Dead BH-5 or UTT...possible FIX

[Joe Camel]

looks like Waus-mod over on Xtreme might have found a way to fix our dead RAM..."flashing" the stick with Thaiphoon SPD editer.

LINK to post on Xtreme... BH-5 / UTT Memory Fix (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=85533)


seems to have fixed a few sticks that the DFI mobo or DDR booster "broke"...

*some reports say this may NOT fix "cold-boot" bugged sticks*

please post if you try this...i have a "few" sticks to fix myself... :bang head


http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5368/pict03920pf.jpg

[Flip-Mode]

EEEEKKK
Going to get me some dead UTT :)

P.S
Wonder how many of your sticks will boot again.

[IWasHungry]

Wow...very interesting. I've got a few sticks of Ballistix that aren't dead, but there are errors all over the place. I could try dumping from a good stick and transferring it to the bad ones.
I'll report back if it's successful. :)

[Joe Camel]

EEEEKKK
Going to get me some dead UTT :)

P.S
Wonder how many of your sticks will boot again.
whats really odd is:

last night i flashed to a new BIOS in my sig rig and just for grins and giggles i tried most of those sticks ... again

ive tried them in every rig i could...probably 8-10 rigs total; AMD and Intel, Abit and ASUS stock and OCed...nothing...NO post...maybe beeps usually not.

so anyway, lastnight...almost 1/2 of those sticks (usually 1 of the set) posted in my sig rig with (my) "new" (BT modded) 704-BT BIOS ... :eek:

i though i was seeing GHOSTS :eek::eek:

after A LOT of playing around and swapping sticks (cross matching "working" sticks irregardless of brand) i managed to get both BH-5 sticks booting and OCing in dual channel mode....:eek:

im not a religious man but i think "God was with me" last night :p


PS it booted this morning too so no DFI "cold boot" ... yet :rolleyes:

[Drec]

wow that is insane.

[wannaoc]

I had the same thing happen with some CH-5 that works like BH-5 Joe. One of the sticks died I assumed to high voltage so I stashed them away in my closet. About a year later just for kicks I stick it in an Ultra Infinity to see if they work and they did! It was the first of five motherboards that they worked in. Just this weekend I tried them in my current 630 setup which it never worked in before and again it worked! It is a great feeling in deed.

[IWasHungry]

Alright just "flashed" the faulty modules. Currently testing two Ballistix 512MB in MemTest86 @ 250MHz 2.5-3-3-8-1T.
If there isn't a single error in a few hours, I will be very happy. :)

[IWasHungry]

Nope, still get errors in Memtest86. Ah well.

I do wonder though. Seems like if you have two similar sticks in dual channel, you could overwrite the settings from one stick to the other, so both sticks have the same settings. Think that might help in overclocking them.

EDIT: Well hold on a second. Loosened timings to 2.5-4-4-8-1T, and now I'm not getting any errors.

[Joe Camel]

good luck!!

keep us posted :)

[Cyrix_2k]

hmm. I wonder if this will work on any memmory? I have a 256mb stick of OCZ PC3500 laying around here that's considered dead.

[Joe Camel]

seems like people have done all brands of UTT, BH-5, -6, and even TCCD & micron; 512 and 256 size sticks so i dont know why not...(i have NOT done this yet just from what ive read)


im still doing a clean install (@ 250x13 ;)) and have not played around with this yet...
im too scared to take the "reborn" sticks out for fear they wont boot again :rolleyes:

[Cyrix_2k]

seems like people have done all brands of UTT, BH-5, -6, and even TCCD, 512 and 256 so i dont know why not...(i have NOT done this yet just from what ive read)
If I find the ram, then I'll try it and let you know how it goes. However, I don't know how this ram died. The computer that it came from died due to a bad PSU. There were 3 sticks of ram, 2 ocz and 1 patriot. 1 stick of OCZ and the patriot stick survived. My brother was handling some of the ram, so it may have died due to static discharge or to the PSU. It would be interesting if this works...

[Joe Camel]

no kidding, if we can "repair" even 1/2 of the sticks we would normally RMA this would be a HUGE improvement!!

personally, i will NOT RMA sticks that i have over-volted so this my just save my "volt-happy" butt :)

[IWasHungry]

My conclusion is that my Ballistix are now as good as before I fried them with the DFI NF4 due to the voltage jumper. Not perfect, but good enough (Still an error for every pass of tests 1-10).
My assumption is...if your RAM has degraded over time, definetly try "flashing" it back to the original form. They may have a way of altering under stressful conditions, in a way that degrades performance.

