P4TE Odd RDRAM Crash: Channel A

I had a bad scare last nite when my WinXP-h locked up while running low demand browsing at default clock: P4-2.0A at 2 GHz, fsb 100, pci 33, Kingston pc1066 : 512 MB (Smsng chips). my DRCG is ICS 9212-13 (the fast one). Proc is cooled by waterblock. RAM was 4X and "turbo" in 1005 BIOS, running jumperless on a 1.7Vcore pintrick.

All attempts to reboot (and each effort was isolated by unplugging AC and popping out BIOS cell) met with error beeps during POST: a rapid stuttering beep for 5 sec then a continuous beep until I shut down. It was just like it could see no ram at all.

I troubleshot for 3 hrs, all the while wishing I kept a spare RIMM (I don't) to try swapping one at a time: I figgered I'd burned a RIMM.

What fixed it:
Swapping the RIMMs to the slots the CRIMMs had been in, and so moving all RDRAM from Channel A to B.
So far, all is well.
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PS:
a digresssion to be skipped unless you're really curious....
Well... I am crashing Mozilla 1.3a due to the following OS error message:

********************
XPCOM:EventReceiver: mozilla.exe - Application Error.
The instruction at "0x61fc3684" referenced memory at "0x025168c4". The memory could not be "read".
Click on OK to terminate the program.
*******************
[I haven't yet learnt if the RAM address cited is consistently the same. And- this is a new build of Mozilla. It has bugs.]
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Anyone familiar with this phenomenon?
Do ya think the damage was likeliest in the MCH (i850), the DRCG, or a RIMM?
Thanks for advice/speculation, and a Happy New Year to all hardware geeks out there!
-Dean

WAit, you mean you had the RAM like this:



RIMM
RIMM

CRIMM
CRIMM
?

It is supposed to be

RIMM
CRIMM

RIMM
CRIMM
.

i wish

I wish that my odd crash could be explained away by such a facile answer as: "I am a retard". In such a frustrating situation, I'd take no offence to hear any plausible explanation ... even if it did expose me to me the idiot that -until now- only my wife knows me to be.

I expect that anyone installing half their RIMMs in slots that
really should house a CRIMM (and vice versa) would find that their BIOS only sees half the RDRAM they own (if that). I believe that is what you wondered I may have done, Mike.

Then again, these channels are supposed to run in series- so I can't be sure. But no, I didn't try that.

On the Asus P4TE (as you probably already know... I'm sure you didn't get all those stars for nothing!) the 2 channels of RAM are each a pair of 184-pin slots, designated by Asus as channels A & B, with each paired channel perpendicular to the other.

One slot of each channel pair, that closest to the socket 478, are both designated #1. The far side slot of each A & B pair is called #2. Asus advises ("Option A") using slots 1 for RIMMs and slots 2 for CRIMMs- (and that's how I began, despite rumors I'd read that the reverse "Option B" gave better performance)- but Asus does acknowledge that (option B) using slot 2 of each channel for RAM with continuity cards in slots1 should work as well.
Of course, one could also put RAM in all 4 slots.
It's all on p23 of the P4T-E manual.

So what I did to salvage my crash was *not* to switch channels as I'd originally posted- but rather to switch from Option A to Option B.

I appreciate your input, Mike, so tell me if this rings any bells- Please!

-Dean

I usually refer to the channels as each pair. I have a P4T-E, and am using one right now. If the computer can boot up kinda, try a memory tester. Get a can of compressed air and blow out anything in the RIMM slots.

BTW if you had all the RDRAM in one pair of two and the CRIMMs in the other, it would not register as half, it would not boot, because the Pentium 4 requires the bandwidth of both channels. The i850 chipset also requires both channels to operate.

You might want to switch from turbo to normal. I have pc800 in mine and turbo does not work well. Maybe it's because of my memory. I have all 4 slots filled with 128 mb rdram samsung and kingston. If it worked fine before then maybe it's your memory that's going bad. Like Mike said you should test the memory to make sure it's functioning properly. Memtest is a good tester.

Bull:
An update. It was, I think, Mike who also advised a meticulous cleaning of the RAM 184 pin slots. I pulled out rimms, crimms and wiped down with isopropanol the contant edges under bright lights & loupes.
Similarly the 4 slots' interiors.

Then I ran the rimms in the #2 positions: still refused to run > 800 MHz.
and *then* returned the sticks to the #1 positions (where they'd crashed me about 1-2 weeks ago). No crash!

