Interconnected voltage issues? Faulty ram's?

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Nov 8, 2017
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So quite a while back I ordered some DDR2 RAM sticks for my aging computer. I got the recommendation from a swedish hardware forum where a guy with the exact same mobo as me had bought and used these sticks. So I figured I'd be safe to go with the same ones as him (he linked me the ebay auction).

Unfortunately, my computer quite randomly closes browser windows with youtube videos or games. It seems to happen when I put the computer under a bit of pressure. When just browsing the web and stuff it is fine without any issues, at least when using only 2 of the new sticks I ordered.

I have 4 sticks of the newer type in total (16gb), but currently running only 2 of them (8gb), as it seems to not crash as often. Running Windows 7 64-bit.

I've been trying them out a few times in different slots and neither worked properly. I ran windows built in memtest and had no issues with the ones I tested.

These sticks aren't in the memory reference from the mobo provider as far as I know (in fact no samsung ones are), but since that other guy got them to work it might not be impossible as long as they're not defect?

I should also say:
I have been experiencing frequent issues with the screen and input freezing along with stuttering/slow-motioned audio for a few seconds to a minute or so each time before going back to normal. Also when booting up - before the splash screen shows, just when switching the computer on - the screen glitches with crackling colors for a few seconds and then continues booting up just fine without any issues. The gpu also seems to be overheating a bit sometimes (right now 60C in idle and 166rpm on the gpu fan). Here's a quick HWmonitor screenshot.

I figured at least the ram issues might have something to do with voltages/timings/bios settings or something along these lines, but I'm not great at this stuff. Looks like it should be timed 6-6-6-18 when looking at the sticker on the ram, but it says 5-6-6-18 in cpu-z. Or maybe there is some power deficiencies between the GPU and the ram somehow?

Before I installed these new ram sticks I never had these crashes per se in games or videos, "only" the graphical and freezing issues explained above. Which by the way I need to sort out eventually as well.


Maybe you guys can help me sherlock out what's going on here?
 
Solution
helpstar
check all memory sticks seperately with memtest.org USB autoinstaller and boot from the usb flash drive if possibe or burn a CD with bootable image of memtest

check temperature of your CPU and graphics card

check HDD with its manufacturer´s tool

which BIOS version is installed on the motherboard?

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For a start, that Samsung memory is possibly fake or counterfeit, as the information on the sticker is contradictory (FB vs Un-buffered).

Regardless if the memory is fake or not, mixing different (individual) memory often causes system issues due to memory module characteristic variations.

No guarantee of success, but could try increasing DRAM Voltage by 0.05 V in BIOS. Although DRAM Voltage can be raised to fairly high value, try not to go over 1.95 V.

If still no luck getting stable operation, then try increasing CPU NB VID by 0.005 V.
 
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Thanks for your answer. I see, yes I've heard this. But since the memories have the same sticker information on them (and presuming that information is correct, which they just as well might not be of course) they shouldn't be different individual memories? As long as they're not different types of sticks with the same sticker on I mean. Or how does this work?

Anyway. I tried what you said and put the DDR2 voltage control up. Unfortunately the bios only allowed 0.1 increments, so I had to put it on +.1V to a total of 1.90V. Didn't work as far as i know, since I got the same crash as usual after a few minutes of a game running.

Concerning the CPU NB VID: The increments there are only per +0.025 V. Should I still increase with this amount and should I revert the RAM voltage back to the normal 1.8V when doing it? Or keep it at 1.9?

Thanks for the help, sorry if I seem a bit thick, just trying to learn :)
 
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Some of the information on the module sticker contradicts other information on the same sticker. That suggests the sticker and therefore the module is quite possibly fake/counterfeit as mentioned before.

DRAM Voltage back to 1.80 V.
Raise CPU NB VID by 0.025 V.
If system still crashes, then raise DRAM Voltage also to 1.90 V.
If system still crashes, then raise CPU NB VID again by 0.025 V with DRAM Voltage still at 1.90 V.
If system still crashes, raise CPU NB VID once again by 0.025 V. Don't exceed somewhere around 1.2 ~ 1.3 V for CPU NB VID.
 