[Reefa_Madness]

Joe Camel,

Glad you brought this back up because its worth keeping visible. I first mentioned this in January and linked to that same thread that you've linked above, but I did it inside another thread, instead of starting one of its own and really, its important enough that it should have it's own thread. Here is a link to my initial post.

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4229762&postcount=39


When I first saw this it was only about bringing back dead sticks but then some guys started trying to change the SPD timings on their sticks by using dissimilar ram. I was trying to get my nerve up to replacing the SPD on some KHX PC3000 with that of some PC3200 until the thread starter over at XS started warning people not to do that.

As cheap as 2x256 sticks of PC3000 can be had these days I may still give that a shot.

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

Flashed my OZC PC3200 GOLD BH-5 memory just now. Never used to be able to run above 200 fsb stable from 2.8 volts all the way to 3.3 volts. Now I have 210 at 3.1 volts. Nothing huge, but still a gain. I did notice that it changed the product number of my memory to something else, as well as the default SPD timings. If anyone has memory that can't do much, I would recommend flashing your memory just to see if you can bump up your fsb more.

[IWasHungry]

So why would the "BIOS" in the RAM differ between the same modules?
All 5 of my Ballistix had different "BIOS". The "BIOS" on both of my Mushkin XP PC4000 modules are the same naturally (Since they came in the same package together).
Also...
Do you think that getting the Dump from well-overclocking modules from other people, and flashing it to your RAM, would help overclock? If possible, what is the likelyhood?

[Flip-Mode]

So why would the "BIOS" in the RAM differ between the same modules?
All 5 of my Ballistix had different "BIOS". The "BIOS" on both of my Mushkin XP PC4000 modules are the same naturally (Since they came in the same package together).
Also...
Do you think that getting the Dump from well-overclocking modules from other people, and flashing it to your RAM, would help overclock? If possible, what is the likelyhood?
Has happened, while normal timings might be the same the internal timings might differ thanks why they are called matched I presume.

[Reefa_Madness]

Time to open up the labs and play Frankeinstein with some ram.

Lets see...we use the SPD from some some good running BH-5 onto some high clocking TCCD modules and stir (not shake!) and viola!...out comes ram running 300HTT with 2-2-2-5 timings at only 2.8v.

Alas, if it were only that easy.

[OC/ingmaddog]

Time to open up the labs and play Frankeinstein with some ram.

Lets see...we use the SPD from some some good running BH-5 onto some high clocking TCCD modules and stir (not shake!) and viola!...out comes ram running 300HTT with 2-2-2-5 timings at only 2.8v.

Alas, if it were only that easy.

Lol. That would be awesome. Glad this is working for people. But I wouldn't do it, I'm too scared, lol.

[pejsaboy]

the linked thread says that this fix is [mostly] for sticks that were killed by running clockgen and cpuz, which erased the sticks' spd's. that part i understand. would flashing the spd dump be at all related to bad addresses on the stick, or is this just to make a good stick that stopped working, work again? as an example, i've got 2 sticks that have to be replaced in my rig because they error out in memtest and lock up windows. if i flashed these sticks using that thaiphoon program, would that clear up the erroneous addresses? i'm pretty sure the answer is no, and that these are 2 totally unrelated problems, but i thought i should make sure before i toss the idea to the curb.

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

the linked thread says that this fix is [mostly] for sticks that were killed by running clockgen and cpuz, which erased the sticks' spd's. that part i understand. would flashing the spd dump be at all related to bad addresses on the stick, or is this just to make a good stick that stopped working, work again? as an example, i've got 2 sticks that have to be replaced in my rig because they error out in memtest and lock up windows. if i flashed these sticks using that thaiphoon program, would that clear up the erroneous addresses? i'm pretty sure the answer is no, and that these are 2 totally unrelated problems, but i thought i should make sure before i toss the idea to the curb.

It really doesn't hurt to try it. If the memory isnt working right now to begin with, then just try it. People have had memtest errors go away from doing this. I myself gained 10 more mhz on my memory. There really isnt any risk in flashing your memory. It honestly takes ten seconds a stick.

