DFI NFII experts please offer me some help!

Ok, so I bought myself some Corsair Value Select ram to upgrade from my old pc2100 samsung. The first set I got did not pass a memtest stability test at stock settings. I RMA'd it and got my new set. These don't pass memtest either. I thought about the chances of getting two sets that are defective out of the thousands I'm sure are sold and I can't imagine with such low odds that I get two sets that don't work. Is there some issue with my board? I'm running the official 7/28 BIOS and I have tried the latest official BIOS also but that did not correct the problem and it also made my internet stop working so I went back to 7/28. I have not tried the sticks individually or in different slots, do you think that might be the problem?

I know the old saying "You get what you pay for" but I'm not made of money and I can't spend 200-300 bucks on something that will barely benefit my PC such as RAM.

My experience with Corsair have been pretty good. Have you been able to pass memtest with any other memory so that you can point at the memory as the problem and not another component in your system? Failing memtest doesn't mean that it is absolutely a memory problem, just that you have a problem in your computation components somewhere.

Try it one stick at a time.

Yea I had some Samsung pc2100 that worked before at 200 FSB but I had to give it too many volts so I ran it a bit lower than that. When I run memtest I make sure to put my CPU multiplier down to 6 so that it reduces the chances that it's my CPU. I'll try one stick once I go to sleep tonight and check it in the morning then I can try the other stick while I'm at work I suppose.

What timings are you using? I had problems with my lanparty board where it wouldn't even boot windows with any Tras (I think, the higher number of the timings) below 11. Also I've read where DFI NF2 boards don't like a CAS of 3 which is what value ram is rated for. You might try 2.5 and a little extra voltage and see if that improves matters.

Vance S said:

Yea I had some Samsung pc2100 that worked before at 200 FSB but I had to give it too many volts so I ran it a bit lower than that. When I run memtest I make sure to put my CPU multiplier down to 6 so that it reduces the chances that it's my CPU. I'll try one stick once I go to sleep tonight and check it in the morning then I can try the other stick while I'm at work I suppose.

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Setting the cpu mult down is a good way to test.

Which value ram you got? Newegg lists 2 sets and one of them is CAS 2.5. I assume you testing standard default settings (SPD). While I had trouble with CAS 3 on my nF2 board as TheGame suggests, it wouldn't even boot and sounds like your booting. Anyway it never hurts to follow TheGame's suggestions. Also might give it a little extra voltage, trying to ensure the ram is the problem.

A good alternative for buying parts when you're tight on $s is through the classifieds. A number of good folks there and you can buy better stuff at lower cost than the on-line vendors. Its used of course but that isn't much of an issue when you're dealing with good folks. Of course this suggestion isn't of much use now since you already have the memory but it might be of future value.

The ram I got is the cas2.5 version. The default timings are 2.5-3-3-8 and that's what I've been running em at. I suppose I could try running it with 2.5-3-3-11 with some extra voltage.

I ran one of the sticks at stock settings while I was at work and it had erros in test #8 in memtest. I'll test both sticks overnight with some extra voltage and 2.5-3-3-11 timings and if that doesn't work then I'll test the second stick by itself and if that STILL doesnt' work, then I don't know what the hell I'm going to do.

I ran some of that value select stuff.......It sucks on this board. Try buying some sticks of XMS (256 X 2) from New Egg. I couldn't even load a fresh install of Windows XP untill i switched out my ram.

If you lack the cash you can run single channel if your want to also. My 2 cents

Vance S said:

I ran one of the sticks at stock settings while I was at work and it had erros in test #8 in memtest. I'll test both sticks overnight with some extra voltage and 2.5-3-3-11 timings and if that doesn't work then I'll test the second stick by itself and if that STILL doesnt' work, then I don't know what the hell I'm going to do.

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Sounds like it is RMA time ... again. Maybe have a talk with costumer service and work at a trade to something else. You're going to spend a lot of money shipping RMAs back, some places will pay for it.

If that doesn't work, call Corsair and talk to them.

Well it seems like I got these things to work. I went with the suggestion of raising my tRAS timing to 11 and raised my voltage a bit and with both sticks in dual channel I did not get any errors after 19 and half hours of memtest. This was probably the problem I had with the first sticks and they actually weren't defective. Thanks for all of your help!