RAM timing

[lightningdemon]

Hello. Thank you for looking. :)

I have a MSI board. K7N2 Delta2 Platinum board.

I have two (2) 512MB PC3200 sticks of Kingston Value RAM.
I also have one (1) 512MB PC3200 Stick of Kingston Value RAM (identical to the dual channel sticks) for a total of 1.25GB of RAM.
Kingston Specs for timing for all 3 sticks is 3-3-3 CAS 3.0 2.6V

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141424

(dual channel are identical)

PROBLEM: My games keep crashing. Guild Wars said it may be a timing problem. I usually get the blue screen of death saying something about a memory dump. (Im running XP Pro SP2). I adjusted the timings in the BIOS to 3-3-3, I still crash. They were initially set at 8-3-3 (default BIOS). Crashed then, too. Im am so not familiar with timings and stuff, so I dont even know what to do.

Can anyone help me please? Thanks again,

Danyael

The listed timings from Kingston are 3-3-3

[lightningdemon]

Sorry about doing this, I am just making sure my thread is noticed by anyone who may have an insight to timings.

Danyael

[chrisbliss18]

Who told you that it was a timing problem? Tech support? If so, I wouldn't trust them anymore than I would a bum on the street.

Test your memory, this will tell you if everything is fine with your system. Burn a copy of Memtest86 (it's free) and test your memory with it. I would start by testing the BIOS default of 8-3-3 and then testing the RAM at 3-3-3. If your system passes the memory test, it is highly unlikely that your memory is to blame.

Are all of your games crashing or just certain ones?

Have you tried upgrading your video drivers?
Do you have the latest verison of DirectX?
Do you have all the current drivers for your motherboard installed?
Are you pushing your system too hard?
Have you overclocked your system?

[lightningdemon]

Chris,

Guild Wars' internal malfunctioning report listed 4 items that may be the culprit. RAM timings was the most logical one for me. Overheating was another suggestion, but I keep my window open (it gets about 50 degrees fareinheit in here and I have a 120mm fan in the back, and two in the front pushing air. I am NOT over clocking anything. Another suggestion was CPU failure. I have a Barton core 3000+ 400FSB cpu. I seriously doubt that is the problem. I do graphic intensive applications and lots of DVD encoding and some rendering. I do not have problems then. Only when I play games.. And not all games, just Guild Wars, Xmen II, and Serious Sam II. I get the same error in all of them. I'll be playing the game for about 5 10 minutes, then I'll get a blue screen of death saying something about a memory dump. Then pc reboots. I am almost certain it is a timing issue. I've read lots of forums and such, and usually stuff like that was solved by adjusting the timing. Like I said b4, I am just dumb as an ox when it comes to timing.

I was just hoping someone out there who has experienced this or knows the symptoms of my problem could help. :)

Danyael

PS- I AM updated in everything, BIOS, drivers, DirectX, etc. And those games I've listed are the only beefy games I've played on this box. I have Diablo 2 and Dungeon Siege, but I dont have problems with those.

[chrisbliss18]

I still suspect that it's not your RAM timings. Why would your system have an instability caused by inproper RAM settings only while running a specific set of applications? As I said before, test your RAM using Memtest86. This program will thoroughly thrash your RAM to check for issues.

The common theme with your situation seems to be your video, DirectX gaming in paticular.

You say that overheating cannot be an issue. I agree that this is not likely to be your problem, but just because your room is cold, doesn't mean that your system isn't overheating. If your CPU doesn't have a heatsink that can disipate all the heat that it is generating in a short enough time frame and/or if your case isn't properly and adequately ventilated, your system will overheat. Get a software package that can report your system temps, like Motherboard Monitor. This will help you in finding out if temperature is any kind of issue.

I'll do some more research on your setup when I have a bit more time. It's possible that you just need to do some settings tweaking, such as making sure that your multipliers are properly set.