[Xtreme Barton]

wow ... all we need is a dump of current sticks timings (full) and a editor to play with ...



man i didnt even know you could flash ram ... i learn something new everyday

[Eldonko]

I tried this with a bunch of dead Redline, didn't fix it though. :shrug:

[Joe Camel]

that sucks Eldonko!!

how did your sticks die in the first place?

[Zebbo]

Tried with few Redline sticks that suffers coldboot and it did 100% nothing to it :)

[Joe Camel]

damn.... :(

where did you get the settings that you flashed with?

your other / own sticks or DLed from extreme thread?

[Zebbo]

From XS.org, of course I've could get one from our main techs but he is busy guy so I didn't feel like disturb him :)

This is looking very weird, SPD reader shows that Trc and Trfc are at 0.00ns / value 0. Hmmh.

[Eldonko]

that sucks Eldonko!!

how did your sticks die in the first place?How? Its UTT-CH ;)

I flashed SPD in from a working Redline stick, but not all dead RAM can be fixed, some is just dead. :)

[Reefa_Madness]

How? Its UTT-CH ;)



The story of UTT:

Scene #1: Two guys talking about ram.

First guy: "I've got some great running ram that does 275 at 2-2-2-5 timings when given only 3.6v. :)"

Second guy: Wow! That's simply awesome...what chips does it use...Winbond BH-5?"

First guy: "No, it uses something even better. It uses UTT CH die based chips."

Many times followed by Scenario #2":

First guy: "I had some great running ram that did 275 at 2-2-2-5 timings when given only 3.6v. But now it is dead. :("

New guy: Wow! That was simply awesome...what chips did it use...Winbond BH-5? And how did it die?"

First guy: "No, it used something even better. It used UTT CH die based chips. It died, well, because it used UTT CH die chips."


That pretty well sums up the whole UTT experience, doesn't it?

[toddm27]

well I didn't fix any dead ram, but I did flash some kingston bh-5 pc3000 unmatched pair to kingston pc3200 and now it clocks about 20 mhz higher, I don't know if its the fact that their a matched spd now or what, but I'm not complaining :D

[Reefa_Madness]

That is excellent news as the flashing of the PC3000's SPD to that of the PC3200 has always been my primary interest in this whole story.

[Joe Camel]

toddm27,
where did you get the "dump" you flashed with?
from one of your own sticks or from the Extreme thread?

sorry i keep asking the same question, im just looking for patterns :)



Reefa_Madness,
ROFL that story line is DEAD on (pun intended)

except if i were "first guy", it would be "but i ran them @ 3.94v..." ;)

[toddm27]

toddm27,
where did you get the "dump" you flashed with?
from one of your own sticks or from the Extreme thread?

sorry i keep asking the same question, im just looking for patterns :)

I first saved both dumps, then flashed one of the sticks with the spd from the other, then I got the pc3200 kingston dump off of xs and flashed one, it showed up in cpu-z as pc3200, so I did the next it also shows up as 2-2-2-6 @200, flashed both and rocking ever since. :D :clap:

[OC/ingmaddog]

Hey guys I have some questions.

Is flashing the BIOS on the RAM only recommended if you have "dead" sticks?

Also, how can you tell if your RAM has had it's SPD settings erased by CPU-Z?

I wouldn't mine trying to flash the RAM in my sig, which is PC3200, with the Mushkin PC3500 dump on XS.

Would this be a worthy flash or would I be wasting my time?

[toddm27]

Hey guys I have some questions.

Is flashing the BIOS on the RAM only recommended if you have "dead" sticks?

Also, how can you tell if your RAM has had it's SPD settings erased by CPU-Z?

I wouldn't mine trying to flash the RAM in my sig, which is PC3200, with the Mushkin PC3500 dump on XS.

Would this be a worthy flash or would I be wasting my time?
well your taking a chance flashing to a different kind of ram, I wouldn't say it is only recommended if you have dead sticks, some of the guys were recommending it if you have an unmatched pair. if the spd settings have been erased by cpu-z you'll have a hard time getting one or both sticks to boot in most systems. try flashing to one stick first and see if it takes it and acts normal still, open cpu-z after you flash it and check what it shows, if it takes do the second, I'd make a dump of your ram before you do it. if it goes bad, then flash the one you changed back and it should be normal hopefully. you never know until you try it :shrug:

[Joe Camel]

if it goes bad, then flash the one you changed back and it should be normal hopefully. you never know until you try it :shrug:
and please document (take notes) on what procedure you did and the results so we can ALL learn from your experience :)

[OC/ingmaddog]

Guys it's only one stick of 512MB. ONE. Not two of 256. So would you still recommend I flash? Probably not I'm guessing...

