OCZ PC3200 *BANG* - Why didnt I listen to myself!

[FATAL ENIGMA]

FATAL ENIGMA send me an email and we will RMA your memory. Then we can be sure it's not a memory problem.

Steve

I got an RMA # from newegg yesterday evening, but ideally I would like to know the cause of this problem and possibly save myself and newegg the rma process if it isnt the memory at fault here. Thanks for your attention though, it is much appreciated, I did send you an email

I was hoping the vast knowledge base that is here would have an idea of just what it is going on here and might can help me 100% isolate the exact cause

 

[Tebore]

I got an RMA # from newegg yesterday evening, but ideally I would like to know the cause of this problem and possibly save myself and newegg the rma process if it isnt the memory at fault here. Thanks for your attention though, it is much appreciated, I did send you an email

I was hoping the vast knowledge base that is here would have an idea of just what it is going on here and might can help me 100% isolate the exact cause

Try Flashing to a modded Bios like the Merlin D25 CPC on. Use Abit's Flash Menu. It allow you to copy your BIOS to your harddrive. After you flash it, let it boot in to windows then shut down and clear the CMOS for 1-2 minutes with the power supply turned off. You don't need to reinstall windows. Your chip appears to be maxed at 2600mhz. After you flash to the new BIOS try 220mhz with a multiplyer that will equal 2600. Run Memtest test 1-3 then 5 if it fails any of those tests keep lowering the ram speed, make sure it's running stock timings. If your ram fails at an early mhz then RMA it, I would do it with OCZ directly because they are great with RMAs.

 

[K4mui]

FATAL ENIGMA send me an email and we will RMA your memory. Then we can be sure it's not a memory problem.

Steve

WTF??

God, what an offer.. it isn't even safe that it is the RAM's fault
Thinking again about getting some EBs

Anyway, I would test of course one module alone, and different RAM- sockets.
Afterwards I'd go for some new BIOS (no problems here, just visit Abit's homepage and read the instructions, very clear)- if that doesn't help, I would try to get a new motherboard.

 

[Tebore]

WTF??

God, what an offer.. it isn't even safe that it is the RAM's fault
Thinking again about getting some EBs

Anyway, I would test of course one module alone, and different RAM- sockets.
Afterwards I'd go for some new BIOS (no problems here, just visit Abit's homepage and read the instructions, very clear)- if that doesn't help, I would try to get a new motherboard.

Guess you haven't worked with OCZ b4 they are a great bunch that will go out of their way to make sure you're happy with their stuff.

 

[FATAL ENIGMA]

thanks Tebore, I saved my Abit bios and will try the Merlin bios and do some testing and will post back quickly

 

[FATAL ENIGMA]

flashed to merlin d25 and it evidently doesnt help me.

tried several settings above 200 and it fails to post or black screens before boot and crazy beeping
202, 205, 210, 220 all fail

what does this tell you?

 

[cujo]

a friend of mine had an nf7-s and the same ram cept 2 sticks of 256mb. apparently there is some problem with that ram and the nf7-s. all i know is he couldn't do anything over 200 stable. he checked it out online back when he had the issues and found other people reporting the same thing. as far as i know he never solved the issue. now he's running a64 with diff ram. he was never able to test in a diff mobo cause i have the same one and we don't know anyone else with a good enough mobo.

i dunno if you want to be rmaing to ocz cause i doubt they have any bh5 left. i would try it on a diff (non-nf7) mobo first.

 

[Tebore]

a friend of mine had an nf7-s and the same ram cept 2 sticks of 256mb. apparently there is some problem with that ram and the nf7-s. all i know is he couldn't do anything over 200 stable. he checked it out online back when he had the issues and found other people reporting the same thing. as far as i know he never solved the issue. now he's running a64 with diff ram. he was never able to test in a diff mobo cause i have the same one and we don't know anyone else with a good enough mobo.

i dunno if you want to be rmaing to ocz cause i doubt they have any bh5 left. i would try it on a diff (non-nf7) mobo first.

I wouldn't worry about BH5 since I doubt his chips are BH5.

Fatal I should mention that you should start at no less than 2.7Vdimm when you overclock the ram. A last resort would be to test a D25 CPC off BIOS. If you hit 220 on that it'll mean your ram is the problem. If you haven't tried you might want to lookin to the L12 mod. Seems like you should just RMA your ram directly back to OCZ. The crazy beeps and black screen usually means the ram has failed at the settings you set them at. At least it always is in my case.

