Not recognizing dual-channel

Post by **R00k** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:43 pm

AmIdYfReAk wrote:*cough*

make sure you follow the instructions to the T rook.. Seriously.

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/bios_result.asp

If you look under the K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI, the latest version is 3.70. The previous version before that is 3.30. I am running 3.60, which isn't even listed there. The 3.70 says it just fixes a compatibility problem with some USB devices.

Post by **shadd_** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:43 pm

later tonight if i have time i'll look through the bios settings for your board.

it has to be some setting that needs to be changed. that or the ram is buggered and won't run on advertised timings.

you could try ocz support see what they say about it. the ram could be shit as well and an rma could be in order.

Post by **R00k** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:44 pm

Psyche911 wrote:R00k: Did you try other timings or went strait from 2-3-2-5 to 3-4-4-5? Does 2-3-3-7 work?

Also, I forgot. Athlon 64 systems work better with a TRAS of 7 instead of 5. So that's one good thing to change.

I didn't even think to update the BIOS, shadd. Good idea.

My BIOS doesn't go higher than 5 for the Active to Precharge timing.

Maybe I should update the BIOS just to see if the newer version supports more timings.

Post by **shadd_** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:45 pm

R00k wrote:
AmIdYfReAk wrote:*cough*

make sure you follow the instructions to the T rook.. Seriously.

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/bios_result.asp
If you look under the K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI, the latest version is 3.70. The previous version before that is 3.30. I am running 3.60, which isn't even listed there. The 3.70 says it just fixes a compatibility problem with some USB devices.

hmm, that board may have been previously rma'd. someone was dicking around with the bios versions. i can't see them shipping a board with a bios version different than the official ones.

Post by **Deathshroud** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:47 pm

Did your RAM come as a Dual Channel RAM kit, or did you buy 2 seperate sticks of RAM?

Post by **Psyche911** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:06 pm

R00k wrote:
Psyche911 wrote:R00k: Did you try other timings or went strait from 2-3-2-5 to 3-4-4-5? Does 2-3-3-7 work?

Also, I forgot. Athlon 64 systems work better with a TRAS of 7 instead of 5. So that's one good thing to change.

I didn't even think to update the BIOS, shadd. Good idea.
My BIOS doesn't go higher than 5 for the Active to Precharge timing.

Maybe I should update the BIOS just to see if the newer version supports more timings.

No, the BIOS wont have other timings. If you're that close the the latest BIOS, it should be a good one.

This is what I'm talking about being 7:

That wont fix the problem, but that's a better setting for that CPU.

I'm stumped on what the problem is. Do you have the RAM from your old computer handy?

Post by **R00k** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:07 pm

No, I got a dual-channel kit, pre-tested and certified.

And I sure hope this isn't an RMA'd board, I'd be pissed.

At any rate, I went ahead and updated the BIOS. After that, Windows actually booted with the 2-3-2-5 timings, but when I tried to log in, I got a bunch of weird errors and then a hard blue screen lockup.

I changed the timings to 2.5-3-3-5 (2T, 2.7V), and it seems to be running stable now.

Is there any tool I can use to test all this in Windows? I mean, it's running fine now, but I sure would like something to tell me if it's a stable configuration or not, because I don't have the best warm-fuzzy right now about the system. I'd like to thoroughly test the memory stability to see if everything's kosher.

Post by **shadd_** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:08 pm

start playing games.

best way to check imo.

edit: you could try swapping ram slots as well. my board gives me slightly different results depending on the slots i use.

Post by **Psyche911** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:11 pm

Games are 90% as picky with stability as something like Prime95:
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm

A lot of overclockers use it to test stability and I've found it sometimes gives errors when games don't. Which is a good thing, it means you really need a 100% stable system for it to run error-free.

When you download it, go into Options --> Torture Test --> Okay (or you can choose a different test, Blend is good for RAM testing, or In-Place Large FFTs is good for CPU and temperature testing)

Post by **Deathshroud** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:13 pm

Just as an FYI, if you installed Windows while running the RAM when it wasn't stable, you'll get all sorts of corrupt files, and instability within the OS.

This is just a possibility of course...

Post by **Psyche911** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:13 pm

Yeah, swapping RAM slots is a good idea.

Also, what kind of RAM do you have in your old PC?

Post by **shadd_** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:14 pm

superPi puts some heavy stress on the system.

good system checker.

Post by **Deathshroud** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:16 pm

You could even try Memtest86+

Another semi-decent memory stress test. But if I were too recommend one, it would be Prime95.

Post by **R00k** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:16 pm

Here's my memory settings, they're pretty thorough, but I don't really recognize their notation so I'm a little blind.

I will try changing the TRAS to 7 though, maybe that will be a little more stable.

Post by **Psyche911** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:38 pm

And if you drop the CAS to 2.0, it crashes? Same with 1T timing?

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:35 am

Rook, what happeneds when you put it to Automatic timming? does it revert back to cas 3?

Post by **R00k** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:31 pm

Automatic sets it to 2.5.

I am afraid I may have a bad ram slot though.

When I switched my sticks to the other two slots, my problems pretty much disappeared. Of course, that was also after doing all the other tweaking and raising my timings, so it's hard to say for sure right now.

I want to do some more testing to find out exactly what the problem has been, but at this point I'm so happy to have a stable system that I'm leaving it the way it is so I can finish the Q4 single player game. :icon32:

I'll definitely try going back to more aggressive timings though, in these other slots, and see if I still get the same issues. I'll post back what I find.

Thanks for all the help btw guys, much appreciated.

Post by **axbaby** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:24 pm

is your cpu capable of 200mhz?

if not throttle back the ram to 166 if your cpu runs at 166=more stable and you can aggresivly tweak the ras cas

try ras cas and precharge = 2.5 or even 2 if you can

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:27 pm

his ram is DDR400 ax

and its Cas 2 at DDR 400

Post by **dzjepp** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:51 pm

Do you guys have a good mirror for Prime95? I think the last version was p95v2414.exe and Google links everything back to their official site, which is dead.

Post by **R00k** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:24 pm

I downloaded it yesterday no probs.

Post by **dzjepp** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:56 pm

Hey r00k, maybe your problem is one of the downsides of ordering from those butterfly computers?

Post by **dzjepp** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:01 pm

Oh and can you upload the latest version of Prime95 here plz :icon32: http://www.rapidshare.de

Post by **R00k** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:25 pm

dzjepp wrote:Hey r00k, maybe your problem is one of the downsides of ordering from those butterfly computers?

Well, anything's possible, but two things make me suspect that's not the case:
1) Never had any problem with them before, and I've ordered quite a bit through them.
2) I had to go to CompUSA to get a new PSU, so if anything goes wrong I can always blame them!

Post by **R00k** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:26 pm

dzjepp wrote:Oh and can you upload the latest version of Prime95 here plz :icon32: http://www.rapidshare.de

NP, if you can wait about 4 hours until I get home. *kiss*