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Got ya. I'm testing it out right now. I can't see any absolute value for the CPU NB VID in my BIOS. Is there any other way for me to tell what voltage it is currently set to? So that I don't exceed 1.2 - 1.3 V. I have both CPU-z and HW Monitor installed, but can't really find the values there either. Also, it still says the memories are at 1.80 V in cpu-z, despite having change-saved it in the BIOS. I presume the information in CPU-z is wrong? It says 1.9V in total in the BIOS.

Edit: I bumped up the CPU NB VID two times (but not the third time as I don't know what voltage it was at), but it made no difference, still crashed.
 
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check all memory sticks seperately with memtest.org USB autoinstaller and boot from the usb flash drive if possibe or burn a CD with bootable image of memtest

check temperature of your CPU and graphics card

check HDD with its manufacturer´s tool

which BIOS version is installed on the motherboard?

 
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Solution

Hard drives:
D - WDC WD6401AALS-00L3B2 ATA Device
Performed test with Western Digitals tool. No errors, test was fine.
C - CT250BX100SSD1 ATA Device
Tested with same software as I couldn't find any analysis tool from Crucial. No errors, test was fine.

Temperatures:
CPU
Idling at around 30 C. Up to 42 C before crash on game run after a minute or so.
HW Monitor screenshot.

GPU
Recently set the GPU fans manually after I saw it idle at around 70+ degrees C a couple of days ago. When I don't manually set the fan in Wattman, it appears to not really adjust the fan speed properly (not sure, it might be). But it lets the GPU reach high temperatures (70+) in games/videos without automatically cranking up the fans to lower the temperature. Not really sure how fans are supposed to work though, so this might be ok.
Right now it idles at 40 C @ 870 RPM. Only got to 50 C before game crashed this time, but I've seen it go up to ~62 C max on ~870 RPM.
HW Monitor screenshot with Wattman in the background.

BIOS version
Award Software International Inc.
v. F3
2009-06-03
I saw on the mobo support page that there are newer BIOS updates but I haven't felt confident enough updating to later version. I don't think I saw the changelogs for any version stated anything related to RAM so I didn't look any further into it.

Memtest
I don't have access to either a USB stick or the CD-reader right now, so I'll have to look for a usb first. Is the windows tool or something else not sufficient for testing the sticks? And by testing them individually, do you mean only one stick installed at a time per run? If so does it matter which slot should be used for the one stick?

Thanks for the help
 
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Ok, I will try to get memtest sorted out and post the results here. To clarify, did you mean one stick installed at a time when running memtest? And then switching it out between runs.

I downloaded the Crucial software and it detected my firmware as up to date with no newer one available.

It did however have two "performance/optimization issues".
 
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If you don't have a USB stick or CD reader available to you, I believe you can run Memtest64 from within Windows. Memtest86+ is run outside of Windows meaning you boot from the USB stick or CD. I have not personally used Memtest64, but it might be worth a try for you.
 
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Allright, after quite a lot of testing the different RAM sticks I came to the conclusion that one out of the four sticks was bad.

I did some proper testing with the tool mjslakeridge suggested, Memtest64, and tried rams A, B, C and D individually in slot 1. From earlier I had ram A & B in the computer, turns out B was a bad one and was causing issues. Now running with ram C & D in 8gb without the ram related crashes from before. A bit silly, but I guess I know why I shouldn't rely on the windows ram tester now.

Concering disabling filename creation and activating AHCI - I will look into that and give it a shot. Thanks for the links helpstar.


Now that the ram issue is resolved, I'm only stuck with the graphical problems from earlier, for the time being. I think I'll either make a new post with the proper tags here or go through the AMD forums/support. It seems to be quite a common unresolved issue with the R9 380's, from what I have seen.

Big thanks to you all for the help guys! Very grateful :)
 
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