[lightningdemon]

Thanks for helping. I will post my setup:

mobo: MSI K7N2 DELTA2 Platinum
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 400FSB
RAM: (1) Gig of Dual Channel Kingston Value RAM (512MB each) PLUS one additional identical DIMM Of 512MB. All are PC3200
Video Card: Asus Geforce FX5200 128MB
Sound: Creative Labs Audigy2 ZS
Storage: Maxtor Serial ATA 80GB
Seagate Barracuda 160GB ATA

Hope someone can help. thanks again.

Danyael

PS- regarding overheating. I can leave my system on for days and days ...even in the hotter weather, no problem. Anyone know what a "Memory Dump" is? I get that error with a Blue Screen of Death.

[chrisbliss18]

A memory dump is when the program outputs the raw data in memory with very little formatting to aid readability. This is done on critical errors like this to help debuggers find errors in their code. The memory dump itself is not an error; rather, it is information that may be pertinent to tracking down the actual cause of the error. The problem is that the information in the memory dump is of very little, if any, use to end users like us.

I'll be going home in a few hours, so I can do some more thorough checking on your specs then.

[lightningdemon]

Well, in Guild Wars, I got past the downloading and almost through the intro movie. B4 I got to the downloading part and it'd error up everytime. All I did to get that far was change my CAS to 2.5, then 6-3-3 Im gonna try CAS 3.0 6-3-3

will keep ya'll updated..

Danyael

[goldeagle2005]

Considering you're getting errors only while playing games, I'm bound to agree with chrisbliss18's analysis that your RAM is fine. If it wasn't, your system would crash during your DVD encoding. I'd sugggest you reinstall DirectX 9.0c. If this doesn't help, re install your nVidia Drivers . Worst case scenario, perform a clean install of your operating system.

By the way, if you could reproduce what it says in the blue screen, it would help us pin point the problem.

[lightningdemon]

ok, set RAM CAS to 3.0 timings: 6-3-3 So far so good. Ran through all the intro video, then was running through the first castle talking and interacting with stuff. Im going to try Serious Sam II later and also Xmen II. IF no errors in either of those, then my RAM timing WAS the problem... as that is all I have changed.

Danyael

[goldeagle2005]

Interesting. I've never seen mismatched RAM timing bring down the system only while playing games. Usually, mismatched timings bring the system down durimg system startup. Good to know your problem's been solved. And thanks for letting us know something new.

[lightningdemon]

Well, Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I still crash. It is now more sporadic than b4. I'm running Memtest86 right now. I am %70 through and no errors. My RAM is being listed as 198MHz for FSB DDR 397. Is that normal to be plus/minus a few hertz? Thanks for the info. Will post the results of Memtest.

[Coconut Monkey]

Well, Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I still crash. It is now more sporadic than b4. I'm running Memtest86 right now. I am %70 through and no errors. My RAM is being listed as 198MHz for FSB DDR 397. Is that normal to be plus/minus a few hertz? Thanks for the info. Will post the results of Memtest.

It's highly recommended that you run memtest86 for quite a while, say overnight (8hrs+).

[lightningdemon]

yeah, so I am noticing. I have passed two of the tests. IT has been going for about 1hr 15min. Im on test three. Does anyone know if testing your hardware like this prematurely wears it out? I've often been leary of programs like 3dmark and such for fear of just burning out your stuff way too early. Thanks for any info on this subject.

Danyael

[lightningdemon]

ok. Tests ran for over 10 hours. I quit them with NO ERRORS. So, you guys were right. My RAM isn't the problem. Although.....I am not entirely familiar with Memtest and I do not know how accurate etc. it is in testing. Not sure what Im going to do next.... Any ideas?

Danyael

[goldeagle2005]

Try reinstalling DirectX 9 and your nVidia drivers

[verryconfused]

my problem is almost the same , when i get windows to start up good i can usualy use my computer for about 20 minuts if i'm lucky then the blue screen of death pop's up it wizzes by a error message but all i can read is (memmory dump) then nothing can this be just a problem of over heating or is it more serious.