jonan_

Heres the deal. I have had trouble with my computer for the last couple weeks with it freezing a lot. I ran memtest86 and my ram failed. So to narrow down which stick of ram is bad I ran the test on each stick one at a time and they both passed. So now I am confused so I take the ram to work and put it in my computer there and I ran the test and it failed again. As a last ditch effort I bumped up the voltage on the ram to 2.1 which is at the top of the manufactures recomended voltage and it passed just fine. Great problem solved all I have to do is bump the voltage on my computer at home and it should work, right.
Wrong. I bumped up my voltage from 2.0 to 2.1 and ran the test and the ram failed miserably with thousands more errors than when I ran it before. So here is where I am at. The ram can pass individually or in my work computer together so I think I have ruled out the ram being the problem. Now I am wondering if my powersupply can't handle every thing or my mother board is failing. Do you guys have any ideas before I go and spend money replacing stuff? Anything would be appreciated.

Computer specs:
power supply - 500 watts that came with the case
video card - 8800 gts
processor - Core 2 duo 6600
Ram - G.Skill 2 x 1gig
Mother board- gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
sound card - Xfi extreme gamer
one hard drive
one cd-rom drive

P8riot

Does your power Supply have an output meter?

Edit: IMO, anyway, I would start with the P/S - buy one locally in case it doesn't work out.

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Age of Conan: Tharashk (Taxiarchos), Thaumiel (alt), guild Ars Tactika - Cimmeria
XBox360 GamerTag: P8riotOne (but it might also be my son playing - he can game with TG tho!)

jonan_

I looked for a sticker or something that would give me more info about it and I checked the computer case manufactures website to find out about it but all it says is 500w. I don't see any time of meter or anything. I got the case from bestbuy so i'm thinking it probably isn't the highest quality thing out there.

P8riot

The sticker is probably on a side you can't see. I just checked out the case. Was somethinig changed when the problems started? New video card? Anything? How long did everything work well? Do you have battery backup/surge suppression?

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Age of Conan: Tharashk (Taxiarchos), Thaumiel (alt), guild Ars Tactika - Cimmeria
XBox360 GamerTag: P8riotOne (but it might also be my son playing - he can game with TG tho!)

jonan_

I have been racking my brain for days trying to figure out if I changed something but it has been a long time since I changed anything. Everything worked for at least a 6 to 8 weeks from my last change. I am using a battery back up. I am using an apc battery backup that seems to be fine so I don't think it was a surge. Plus I live in an apartment building so it is unlikely that my computer would be the only thing effected.

P8riot

Well, Ya know.. with that nice hardware you've got - I'd just start with the P/S and change that out with a solid quality ~600+ Watt P/S. A good one will cost you appropriately, but if that isn't it, a good P/S is still a worthwhile investment that is often overlooked.

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Age of Conan: Tharashk (Taxiarchos), Thaumiel (alt), guild Ars Tactika - Cimmeria
XBox360 GamerTag: P8riotOne (but it might also be my son playing - he can game with TG tho!)

=Sarc=

What BIOS version are you running on the DS3? You could try a BIOS update. I believe the DS3 is on version F10 now.

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jonan_

I am already running F10.

Hambergler

I remember reading on the corsiar website that you have to turn off legacy USB support in the bios before running memtest. If you haven't done it already it may help.

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jonan_

I will give it a try. Do I leave it off all the time or only during the test? If it is only for the test then it won't fix the problem.

P8riot

I forgot about that. But it is still OK to leave it off unless you use legacy USB devices.

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Age of Conan: Tharashk (Taxiarchos), Thaumiel (alt), guild Ars Tactika - Cimmeria
XBox360 GamerTag: P8riotOne (but it might also be my son playing - he can game with TG tho!)

sc1ence

do you have other memory you can test in your mobo to isolate the problem?


you were able to test the mem in a machine at work so i am guessing you have access to another machine with the same kind of memory. test the work machines memory while it is in the work machine, then take the work machines memory home and test it in your machine. if you get no errors at work and errors at home, you know there is an issue besides your memory.

the fact that you had to up the voltage while at work to get it to pass makes me think your memory is bad.

try messing with the timings, underclocking it and see if you get fewer errors while on home machine.

you say each passes alone but not together?

this makes me think it is a dual chan memory problem. try putting memory in slots that are not for dual chan mode and see if that allows memory to pass while both in machine at same time.

if this isolates the problem, you need to consider a new mobo, or run things out of dual chan mode.

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jonan_

Thanks. I am planning on taking my work memory home to test it. It has already passed in my work machine so we will see what happens. After that I will try your other suggestions. Luckily I built my work computer and my home computer the same except for the video card and power supply so it should be a pretty good comparison.

I have to spread some rep before I can rep you again.

sc1ence

no worries. let me know how it goes. with simmilar parts we should be able to narrow things down pretty quick.

I have had many times where memtest gave me errors for mem in one machine but not in another.

i have a stick of corsair memory that fails memtest all the time with many errors. it is like 5 years old now and still works in my wifes machine (my old gaming rig) wouthout a problem.

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jonan_

I tried my work memory in my computer and I still got errors so I tried memtest and it passed. So I don't know what's wrong. I ordered a power supply for the hell of it. Once that comes in I will try again and then start pulling things out one at a time to find the problem.