GA-M57SLI-S4 REV2.0 instability

[killj0y]

Specs:
ga-m57sli-s4 rev2.0
athlon xp 5200+ 1mb l2x2 2.6ghz
crucial ballstix ram 2 gb, matching 1gb sticks.
nvidia 9800 sc evga



I have spuratic BSOD, the ram has never acted right in this computer... my ram actually runs slower then it should.... it only gets 1.8v from my MOBO, and if i change timings and increase voltage it just doesn't start. it's at something like 5-5-5-18 or a little higher right now, its suppose to be 4-4-4-12.

Also, I can not flash the bios on my board, it just doesn't want to flash when i try it. Says incorrect bios.

 

[trents]

Take one stick of ram out at a time and test each one in turn while in the machine with Memtest86+ for 3-4 passes. My guess is you have bad ram. There were a lot of problems with the Crucial Ballistix series and this is well-documented. I had a pair of Ballistix DDR2 800 that would not run at advertised speeds and voltages. I RMAd them and went with Mushkin.

 

[killj0y]

thanks trent,
i've ran memtest once before to no advial, but i'll most definately try it again. I've started the RMA proccess because i do believe your right, this ram has been crap since i bought it for 70 bucks, i was just looking for good performance but it didn't deliver.


has anyone had any experiences with this motherboard? i'd like to hear about them.. thanks!

 

[trents]

thanks trent,
i've ran memtest once before to no advial, but i'll most definately try it again. I've started the RMA proccess because i do believe your right, this ram has been crap since i bought it for 70 bucks, i was just looking for good performance but it didn't deliver.


has anyone had any experiences with this motherboard? i'd like to hear about them.. thanks!

It might be a good idea to search for this board on NewEgg to see what their customers' experience was. I looked it up and scanned the reviews on Egg and there were quite a few reports of problems. How long have you had it? Did you get it new? Was it running well before the Crucial Ballistix upgrade?

When there is a revision of a board it can be a tip off that there were problems. Hopefully, the revision fixed them.