 

[FATAL ENIGMA]

I wouldn't worry about BH5 since I doubt his chips are BH5.

Fatal I should mention that you should start at no less than 2.7Vdimm when you overclock the ram. A last resort would be to test a D25 CPC off BIOS. If you hit 220 on that it'll mean your ram is the problem. If you haven't tried you might want to lookin to the L12 mod. Seems like you should just RMA your ram directly back to OCZ. The crazy beeps and black screen usually means the ram has failed at the settings you set them at. At least it always is in my case.

I am beyond confused I guess

I have tried everything I can possibly think of or set for vdimm as well, have tried many combinations for vcore up to 2.0v even and no luck. It's just odd I was running at 220 fsb just fine for 2 days (approx. 14 hours per day running) then my pc rebooted itself into an error and the problems never stopped until I dropped to 200.

I have prepared to do the L12 mod but after all this, I dont see it solving my underlying problem (whatever that is?) I do know the ram memtested fine after install, prime95 showed ok after 3-4 hours during those 2 days

I just dont want to RMA only the ram if it's possible something has gone wrong with the board or XP-M too.

I havent heard of people having problems with OCZ in NF7-S but after going through this, I guess anything is possible

btw, can anyone recommend to me some replacement ram thats comparable in price ($103) for a 512 Mb stick with comparable timings?

 

[Tebore]

If you haven't already, then it's time to strip this thing bare and look for problems visually. And do a rebuild of the system. I had something like this happen and a total rebuild somehow fixed it. A rebuild would be like cleaning everything and redoing the TIMs and such.

 

[Recursion]

well if newegg doesnt take it back, call up OCZ and talk to Sean I am sure he will help ya out

 

[FATAL ENIGMA]

If you haven't already, then it's time to strip this thing bare and look for problems visually. And do a rebuild of the system. I had something like this happen and a total rebuild somehow fixed it. A rebuild would be like cleaning everything and redoing the TIMs and such.

I havent yet, but I can do this and I guess I need to because I really dont want to put my old stuff back together and use it until a solution is made

 

[cujo]

sry i assumed they were bh5 cause he said refurb. meaning older. as far as i know the older platinum edition were bh5. i know my friends are.

 

[Tebore]

sry i assumed they were bh5 cause he said refurb. meaning older. as far as i know the older platinum edition were bh5. i know my friends are.

Low chances of it behing BH5 since the last retail batch was about 3 months ago at least in my neck of the woods it was over 3 months ago that the last batch was seen...

On a side note I have a bad stick of BH6

 

[cujo]

i was just saying that they could very well be given they're refurb. my friend has the bh5 ones and had the problems. i was just saying it could be related and might be something to look into.

 

[Scar]

are you, or were you, trying to go >220fsb with 2-2-3-5 timings in dual channel?
if so you're gonna have to loosen those timings to 2-3-3-6, that should get you to 225+ depending on the volts. Also, the JDEC 'By Spd' timings are usually way off for PC3200 and above so be sure to set it manually.
Did you raise your chipset voltage like they suggested? my nf7s needs 1.7v for anything over 215 or so.
also, 225x11 will require more vcore than 215x11.5

 

[SeanOMatic]

well if newegg doesnt take it back, call up OCZ and talk to Sean I am sure he will help ya out

Sure would. We could pre-test replacements in an NF7-S 2.0 and we'd be able to FedEX 2-day the RMA's back to you. If you live in the USA, we can usually offer cross shipping to avoid downtime.

Call me anytime between 9:30 and 6 tomorrow at the number on our site.

 

[Amrathe]

Thumbs Up

FATAL ENIGMA send me an email and we will RMA your memory. Then we can be sure it's not a memory problem.

Steve

And THAT is why OCZ has my business from now on.. It is hard to find a company willing to stand behind their product (especially when that product is favored by Overclockers)

 

[FATAL ENIGMA]

Sure would. We could pre-test replacements in an NF7-S 2.0 and we'd be able to FedEX 2-day the RMA's back to you. If you live in the USA, we can usually offer cross shipping to avoid downtime.

Call me anytime between 9:30 and 6 tomorrow at the number on our site.

I appreciate the offer Sean, I had already spoken with someone else via email from ocz and rma'ed the memory back to newegg

 

[K4mui]

And THAT is why OCZ has my business from now on.. It is hard to find a company willing to stand behind their product (especially when that product is favored by Overclockers)

Right.
I am (nearly) seriously angry I ordered BH-5, instead of EB