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Help me with memtest errors on new configuration - random BSOD all time

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lavacroft

New Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Hi everyone,
i'm desperatly looking for some advice in getting things right with this new pc i've bought a week ago.

I must premise i'm not overclocking my system and neither would do i :fight:
I bought this configuration in a online shop and they also assembled and *tested* it, here it is:



1 x CPU AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Thuban Black Edition Boxed HDT90ZFBGRBOX
2 x RAM DDR3 Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile CML8GX3M2A1600C9B 1600MHz 8GB (2x4GB) CL9
1 x MOBO Asrock 890GX Pro3 Socket AM3+ DDR3 SATA3 USB3 ATX

1 x SSD Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" Read 415MB/s Write 175MB/s Sata3 CT128M4SSD2
1 x HDD Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB 3.5" Intellipower 64MB SATA2 WD15EARS

1 x Heatsink CPU DeepCool Iceberg Pro Socket Intel Amd
1 x PSU PC LC-Power LC6460GP3 V2.3 Silent Giant Series Green Power Edition 460W
1 x Case Midi Cooler Master Centurion 5 II ATX Silver

1 x DVD Burner LG GH22NS70 22x DVD/CD SATA Bulk



After installing Windows 7 the first day i immediately started to experience random BSODs with several errors, while doing nothing special like browsing or transferring files from external HDD to the sata one.
I first thought it was some driver's fault, so i made a clean install and tried to update one driver at a time: it didn't solve anything. :shrug:

So looking on forums i found it could have been some RAM problem, and i made a Memtest86+, which found a lot of errors in test #5, more or less like this one:

Test duration: 6h approx
Errors: 46.000 approx
Test n.: 5
Pass: 2
Failing Address: 0042f156ff8 - 17137,3MB
Error bits: 00080000

The fact is that testing individual RAM sticks goes through all tests without any problem!!!

I'm starting to think it could be a voltage problem, like sometimes it drops and faults; on this purpose i checked the MOBO manufacturer site and the RAM one, and i found that in the BIOS i have all the correct documented settings.
The only thing i didn't know it's the mobo supports 1600MHz RAM only under OC, but some guy told me that if i not enable OC my RAM would only go at 1333MHz which is even more stable and errors should not derive from this setting.

Please help me i need to work and my PC continues turning off randomly!!!
 
Make sure the CPU is what it is... Meaning its not a slower CPU overclocked before it got to you...

Also, make sure the CPU's fan is spinning. Sometimes power supply wires could get caught in the fan blades causing the CPU to overheat..

If that not the case, I would reset BIOS to defaults and see if that fixes anything...
 
The Asrock 890GX Pro3 supports DDR3-2000 w/ a 6-core CPU installed. With the HT Ref clock set to the default of 200MHz, both 4GB modules installed, and the DRAM multiplier set to x8 = DDR3-1600 effective DRAM frequency, bump the NB voltage from the default of 1.18V to 1.25-1.35V in 1-step increments. Boot to the Memtest86+ flash drive you created after each incremental bump in voltage, then re-check for any errors.
 
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Make sure the CPU is what it is... Meaning its not a slower CPU overclocked before it got to you...

Also, make sure the CPU's fan is spinning. Sometimes power supply wires could get caught in the fan blades causing the CPU to overheat..

If that not the case, I would reset BIOS to defaults and see if that fixes anything...

Thanks for the reply, but as for the slower CPU OCed i'm sure it's not: a part from retaining the original package, i also already checked and it's the one i listed above :)
 
The Asrock 890GX Pro3 supports DDR3-2000 w/ a 6-core CPU installed. With the HT Ref clock set to the default of 200MHz, both 4GB modules installed, and the DRAM multiplier set to x8 = DDR3-1600 effective DRAM frequenc , bump the NB voltage from the default of 1.18V to 1.25-1.35V in 1-step increments. Boot to the Memtest86+ flash drive you created after each incremental bump in voltage, then re-check for any errors.

