*newbie* possible RAM problems ?

[Toastygstar]

Greetings everyone ,*

I have been playing with computer now since the age of about 4 , I swear there is an CPU in my brain somewhere! ( at what speed and how many cores remains to be seen lol) . Anyway I digress . My system for about 5 days now has been suffering terrible freezes and BSOD's . I have been trawling the Internet for hours on end but I just cannot google the problem well enough!*

It all began when I installed an new ASUS HD 6770 graphics card onto my M4A88T-M motherboard , I was convinced this was the problem , but I exhausted all routes ( fresh install of driver everything) . So I turned my attention to the RAM which I also installed on the same day as the graphics card .*

Now don't shoot a man while he is down . But trawling the Internet it seemed
I think i made*a bit of an error whilst purchasing the RAM . *I just presumed if I got the right DDR it wouldn't matter what MHz it was , I'm still not sure so clarification would help , but on further Inspection of my RAM sticks it seems
I have*

2 x 2gb running freq ,686 , 610 533 MHz / capacity 2048 MB / max brand with 10.7gb/s

1 x 4gb running freq 667 , 593 , 444 MHz / capacity 4096 mb / max brand with 10.7gbs*

1x 4gb (I removed this one due to the fact it's running *freq was v- different to others , and had much less running brand width .)

*, I thought this may of been the problem , so I have been swapping around and trying different combinations to no avail . However I presume if I put the 2 2gbs sticks in together it would work , but take an eternity to start up as I have so
Much crap!

So I thought if I install some sort of "clocking" software against the adivice of some websites i visited
I would be able to find out more information about my system to diagnose the problem , I went with and overdrive , *It gave me
Some information which I now dont have access to as the crashes are so frequent now I cannot even load up windows .*
I have changed combinations so many times in dizzy!
So in review , I believe my problem lies with the RAM (it's even freezing in BIOS with the latest combination) , the graphics card along with everything else appears to be running fine .. I dont see the point of a fresh install of windows now it is freezing in the bios , however I think I may be on to something ..
I was looking in BIOS and discovered something called "jumper free configuration" , had a looksie and it seemed that everything is on "auto" , I think this could be where the problem lies .*

My rig is :

M4A88T - M motherboard
AMD athlon II x3 440 (3ghz)
Asus radeon hd 6770 1gb graphics*
2 x 2 gb RAM. 2 x 4gb RAM
1tb Sata harddrive*

My gut is telling me it's an RAM problem , however I'm not sure . I think it could be timings or something?*

Just some random things : I used to be able to "wake" my
Pc with keyboard , now I cannot .

Any help would be appriciated , but I am new so go easy .

All the best

Andrew!

Ps , apologise for newbieness , but we all have to start somewhere. If you neeeed any more info I'll try to get it. Just a case of how generous my pc is

 

[Toastygstar]

I think I have posted in wrong forum , forgive me though I'm on my iPhone and everything is smaller!

 

[trents]

It is not good to mix ram of differing brand, amount, and timing. Furthermore, if you have an odd number of slots in use you are likely not operating in dual channel mode and there's a big performance hit. Do you have access to another computer that you could download and burn a ram checking utility on to CD? There's a great diagnostic program called "Memtest86+" that many of us use to check the integrity of the ram modules.

Is everything at factory, stock voltage and frequencies or do you have it overclocked?

 

[Toastygstar]

It is not good to mix ram of differing brand, amount, and timing. Furthermore, if you have an odd number of slots in use you are likely not operating in dual channel mode and there's a big performance hit. Do you have access to another computer that you could download and burn a ram checking utility on to CD? There's a great diagnostic program called "Memtest86+" that many of us use to check the integrity of the ram modules.

Is everything at factory, stock voltage and frequencies or do you have it overclocked?

Mixed brand [ticked]
Mixed amount [ticked]
Mixed timing [ticked]



I have managed to get it stable enough its been running for an hour now , (god knows what ive done) , however i havent been running alot of applications . And everything is at factory , i restored it all to default values (which appears to be auto)

 

[Toastygstar]

and thank you for your swift response by the way , was very much appriciated , (also i have four RAM slots on my motherboard 2 blue and 2 black if that helps) .

edit * i have tried only one stick of ram (the 4gb one) , only one BSOD so far , but im not sure if that was RAM related . I will keep you guys posted on how it goes *

 

[trents]

The other thing that would be very helpful would be to download and install a program called "CPU-z". Upload pics of tabs: "CPU", "Memory" and "SPD" with only one stick of ram at a time. That would give us lots of info about your bios settings and your hardware.

 

[PanteraGSTK]

What is the code for the bsod? That will tell you what is causing it.

 

[Toastygstar]

What is the code for the bsod? That will tell you what is causing it.

Im not too sure how to grab that , it goes off so quick . However it seems *touch wood* it has resolved , i took all sticks of ram out apart from one , and put it in slot 0 , it kept freezing again and again (no BSOD this time however) , then i changed it and put it in slot 3 just out of shere curiosity , and its running fine again *touch wood* been on for a good while now, just about to start getting some heavy applications up and running to try it out . Could it be possible that its my motherboard that is causing the issue?

 

[Toastygstar]

Okay I'm really stumped now , was running fine for about 2 hours then all of a sudden , frozen , accept the mouse , the mouse was free , everything else was froze .

 

[snowbrd]

I am not sure as to the problem of this. I suggest keep a camera on hand to take a picture of it. Now for grammar time!! its except, xD. Just wanted to tell ya you mixed that up. Keep a camera or video camera on hand to record the problem. Maybe get some ram that is all the same.

 

[Toastygstar]

I am not sure as to the problem of this. I suggest keep a camera on hand to take a picture of it. Now for grammar time!! its except, xD. Just wanted to tell ya you mixed that up. Keep a camera or video camera on hand to record the problem. Maybe get some ram that is all the same.

Let me enlighten you then . The problem is , well for starters I don't have an degree in English Language or indeed any English qualification whatsoever , if I wanted to improve my English skills I would have gone to an English grammar forum . ( sorry cannot stand grammar bullies xD especially when I'm on my
iPhone and it uses autocorrect but I digress) .

Another problem is I don't have lots of money to spend anymore (long story haha) so I'm trying to make do with what I have .

Finally the real problem here is I guess is there a way to "tweak" my ram so its all running at the same frequency speed timings etc. or is it just too complicated ? Secondly is it possible that my motherboard is a bit "problematic" as when the ram is in Slot 0 the computer seems to freeze , however when placed in slot 3 it works relatively fine ... Or is it just coincidence ? I have actually been doing my
Homework too and it appears there is an way to "save" bsod errors by looking in event viewer ( when I'm back on my pc I will update you)

 

[trents]

One thing that could help circumvent the problem is to set the speed and timings of all the ram at whatever the values are for the slowest stick. You would need to do this in bios. Are you comfortable with that?