Could the fault be my motherboard?

[efmesch]

For months now I've been plagued with the erratic shutdown of my computer and the appearance of the "blue screen of death". A suggestion from Microsoft recommending the checking of hardware put me on to checking my memory cards (2 of 256 mb and one of 512 mb). I did the checking with "Memtest". When I checked with all three slots occupied, I kept getting error messages (at address ffffff7f) so I tried each memory card individually, each one separately in each of the three slots: all checked out to be faultless by themselves and in twos. However, when using all three slots together, I get the memory error message--no matter what order they are placed in. Right now, I'm working with only two cards (512 and 256) in slots 1 and 3, with the middle slot empty. Running Memtest showed no problems.
Is this "proof" of a faulty motherboard (mine is an Asus P4U800-X)? If so, is a fault like this covered in the guarantee?

[The New Normal]

Have a read through your motheboard's section on installing memory (download a copy from asus if you havn't got one).

Some boards have 'quirks' with their slots.

My board will run 3 slower sticks, but for high speed dual channel it's recommended I only use 2 slots.

Something to check. Otherwise, I got nuthin.

[efmesch]

Thanks for your response--(I was beginning to wonder if anyone would respond). I'll try out your suggestion as soon as I can and report back to you when I have any info. It might be a few days--I'm under a great deal of pressure now with other than computer problems.

[coolraj003]

SOme boards work like that, if they have four slots and if you want to use more than 1 slot at a time, u have to use either the pair like slot 1&3 or Slot 2&4. It probably would give an error if you have memory installed in Slot 1&2 then. Its nothing out of extraordinary.

Raj

[efmesch]

I guess I should have said that my board has only three slots--but I still haven't gone over the manufacturer's instruction manual--as I mentioned, too busy at the moment--one reason, my youngest daughter-in-law and son just had a baby this morning!

[coolraj003]

well well well, congratulations to you then. Looks like you ll be busy for a bit, but try the suggested solution when ever you get time for it and let us all know how you get on.

Raj

[The New Normal]

Yes, congratulations efmesch :)

[efmesch]

Thanks for the good wishes--
but back to the issue at hand--I went into the Asus site, where they have a "help" department-- but before they can anser I have to supply all sorts of info about the memory sticks I use, their size etc--when I have time I'll disassemble my tower cover and get the info. We'll keep you informed.

[The New Normal]

If you go HERE and click 'manual' then get THIS DOCUMENT it shows RAM tested for your mobo and says:

-Use of three DDR400 DIMM modules on all slots is not recommended. The operating memory frequency will work only at 266MHz when you install DDR400 DIMM modules to all slots
-Obtain DDR400 DIMMs only from ASUS qualified vendors

This is strange as the specs listed HERE say the board can take 3GB of PC3200... hmm... might have to get ASUS' answer.

To get your RAM and mobo details without using a screwdriver CPU-Z (download) is a handy piece of free software (about CPU-Z). Just extract the .zip then run the .exe Go to the SPD tab and you can see what's in slots 1, 2 or 3

For your mobo there's also a FULL MANUAL (that's the E1882 version, THIS is the E1713 version) but I havn't looked at these yet.

[jbennet]

bad driver or overheating

[efmesch]

I must confess, I was hoping I would get a response from you---Thanks for your attention.
How can I find which driver is driving me crazy? I uninstalled a large number of programs that I thought might be the fault--but apparently didn't hit the one with the "right" driver. I highly doubt it's overheating--I don't overrun my CPU and the insides of my machine are clean and airy.

[digitalocksmith]

I agree with jbennet in that its most likely a software issue involving a buggy driver!

The easiest way to determine this and pinpoint the offender is to run the crash dump files through a debugging tool.

Firstly, find the dump files you need - it will either be c:\windows\memory.dmp or mini-dumps under c:\windows\minidump. Find the file you want and copy it somewhere so you can examine it.

Then get the debugging tools - http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx
(Make sure you get the x86 32 bit version unless you are running 64 bit windows)

Once the tools are extracted, open a cmd prompt window (start/run/ and type command and hit enter for XP) and go to c:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows and type kd -z c:\mydumpfile.dmp -v -y SRV*c:\websymbols
http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols.
Wait for it to load and do an analyze.

The debugger will open and if it has not done it already, type analyze -v and see what drivers get listed as possible errors.
Press Q to exit

Regards