Can 8kha+ users help me out a sec?

[Breadfan]

Hey, I've got a favor to ask. I'm working on a computer here that keeps corrupting the Win2k Registry, and I'm sure its a hardware problem. I've posted threads on this problem, and gotten away from software issues and looking at hardware issues.

Two things were suspect, the PSU and the RAM, a single 256mb stick of Crucial PC2100.

I switched off the Quick POST in the bios, which let the RAM go through it's slower check. The result was the ram being checked three times, each time it would just start the count over again.

This is making sense right? I'm talking about the count where it counts "256,xxx OK"...yeah it does that three times before continuing on.

Anyway, my experience is "That shouldn't happen" So unless something has changed on the Epox boards, cycling three times through the memory check means the memory is probably defective.

So could you guys do me a favor? In your BIOS, under advanced, set the Quick Power on Self Test to [Disabled], reboot, and see if you RAM cycles just one time. That'll give me 100% assurance the RAM is acting up.

The closest thing I have here at work right now is an 8K7A, and no free DDR DIMMs I can test with without disrupting someone from working...

Thanks!
Mike

 

[DJ2000]

Cycling 3 times is normal with the option disabled in bios. I would suggest getting a free copy of Doc Memory, I believe it is still free, at simmtester.com. I have used it before and it is a cool program. You can also take the mem to a shop and they will test it in a machine for free. If that all fails send it back to crucial for a replacement.

 

[Breadfan]

Thanks for the tip...I'm downloading DocMem now.

I'm not used to the check cycling like that, I never really tun of the Quick POST on new boards though...hey atleast I've learned something new, thats what's important.

Will let you know how the memcheck goes...

Mike

 

[Breadfan]

Hmmm...passed the first test. I'm running the burn-in loop now, we'll see how that goes...looks like the RAM may be ok. Then agian, it took it over 2 weeks to corrupt the bios again, so could it be such a small problem it takes that much time to develop?

Mike

 

[Malakai]

i HIGHLY DOUBT the crucial is failing if its at default speed. grab memtest86 from google, its a much more thourough proggie(IMHO) and is easier to see what its doing. if it isnt the ram, than prolly the HDD. gimme full system specs, aight?
-Malakai

 

[up2Tim]

Breadfan,

What type of PSU are you using?

 

[Breadfan]

I'll grab memtest and give it a shot this afternoon.

The full specs are this:

Epox 8KHA+
256mb Crucial DDR
AthlonXP 1600
MSI GF3ti200
Hercules MuseXL Soundcard
Diamond Supra 56k
Dlink 10/100
Maxtor D740X 60gb quiet drive
Liteon 52x
Liteon 24/10/40x
Cheiftec server chassis
Enhance 300w psu
W2k professional

If its not the ram, HDD and PSU are next in line, with the PSU being most suspect. 300w is a little small for this setup, but I've been generally happy with Enhance psu's. All the voltages are fine, and things didn't seem to fluctuate at all...but if they do spike at all, that could cause my problem.

Like I said, problem is that it takes 2-3 weeks to develop...

Thanks for the help though...I've got some time after lunch I'm gonna go over it some more. I'm just getting more determined since I'm not finding the answer this problem very quickly, lol

Thanks again for the help
Mike

 

[Malakai]

get back with the memtest results. thats a lot of stuff to run off a 300w psu, btw
-Malakai

 

[Breadfan]

Yeah, that is kinda alot for 300w isn't it...

I'm usually quite happy with the Enhance 300w...voltages are always good, 5v is always over 5v. But it could be spiking or not conditioning the power correctly...

I thought I found the problem though. The IDE cable has a hole in it, lol...I'll have to scan it and show. It was a very very small hole, but basically it cut one of the wires...so it should probably still work, but could be corrupting the data.

So, I wiped, and started fresh with a new IDE cable, and upon one of my restarts it had a corrupt file. Not a corrupt registry, but just a file. Still...that was enough for me.

So, since this is also a work machine and we need more systems, I'm buying a new mobo, ram, cpu, and hdd, as well as a 350w enermax which I've always had great luck with.

I'll use the suspicious components around here, which should allow me to track the problem down by swapping parts in that I nkow to be good...process of elimination you know...

That'll give me more time to mess with it too, and keep the boss happy.

BTW I didn't run memtest after findnig the defective IDE cable, but I'll give it a run when I have the chance. Also, are there any good hdd stress programs that can test the accuracy of the read/write processes??? That'd be a nice utility....

Thanks for all your help on this...
Mike

 

[up2Tim]

The hole in the IDE cable is not a defect. It has something to do with cable select or something like that, I can't find the article on it at the moment. I'll look around for the article and if I find it I'll pass it along.

 

[Malakai]

any luck yet bro?
-Malakai

 

[Breadfan]

Not yet, I'm ordering replacement parts this weekend, that way he'll have a system that will be reliable and I'll keep the other one around here at work so I can track the problem down. That's one nice thing about doing this at work, they're just like "well, we need another system here anyway!"

I haven't had any time to look at it today, we're having some "fun" stuff going on today with our server, but I'm gonna go ahead and start putting known good parts from some of my systems here and start pulling potentially bad parts out one at a time.

I figure I was able to get it to corrupt a few files within a few hours, so I set it up and hopefully in a day or two of keeping an eye on it and replacing parts on it I'll track down whats the matter.

Actually, I think I have a few minutes I might set it up to run memtest until I leave just for kicks...

Mike

 

[Breadfan]

So far on memtest: 2 pass, 0 fail

Mike