[toddm27]

Guys it's only one stick of 512MB. ONE. Not two of 256. So would you still recommend I flash? Probably not I'm guessing...
as long as you've got a second stick of something to get you back into windows if it goes bad, if you read the xs posts, they talk about putting tape over all pins except the spd pins to get it to flash once dead and not working in boards, so it will boot, but you do need a second stick of something to get it to work, if it was me I would be hesitant about doing it without any backup memory, I did mine but I am also about to buy some more memory, so no major down time if it went wrong.

[Reefa_Madness]

Reefa_Madness,
ROFL that story line is DEAD on (pun intended)

except if i were "first guy", it would be "but i ran them @ 3.94v..." ;)

To be honest...there are two versions of that story.

Had I "told" the story over at XS, then I would have been more EXTREME and pulled a LastViking (like when he ran 300 with his bh-5) and used 4.03v, not 3.6v, like I did in the milder OCF version of the story. :D

[Xtreme Barton]

now if we can only have a pimp mobo bios editor ... :D

[Zebbo]

Joe Camel, you may want to add to your first post that this doesn't fix the "coldboot" issue with UTT -chips.

[Joe Camel]

added

*for me* the 704-2BT BIOS has "fixed" my DFI Ultra-D's cold-boot bug.

if your not running it, give it a shot!!! (DL off bleedinedge forum)

i still have a "hick-up start" when i try new RAM, but i just hold the power button in till it shuts down, wait 5 sec and it boots fine the 2nd time...so far ;)


edit:

704-2BT BigToe Modded (Updated 9/12/05 with Newest Revision) (http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9917)


just tested.. new BIOS does NOT let my red-lines boot, but a set of VX is booting right now (a set that would NOT boot B4)
NONE of these sticks have been flashed...yet

[Zebbo]

I was running with 704-2BTA BIOS first and it worked all fine and managed to get nice 280MHz out of my Redlines, then I thought I might try 510 since its been working great for low latency modules so why not to give it a shot. I went and picked up Hell-Fire modded 510-FIX2 bios and after that, I haven't been able to get my modules boot no matter the BIOS, I tried out the one you mentioned and, 704-BTA2, 702-3, 702-2, 623-2, 623-3, 510-2, 510-3.

[Joe Camel]

ya, these mobo's are sooooo weird like that; but when they do run (boot) they sure do FLY!

sorry this didnt fix your sticks :(

thanks for the input though :)

[Eldonko]

To be honest...there are two versions of that story.

Had I "told" the story over at XS, then I would have been more EXTREME and pulled a LastViking (like when he ran 300 with his bh-5) and used 4.03v, not 3.6v, like I did in the milder OCF version of the story. :DHeh heh :clap:

[Gautam]

That is excellent news as the flashing of the PC3000's SPD to that of the PC3200 has always been my primary interest in this whole story.
Sigh...if only we had known about this two years ago...my first A64 hated my KHX3000, topped out at 245MHz 2t. Had one of the sticks doing around 258MHz in my friends NF7 (yes, its an AthlonXP board). I remember Macci getting tremendous results from a SPD change (he switched the physical IC) on KHX3000. Yours should benefit pretty dramatically as well I'd assume.

[Thoth]

i have a 256mb mushkin pc3500 lvl2 black stick that won't even post... any comp i put it in... any combintion of slots... i tried it again in both of my mobo's... no go... i think mine is just plain dead... (other stick still works)

just outta curiosity (and not to threadjack)... wonder what mushkin would say if i tried to rma it ... i always took good care of this ram... it never saw over 2.8v...

[OC/ingmaddog]

i have a 256mb mushkin pc3500 lvl2 black stick that won't even post... any comp i put it in... any combintion of slots... i tried it again in both of my mobo's... no go... i think mine is just plain dead... (other stick still works)

just outta curiosity (and not to threadjack)... wonder what mushkin would say if i tried to rma it ... i always took good care of this ram... it never saw over 2.8v...

