Finally fixed my VP6 problem.

Been having problems with my VP6 and dual PIII 1GHz over the past 2-3 weeks with sporadic, yet daily, lockups...this is at stock speeds mind you. Finally found the cause and fixed it.

I had my 2 Crucial 256MB modules in DIMM slots 3 and 4 since 1 and 2 were a problem for where my hard drives are mounted (crappy case). Switched it around so I could put the memory in 1 and 2 slots and left it running...went all day no lockup. I've heard plenty a tale that the 4th DIMM slot on these boards are bad and I guess mine is no different.

What's even better is that I can now overclock this thing back to the 150MHz bus I had it on a long time ago. SETI loves me for that, haha.

Anyway, just happy and thought I'd share.

Glad you fixed it dude.. hehe stress is off you back!

Jon said:

Been having problems with my VP6 and dual PIII 1GHz over the past 2-3 weeks with sporadic, yet daily, lockups...this is at stock speeds mind you. Finally found the cause and fixed it.

I had my 2 Crucial 256MB modules in DIMM slots 3 and 4 since 1 and 2 were a problem for where my hard drives are mounted (crappy case). Switched it around so I could put the memory in 1 and 2 slots and left it running...went all day no lockup. I've heard plenty a tale that the 4th DIMM slot on these boards are bad and I guess mine is no different.

What's even better is that I can now overclock this thing back to the 150MHz bus I had it on a long time ago. SETI loves me for that, haha.

Anyway, just happy and thought I'd share.

Click to expand...

My SA6R has the same problem, I've heard you're only supposed to use that slot if your first is covered by a heatsink and you need three sticks of ram, but I'm not sure on that.

Re: Re: Finally fixed my VP6 problem.

jazztrumpet216 said:

My SA6R has the same problem, I've heard you're only supposed to use that slot if your first is covered by a heatsink and you need three sticks of ram, but I'm not sure on that.

Click to expand...

lol, now that I read closer... I think I should add that I think DIMM 2 must be operating for DIMM 4 to as well, from what I've heard

Well, I spoke too soon on the overclock...it won't run at 150...or even 145 for that matter. But no more lockups over the past two days since removing that stick of memory at default speeds.

I currently have replaced the bad 256MB module with two CAS3 128MB Micron modules running at CAS2 without incidence. Soon as ANYTHING is put in that 4th DIMM slot I get a lockup anywhere between 5 minutes to 4 hours.

Thing that's bugging me is that I put that module I thought was bad in my D6VAA to give it 784MB total and it's running fine.

Crucial did send me two different kinds of PC133 CAS2 memory, however. One is physically smaller than the other and this is the one that was giving me problems. The good module was PART#.16T while the smaller bad one was PART#.16LT. All other markings were identical. Both were ordered as the upgrade for an Abit VP6. There is also no mention of the differentiating chips on Crucial's site.

I was going to return it but since it works fine in the D6VAA and I have replacements for the VP6 I'm just going to save myself another headache. I've sent off about 6 packages for replacement/repair/refund over the past two weeks and don't want to deal with anymore of them.

Jon said:

Well, I spoke too soon on the overclock...it won't run at 150...or even 145 for that matter. But no more lockups over the past two days since removing that stick of memory at default speeds.

I currently have replaced the bad 256MB module with two CAS3 128MB Micron modules running at CAS2 without incidence. Soon as ANYTHING is put in that 4th DIMM slot I get a lockup anywhere between 5 minutes to 4 hours.

Thing that's bugging me is that I put that module I thought was bad in my D6VAA to give it 784MB total and it's running fine.

Crucial did send me two different kinds of PC133 CAS2 memory, however. One is physically smaller than the other and this is the one that was giving me problems. The good module was PART#.16T while the smaller bad one was PART#.16LT. All other markings were identical. Both were ordered as the upgrade for an Abit VP6. There is also no mention of the differentiating chips on Crucial's site.

I was going to return it but since it works fine in the D6VAA and I have replacements for the VP6 I'm just going to save myself another headache. I've sent off about 6 packages for replacement/repair/refund over the past two weeks and don't want to deal with anymore of them.

Click to expand...

Hm... that's interesting... mine works with DIMM 2 filled but not all four.... I get the distinct impression that fourth slot was just for bragging rights over Asus or something stupid like that....

Probably right.

I spend alot of time reading threads over at VP6-Board.com and there are a few that have found the 4th DIMM slot as being subpar.

I dont know...I just know mine has a problem so I just won't use it.

This is strange for a VP-6. Slots 3 and 4 is where I run my memory and it seems to work fine. The slots seem to be pretty much in a parallel curcuit.

Slot 4 is wired to Slot 3, 3 is wired to 2, and 2 is wired to 1 and 1 is wired to the chipset. I have traced this down trying to repair cut traces on my other VP-6.

I also have 2 chips of Crucial, and they were bought at the same time. And before I got the second, the original chip resided in Slot 4. I haven't had any anomolies like this even with the high FSB I'm running. I've got this poor PC-133 running at 167 and it seems to like it as long as its cool.