
>> Question:
>>
>> Is this bad memory or more a buggy motherboard (or both) or some other
>> thing?
>>
>> Configuration:
>>
>> Motherboard= GA-K8NS Ultra 939 w/nForce 3 Ultra chipset (Rev 1.0)
>> CPU= AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Newcastle) Retail w/AMD Fan
>> Video= BFG NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256MB (AGP8X)
>> RAM= Kingston ValueRAM Dual Channel KVR400X64C3AK2/1G 1GB Kit 400MHz
>> DDR PC3200 DIMM 3-3-3
>> HD= SATA WD360GD 10,000RMP 34.6GM DRive
>> OS= Windows XP SP2
>> PWR= EnerMax 460W
>>
>> Info:
>>
>> Latest BIOS ver. F4
>> Latest Chipset Drivers from NVIDIA for nForce 3 Ultra
>> Latest NVIDIA GeForce driver 66.93
>> Temps are fine (43 degress celcius)
>> Not overclocked, using 200Mhz and 66Mhz AGP
>> No RAID, using BASE configuration
>> I don't see anywhere on this motherboard where you can set the memory
>> timings, just the voltage.
>>
>> Any previous experiences or helpful insight appreciated.
>>
>> ±Ray
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

Update:

Now that I am aware of the Cnt+F1 access to the memory timings (I am
new to Giga-byte MBs), I was able to determine the memory runs fine in
dual-channel mode with a setting of 166 on the memory clock. The issue
is at 200Mhz. Since this MB and memory should work as adviertised,
Kingston is sending me an updated revision of the Memory (080.A00
instead 015.A00). We'll see if that works.

The most recent version for K8NS is F4. There is an F6 for 8KNXP.

I have read rumors of an F6 BIOS for K8NS, but the giga-byte website
only has an F4 version (as of 11/19/04). I read that they put up the
F6 BIOS buy quickly removed it. I don't know whether this was on
purpose or not, but I'll wait until a revision is posted on the
giga-byte website.

"Peter Geddes" <p.geddes@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message news:<419d1514$0$29190$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com>...
> This board (and it's 939 variants) are known to have problems with certain
> memory. I have two sticks of Corsair memory and cannot run them in dual
> channel mode for some reason.
>
> F6 is the latest BIOS for the board (for mine at least, non Ultra), so you
> may want to try that.
>
> http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17496
>
> Peter Geddes
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

Can i recomend something here?, try memory timings of 2-2-2-10.


"Ray Letulle" <ray_letulle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e0b88ae9.0411191444.37f3126a@posting.google.com...
> Update:
>
> Now that I am aware of the Cnt+F1 access to the memory timings (I am
> new to Giga-byte MBs), I was able to determine the memory runs fine in
> dual-channel mode with a setting of 166 on the memory clock. The issue
> is at 200Mhz. Since this MB and memory should work as adviertised,
> Kingston is sending me an updated revision of the Memory (080.A00
> instead 015.A00). We'll see if that works.
>
> The most recent version for K8NS is F4. There is an F6 for 8KNXP.
>
> I have read rumors of an F6 BIOS for K8NS, but the giga-byte website
> only has an F4 version (as of 11/19/04). I read that they put up the
> F6 BIOS buy quickly removed it. I don't know whether this was on
> purpose or not, but I'll wait until a revision is posted on the
> giga-byte website.
>
> "Peter Geddes" <p.geddes@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
> news:<419d1514$0$29190$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com>...
>> This board (and it's 939 variants) are known to have problems with
>> certain
>> memory. I have two sticks of Corsair memory and cannot run them in dual
>> channel mode for some reason.
>>
>> F6 is the latest BIOS for the board (for mine at least, non Ultra), so
>> you
>> may want to try that.
>>
>> http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17496
>>
>> Peter Geddes
>>

 

[Jim]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.gigabyte (More info?)

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has found a resolution to this problem. I
have the same motherboard and RAM configuration as mentioned above.
Everything works fine in single channel mode, but as soon as the RAM is
in dual channel mode windows becomes unstable and Memtest86 reports
errors on test #7.

I havent tried adjusting the memory voltage or timings in the BIOS
because I was thinking if it needed to be changed tech support at
Kingston would have told me to do so, or maybe not??

Is this a motherboard problem, or a Kingston memory problem? Kingston
tech support didnt have any solutions. Should I RMA the memory to
Kingston, or will the new memory result in errors too?
Thanks for any help.

Russ