Is my memory dodgey?

In trying to find out why my recently built machine is so unstable (it isn't even overclocked yet) I tried several of the SiSoft Sandra benchmarks and discovered that my machine crashes each and every time I try to run the memory bandwidth test

I have 2 x 256m sticks of samsung 2700 and have tried all differnt memory timings and even tried running it as 2100 ram - all to no avail

Then I ran the performance tuner thingy and it gave me a warning about my ram not being registered/buffered....I thought all name brand ram was registered.....could it be that I have some dodgey sticks?

Try using one stick at a time to see if one or the other stick is acting up... Check your Bios Ram timings and set them to safe settings, like Cas2.5 instead of Cas2 or Normal instead of Turbo and see if that helps. I use the Same memory in Systems I build and have had no problems with Samsung memory, but you might have gotten unlucky and gotten a shaky stick.

What are your other system components, MB, Video, CPU etc.

Jedi :

have tried all different timings, timing is now normal and ram is underclocked at 133 - still plays up however

my system config is as follows:

1800+ Tbred
Epox 8k5a2
2 x 256m samsung 2700
Antec 480w true power
MSI GeForce Ti 4600
SB Audigy DE

every driver + MB bios is the most recent available

when i first tried to install XP it wouldn't work at all, blue screened upon trying to format so i contacted epox and they told me to disable sse in the bios.....that worked, i was able to install but my machine now runs like poo.......i wonder if it could be an extension of that original problem?....although epox customer service assured me that everything would run fine with sse disabled

anyways, will try one ram stick at a time

thanks

Try running Memtest86. You can get it from www.memtest86.com . This helped my figure out that I had a bad stick of RAM when my system was very unstable.

Apart from that, what are your temps? Is your cooling installed and seated properly? What about case airflow?

David

case airflow is good, 2 exhaust and 1 intake fan in addition to p/s fans all in a nice big roomy case

cpu cooling is totally stock but at the moment i'm not o'clocking and obviously wont until i get this sorted - i've never seen the system go above 40 or cpu go above 42, idle is less than that depending on ambient temp.....at the moment they are both 36

im not a memory wizard otherwise i wouldn't be sitting here readig threads. but do you hace ecc checking on in your bios? i heard having it on may screw you up. try checking that. i mean it wouldn't hurt.
also are you showing up with the right amount of ram installed? if it isn't it is definitly a point of concern