So... I throttled 'em up... and they're again happily chugging along at 1066 MHz! Turbo is On and my BIOS puts RAM at 4X, not Auto.

Back in the happy seat. Just maybe it had been dirt in them slots all along. Happy me!
Thanks, you guys.

Maggot said:

Bull:
An update. It was, I think, Mike who also advised a meticulous cleaning of the RAM 184 pin slots. I pulled out rimms, crimms and wiped down with isopropanol the contant edges under bright lights & loupes.
Similarly the 4 slots' interiors.

Then I ran the rimms in the #2 positions: still refused to run > 800 MHz.
and *then* returned the sticks to the #1 positions (where they'd crashed me about 1-2 weeks ago). No crash!

So... I throttled 'em up... and they're again happily chugging along at 1066 MHz! Turbo is On and my BIOS puts RAM at 4X, not Auto.

Back in the happy seat. Just maybe it had been dirt in them slots all along. Happy me!
Thanks, you guys.

Click to expand...

Any chance it may have been corrosion? Can't hurt to be careful with that liquid cooling going on.

" Just maybe it had been dirt in them slots all along"-Me

"Any chance it may have been corrosion? Can't hurt to be careful with that liquid cooling going on." -Him

Let's examine this, Fizz:
corrosion versus dirt.
Hmmm.
I'll ask my priest and my shrink.

Reminds me of the one about the agnostic dyslexic with insomnia-
The guy sat up all night wondering if there was a dog.

Maggot said:

" Just maybe it had been dirt in them slots all along"-Me

"Any chance it may have been corrosion? Can't hurt to be careful with that liquid cooling going on." -Him

Let's examine this, Fizz:
corrosion versus dirt.
Hmmm.
I'll ask my priest and my shrink.

Reminds me of the one about the agnostic dyslexic with insomnia-
The guy sat up all night wondering if there was a dog.

Click to expand...

Yeah Einstein, if it was corrosion it may mean you have a leak there somewhere. Would be just the thing for you not to notice that.

"Yeah Einstein, if it was corrosion it may mean you have a leak there somewhere. Would be just the thing for you not to notice that."

Oh yeah? Well I'll have you know that I *did* notice the orange stains in all 4 corners of the base....3 months ago! I *did* look it up on "Ask Your Frend Simon" the high tech surch engnine.

He said it was probabbly just Oxidation.

So, if you think I have a rust problem, you should know I already ruled that out. Mr Fizz Smarty pants.

Stop fighting or the thread will be closed.

LOL @ you guys!

Sounds like cleaning things up solved your problem.

I went to set up a P4T-E for a friend and had a similar situation. After trying my own RAM (known to be good) with no success, I went ahead and threw in my own CRIMMS. And for whatever reason that solved the problem. I can see nothing visually on either CRIMM to suggest where the problem is. But they didn't work in my board either. I didn't go through any more troubleshooting to determine which of the 2 were bad.
Fortunately for my friend, I still had mine left over as all my slots are full with RIMMS


Just thought I would pass that on, and good luck finding a spare pair if you ever need them.

rek

AntmanMike said:

Stop fighting or the thread will be closed.

Click to expand...

LOL- Mike, Maggot and I know each other from other forums, and this admittedly weird style of conversation is amicable (though Maggot will post quickly now denying it, but ignore him). Don't worry about it!

Maggot said:

"Yeah Einstein, if it was corrosion it may mean you have a leak there somewhere. Would be just the thing for you not to notice that."

Oh yeah? Well I'll have you know that I *did* notice the orange stains in all 4 corners of the base....3 months ago! I *did* look it up on "Ask Your Frend Simon" the high tech surch engnine.

He said it was probabbly just Oxidation.

So, if you think I have a rust problem, you should know I already ruled that out. Mr Fizz Smarty pants.

Click to expand...

Orange stains huh... like those on your shower walls? Hmpf you had better not told us what you did to that poor board to make it crash.

Yes, but you are making me cry.

FIZZ3 said:

LOL- Mike, Maggot and I know each other from other forums, and this admittedly weird style of conversation is amicable (though Maggot will post quickly now denying it, but ignore him). Don't worry about it!

Click to expand...

AntmanMike said:

Yes, but you are making me cry.

Click to expand...

Maggot is crying too, maybe you two could get together sometime.

:~(