memory controller died?

Hey all, I've had a tyan tiger MP for a while now running just fine with 4 sticks of ECC/Registered ram (1 kingston, 3 crucial).

Couple days ago had a random reboot, then a little while later BSOD and reboot, followed by non-ending BSODs.

I've tested each stick independently and each slot on the mobo independently and they all work fine. However, when I put more than one stick in and run a ram test I get errors.

With more than one stick bios doesn't always see the correct amount also.

To me and a couple local friends this sounds like the memory controller in the north bridge went south.

Does this sound like time for a new mobo? I've started looking just in case, but in the meantime it's limping along with one 512 stick.

Thanks


ps, if anyone has a dual mobo they'd part with, let me know

Im not pretending to be someone who knows the answer to your problem, but here's my two bits worth .

you described a symptom i am familliar with, the computer gradually gets worse untill it's unusable.

i would check the motherboard REALLY CLOSELY for black burn marks and other signs of physical problems, check around the ram slots especially, and also on the DIMMs themselves...

rez

I would check for any physical damage to the RAM slots. Also look to see if the board is damaged in any other way like leaky capacitors or the like.

I would first UNPLUG the ATX power supply connector and LOOK very closely to see if the main board or the plug are burned..

I would also try different ram or test that ram that fails at a local computer shop or in another box..

Ok, it rebooted on my again today so I took it outside, blew the dust out (wasn't too much), and checked stuff.

The ATX cable on the PSU has 4 or 5 brown/burned plugs, all on red (presumably +5) connectors. It doesn't look like the board has matching brown marks.

There is only one cap that looks like it's starting to bulge under the 2nd CPU. All of the others look fine. It would be nice if that was the problem, in which case I could replace the caps like on my old KT7.

I didn't see any black or otherwise burn marks on the mobo or any of the ram.

All of the ram independently test fine, as well as each slot on the mobo.

-Dave

diehrd said:

I would first UNPLUG the ATX power supply connector and LOOK very closely to see if the main board or the plug are burned..

I would also try different ram or test that ram that fails at a local computer shop or in another box..

Click to expand...

Hmmm thanks diehrd lol..Any way It should be a RMA to Tyan if it is still covered.