PM Zebbo, the guy a couple posts above. He's a Tech Support Rep for Mushkin. I bet you could RMA it but of course you wouldn't get a replacement of BH-5...:D

[Thoth]

anything would be better than the crap samsung 2700 i have it paired with... the samsung is holding it back from it's full potential...

pm'ed him... thanks OC/ingmaddog

[OC/ingmaddog]

anything would be better than the crap samsung 2700 i have it paired with... the samsung is holding it back from it's full potential...

pm'ed him... thanks OC/ingmaddog

NP dude. Glad I could help. DUDE! I got it. This thread is the perfect place:D Alright try this:

1) Download Thaiphoon burner.
2) Boot your computer with BOTH of your Mushkin sticks, in (I'm not sure, DIMMS, 1 and 3, or 2 and 4, you could try both:D).
3) Load Thaiphoon burner and make a dump of your good RAM. Then flash the bad RAM with the dump of the good RAM, since I assume they are matched?
4) Shutdown, then try to boot with the "bad" stick.

It's worth a shot. If it doesn't work you could still get an RMA couldn't you?

[Thoth]

that's the problem... when the bad stick of ram is in the comp... it won't boot at all... no post... on my epox 4pca3+ the diagnostic led says "E1" ... and it wont do anything beyond that...

i'm all for trying this... but it wont work if the comp wont even boot...

edit : i KNOW it's "E1" and not "C1" (which means ram error) cause it goes past C1 once for each stick of ram... and after it checks all of them (it goes in sequence c1-c0 for each stick of ram)... it posts E1... and the comp doesnt post

[OC/ingmaddog]

that's the problem... when the bad stick of ram is in the comp... it won't boot at all... no post... on my epox 4pca3+ the diagnostic led says "E1" ... and it wont do anything beyond that...

i'm all for trying this... but it wont work if the comp wont even boot...

edit : i KNOW it's "E1" and not "C1" (which means ram error) cause it goes past C1 once for each stick of ram... and after it checks all of them (it goes in sequence c1-c0 for each stick of ram)... it posts E1... and the comp doesnt post

So you can't even POST with the bad stick and a good stick? Shoot. Well then an RMA sounds like it's the only way out, unless I think of something.

[toddm27]

that's the problem... when the bad stick of ram is in the comp... it won't boot at all... no post... on my epox 4pca3+ the diagnostic led says "E1" ... and it wont do anything beyond that...

i'm all for trying this... but it wont work if the comp wont even boot...

edit : i KNOW it's "E1" and not "C1" (which means ram error) cause it goes past C1 once for each stick of ram... and after it checks all of them (it goes in sequence c1-c0 for each stick of ram)... it posts E1... and the comp doesnt post
if you read through the xs posts they tell you how to get by this, you cover up all but the last 4 pins on each side of the stick of ram with scotch tape, as those pins are the ones that program the spd, that way it will boot, with a stick that won't post.

[chris64]

I cant get this program to work at all. Everythings grayed out and I cant click anything. Also my trial period is ending in like 1 hour so ill be SOL pretty soon here. Please can somebody please explain to me how to get this program to work so i can fix my borked Twinmoss.

The "dump" button does nothing when I click it and everything is rayed out or just not there like in the instructions. Is there a certain way to install it? Does it need a special directory or folder? Is there something im missing?

[OC/ingmaddog]

I cant get this program to work at all. Everythings grayed out and I cant click anything. Also my trial period is ending in like 1 hour so ill be SOL pretty soon here. Please can somebody please explain to me how to get this program to work so i can fix my borked Twinmoss.

The "dump" button does nothing when I click it and everything is rayed out or just not there like in the instructions. Is there a certain way to install it? Does it need a special directory or folder? Is there something im missing?

Yeah, it's easy dude. Try re-downloading it a couple times, it should increase the trial time. After you do that, to create a dump, you first need Thaiphoon burner to read your RAM. To do this, open up Thaiphoon Burner and select EEPROM, and select "Read SPD at (mine's 52h, but yours may be different). Then once it has read your RAM, then you can make a dump (File>Save dump as...).

[chris64]

Under EEPROM theres no selection even like that on mine. Its not even there grayed out. Theres no read SPD at all. Is there 2 different programs?

[OC/ingmaddog]

Under EEPROM theres no selection even like that on mine. Its not even there grayed out. Theres no read SPD at all. Is there 2 different programs?

