Troubleshooting memory

[valen0619]

I bought a new computer and it had been running relatively fine till about 2 months ago

At this time it started bluescreening like a champ (2ish times a night less if i was just surfing the internet and other low impact things) the errors(irq and pagefile stuff) i saw lead me to belive it was a memory issue so i memtested it

It immediately started crashing at test 4-9 not showing errors just completely crashing the program
when i pulled out the second stick it made it through a pass or two fine so i assumed it was just a stick gone bad.

So i called crucial and got a replacement set.

when replaced it it crashed less but was still crashing now 1 time a night while gaming (on average)
I've tried adjusting the voltage ive tried reducing the memory's clock and both these things have helped a bit but not fixed the problem
It also seems to run much more stable with only one stick in but still does crash often enough to piss me off(and is slow as hell)

im assuming(perhaps incorrectly) that crucial wouldnt have had two sets of ram giving me the same exact errors.
whats the most likely thing causing this if its not the memory itself and how do i troubleshoot it.

amd athlon x3 445 3.1 ghz
using biostar a770e3
crucial ballistix (bl111cl.m8)2gbx2
replaced with
crucial ballistix (cl1123cdg)2gbx2

im assuming its one of these three things or the generic PSU i have in here but if im wrong please let me know.

and does memetest crashing instead of actually giving me the errors signify anything?

 

[jaquith]

Load crashes are typically do to the PSU; either under powered or capacitor heat and causing a failure. IF the PC is failing as you described running Memtest then it doesn't indicate a RAM as the problem(s).

You problem too could be MOBO related, similar to the capacitor heat and causing a failure as the PSU. However, my best guess is your PSU.

Q - What GPU? ; I'll suggest an adequate PSU.

 

[valen0619]

i have a nvidia gtx 260 in there

and yeah i have an antec 750 watt psu in the mail, i figured i was going to need one for my next upgrade anyway and there was a chance it was the problem anyway.

I was noticing that the hardware monitor as i boot was .04 volts off what i had it set at so i was concerned about that anyway
i have to set it to 1.7 to get it to 1.661 when the stamp on the ram says lists (i assume the optimal) voltage of 1.65 its consistantly .04 off so thats the closest i could get (if the hardware moniter while booting is correct).

right now im leaning towards that or the Motherboard being the problem i was just wondering if there were any bios adjustments i could do to stabilize it, you know other than the *** ive allready tried.

 

[valen0619]

oh i should mention, increasing the voltage did drastically increase the time memtest ran before crashing

 

[jaquith]

I cannot figure-out what RAM you listed; the approved Crucial -> http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=A770E3&Cat=RAM

The best guess is:
DDR3 PC3-10600 • 7-7-7-24 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR3-1333 • 1.65V • 256Meg x 64 • • Part #: BL2KIT25664BN1337

If that's correct then in the
BIOS:
Load Defaults
'DRAM Voltage' -> 1.65v

As far as a PSU you 'should have' at least a 500W and if you currently have something less then it would surprise me if you're having some issues; most generics are 300W~350W. Once you get the 750W if the problems are still there then 8/10 it's your MOBO and 1/10 CPU and 1/10 you need to breadboard.

You can try Lazyman's Breadboard -
* Disconnect ALL Front Panel & USB Headers ; keep only the PWR & Ground <best> short w/wire.
* Disconnect ALL peripherals including the Keyboard/Mouse
* (1) Stick of RAM in the second DIMM slot from CPU
* Unscrew both the MOBO and PCIe screws

Pull the MOBO away from anything conductive and supported by a towel ; short PWR & Ground to start.

** Also, IF your HSF has a Metal backplate you need to add a plastic washer in between the backplate and MOBO; never have metal-to-MOBO contact. This causes all sorts of 'oddball' things to happen.

 

[valen0619]

Im pretty sure my crappy generic psu is supposedly at least 400-500 watts i checked it before i bought my videocard but its crappy so the label isnt easilly visible without removing it

but yeah step one is just waiting on the power supply to see if that fixes it now.

if that doesn't fix it i may just upgrade the a core I5 with appropriate motherboard

out of sheer curiosity though
what does breadboarding actually do/accomplish?

 

[jaquith]

Breadboarding reduces the numbers of 'variables' in the problem of 'starting/posting' of your MOBO. I've seen a shorted USB mouse cause a post failure...