Mushkin 3500 and Abit IC7-max 3 probs.

Hi,

I have just bought 2x256mb of mushkin lvl 2 ram and I cant even post to bios with out getting this error.

"BIOS CHECKSUM ERROR"
Detecting floppy drive
Insert system disk and press enter.


I have had to borrow a friends stick of unbranded 512 3200 ram to get to the bios. I have found that if I change the cpu/memory ratio to 5:4 i can boot ok ???
This is ok except that if i ever have to clear cmos for any reason i wont be able to post again as it will go back to the default 1:1.
Its seems ill need to buy some more ram just to get me to post if anything goes wrong.

I have just updatde the mobo bios to the latest 1.3 and that didnt help.


Has anyone any idea whats wrong ?

Bump up the memory voltage to 2.65. Mine is rock stable at this.

If you clear the CMOS, you won't be able to get into the BIOS? I'd run memtest86.

I used to get that error when I tried running my Corsair XMS 3200 C2 (CH-5) at RAS to CAS = 2. I had to set it to 3.

I thought this error was only for CH-5 chips tho... If the RAS to CAS changes this, I'd start to wonder what memory they shipped me.

Yeah if i clear CMOS it will reset the cpu/memory ration to 1:1 and i cant get to the bios and need another stick of ram (which i havent got)

Its running 2-2-2-6 at the moment and 5:4 cpu/mem ratio . I can only overclock fsb to 230 before windows wont load which is pretty poor I think.

I'm scared to try anything in case it wont post again .

I ran memtest86 for a while but I didnt complete the test . I will do later.

mtedder said:

Bump up the memory voltage to 2.65. Mine is rock stable at this.

Click to expand...

Just checked and mine is 2.7 atm . It seems fine but I cant get my fsb any higher than 230 without windows rebooting or explorer errors.
Any clue on whats holding me back ?

Could be a variety of things.. bad memory sticks.. the max3 being fidgety.. possibly the cpu but HIGHLY unlikely. My bet is on bad mem sticks. Have you tried running the proc 1 stick at a time? you might have gotten 1 bad stick that is screwing you over. Try this, and if thats the case, e-mail mushkin about it and get a replacement, since it isn't running at specified speeds.

My Mushkin needed 3.0 to run what it is at now. Give 2.8 a try, that is still under warranty if your worried about that.

Isn't there some type of problem with the Max3 and high FSB? Maybe you should look into what that is.

Also if you reset the BIOS doesn't that lower your FSB and timings back to stock making it able to boot at stock everything? Not being able to reset the BIOS and boot seems like a bigger problem to me.

I would tend to believe that it was a bad stick of ram. I have had times where a stick went bad and i couldnt get to bios or got checksum errors. I would test each stick seperately and find out if one will boot and the other wont or if both wont boot I would RMA them. It sounding more of back memory problem than anything else. Oh and concerning the fsb of 230 or higher maybe you need more voltage on the cpu. I have gotten mine up to 245 on 2.8ghz but heat was my big problem.

I have tried both sticks individually after i reset cmos and in different slots and couldnt post. I borrowed a stick of ram off a friend which is not something i can do often and got them to boot when set to 5:4. They work individually also @ 5:4 but if i ever have to reset cmos it will go back to 1:1 and i'm stuck. This makes me afraid to try new settins in the bios to get a beter oc. D:

I understand it sets it back to 1:1 but it should also set your other setting back to stock making it bootable no matter what the settings before. If this is not the case then it has to be bad ram since it works fine with your friends ram. Mushkin customer support is top notch give them a call and see what they can do.