I'm sorry i copied and pasted the order list i made online and i must say it wasn't really clear: i bought 2 packs of 2x4GB ram modules, that is i mount 4 modules of 4GB each to work in dual-channel mode for a total of 16GB.

Does it change something regarding the advice you gave me?

The 1 step increment you mean, is it for example from 1.18 to 1.19 and do the test, then from 1.19 to 1.20 and repeat the test, etcetera?

Sorry but i'm kinda new to this kind of things ;)
 
With 16GB of RAM installed, the NB voltage requirement will be higher than that needed for 8GB. But start at 1.19V and work your way up, one bump in voltage at a time.
 
FYI, i just ran CPU-Z for the first time, and i'm attaching the results.
I will try entering the bios and tweaking the voltage as you suggested me and see what happens...

:comp:
 

Attachments

  • LAVA-PC.txt
    82.7 KB · Views: 55
The majority of the CPU-Z output in that *.txt file is worthless. Instead just post pic's of CPU-Z open to the CPU, Memory, and SPD tabs.
 
Ok, i will do that tonight when i get back home.

In the meanwhile yesterday night i began trying with voltage tweaking on the NB, it was set on "auto" in the bios and i started from 1.185 (there are predefined voltage values that you can choose), then went to 1.195 and then to 1.200.
The first time i had a lot of memtest errors like the auto configuration, in the second and third case i still had errors but fewer in number. Tonight i will try again working it up.

Just for curiosity: from your advices i have understood that when you talk about setting ram voltages you don't really change the voltage by which the ram itself it's powered by the mobo (that is 1.5v), but the voltage of the northbridge. Is it because the NB is the "communication channel" between CPU and RAM, or i'm getting this point wrong?
 
The RAM modules receive whatever voltage the DRAM Voltage setting in the BIOS is set to. Or if the DDR3-1600 XMP Profile (normally Profile #1) is enabled, using your particular RAM as an example, then both the DRAM voltage of 1.50V and timings of 9-9-9-27 (including sub-timings) are adjusted by the BIOS according to the SPD / XMP information programmed into each module by the RAM manufacturer.
 
Ok, this i understand.
I was just wondering about the reason why of increasing NB voltage instead of DRAM voltage. I suppose it's because in case of voltage drop the binary communication that fails is the one between RAM and CPU through the northbridge, and thus giving the NB more voltage helps this communication not to fail?
Sorry for bothering but when i do something i like to understand *why* am i doing it :)
 
The NB voltage refers to the on-die IMC (Integrated Memory Controller) voltage of the AM3 E0. Increasing that voltage is useful for both increased NB speeds (the NB is the link between the RAM and the IMC), and for times when there's increased stress on the IMC, like in your case running 16GB at an overclocked 800MHz (the E0 memory controller is officially rated at DDR3-1333) and having all 4 DIMM slots populated.
 
Ok, after a night of tests i come with good news.
I made my way up to 1.35v without any change in errors on memtest #5, and i thought it would not be the solution.
I read again the specifics of my motherboard (AsRock 890GX Pro3) that it supports the following ram frequencies:

- Supports DDR3 2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1800(OC)/1600(OC)/1333/1066/800 non-ECC, un-buffered memory

Some days ago i already discovered that 1600 ram modules are supported only in OC mode, but in another forum they told me it simply would work at 1333 without need of changing anything, because the mobo would do it automatically.

Obviously it wasn't like that. I forced the ram at 1333 from bios settings and voila: errors disappeared :)

The only thing that annoys me is that i have to put my ram frequency lower than the maximum it would achieve, but as for now i prefer being able to work with my pc.

Just in case... how would i tweak the system to work in 1600 mode?

Thanks again :)
 
Try lowering the NB voltage down to ~1.25V, and bump the DRAM voltage to 1.55V. And still waiting on those pic's of CPU-Z.
 
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