Hmmm. That's weird. Here is where I downloaded it from:

http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/thaiphoon_e.html

Vers. 1.0.0.4. Is that what yours is?

[chris64]

yea mines the same version,, its like something is not letting it work for me

[toddm27]

it sounds like the spd chip is bad on that ram, thats why it isn't showing up.

[OC/ingmaddog]

it sounds like the spd chip is bad on that ram, thats why it isn't showing up.

What should he do then?

[toddm27]

What should he do then?
if you read the xs posts starting on post 29, a guy talks about the same issue, the next post states the spd chip is damaged and to replace it with a part number corresponding to the spd chip. rma it or solder a new spd chip on the module. heres a link to the thread
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=85533&page=2

[chris64]

is that possible on 2 sticks?

[toddm27]

what happened before they stopped working? if they got too much voltage, I'd say its possible

[chris64]

No they actually work , im using them now, its just that they dont work very well together in dual channel and will error very quickly. Even at stock speeds they sometimes will error.

[toddm27]

does cpu-z read the spd settings?

[OC/ingmaddog]

No they actually work , im using them now, its just that they dont work very well together in dual channel and will error very quickly. Even at stock speeds they sometimes will error.

You've tested them both by themselves and have found that one is bad right?

[chris64]

Ok cpu-z reads the spd fine, I think its something else wrong here that im doing. Im gonna post a screenshot so u guys can see exactly what im seein.

[OC/ingmaddog]

Ok cpu-z reads the spd fine, I think its something else wrong here that im doing. Im gonna post a screenshot so u guys can see exactly what im seein.

Alright sounds good. That's really weird...

[chris64]

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e161/twitch579/fthdfgdfsgd.jpg

[OC/ingmaddog]

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e161/twitch579/fthdfgdfsgd.jpg

Hmmm. Did you try downloading it again? Remove Thaiphoon and re-download. See if that works.

[chris64]

Ive did it all, im about to give up here soon. Ive been playing with it for like 3 days now and I get the same results everytime.

[OC/ingmaddog]

Ive did it all, im about to give up here soon. Ive been playing with it for like 3 days now and I get the same results everytime.

Is everything grayed out? Like in file, SMBUS, etc.?

[chris64]

yuppers, everything is grayed out.

[OC/ingmaddog]

AHA! I GOT IT!!!

Bad news my friend. I just looked at your sig and I see you have the DFI nf3.

This guy on XS was having the same problem you are:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1238614&postcount=160
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1238718&postcount=163

Unfortunate:(. Do you have another computer you could try it on?

[Zebbo]

Thaipoon doesn't support DFI NF3 board, that's why those options are unavailable.

[chris64]

guess im outta gas on this one, thanks everybody for the help, now I hate this motherboard even more.

[Joe Camel]

bump :)

[soulfly1448]

Anyone know how to buy this program? I only get one day of the 15 day trial.

[OC/ingmaddog]

Anyone know how to buy this program? I only get one day of the 15 day trial.

Did you read through this thread? Just keep downloading it. It will give you days each time. It's a hasstle but it's the only way to do it without buying it.

[soulfly1448]

I figured out that it keeps adding days to it for some reason. However, I want to buy it for use at work.

[BassKozz]

AHA! I GOT IT!!!

Bad news my friend. I just looked at your sig and I see you have the DFI nf3.

This guy on XS was having the same problem you are:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1238614&postcount=160
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1238718&postcount=163

Unfortunate:(. Do you have another computer you could try it on?

Am I SOL too ?
I have a Compaq Presario SR1710NX...
Apparently the Motherboard is a "A8AE-LE (AmberineM)" and here is a link to it's Spec's and Diagrams:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?x=5&dlc=en&lc=en&product=1817035&lang=en&cc=us&y=5&docname=c00496280
Here's Cpu-Z screenshot:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y105/basskozz/cpuz-amd-ss.jpg

I figure I am because I am having the grey'ed out problem also, but I wanted to check first before swapping my ram into another box and trying.
Thanks,
-BassKozz

[hoho220]

haha if anyone would know it would be you reefa

[scott d]

yuppers, everything is grayed out.

giving this a bump, and some possible good news for chris64. Looks like the new version of thaiphoon should support your chipset if you still want to mess around w/ it!