Failed Memtest with DSL3 and Crucial Ballistix 800Mhz

[Lsdmeasap]

Crucial dies at any voltage, I have seen 2.2 sticks die quickly undervoltaged at 2.0. So best for you to think of getting a different Brand. Crucial USED to be the best, but there are far better choices nowadays. 2.1V is safe, and Is what I would use, or 2.0 if it is stable.

Fails memtest86+ but windows is stable means nothing, and can still cause data corruption and worse. If you have errors at all in Memtest86+ then the ram has incorrect settings, or the Ram is dying, or not compatible with the board or BIOS. Often it is just settings.


Lets see If I can help you get anywhere with them


MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: Auto
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 9x
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:.+0.5
CPU Frequency ...........................: 2.53 GHz (2.66x 9.5)


Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: Mhz 266
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........:Set to 100 [100]


Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................: <<< 800mV
PCI Express Clock Drive.................: <<< 900mV
CPU Clock Skew (ps)....................: <<< 0ps
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: <<< 0ps


DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [STANDARD]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.).....: Disabled
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [333] << may need to try 266, but try this first
System Memory Multiplier ..............: [4.00]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............: 1066
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................5 [5]
tRCD .........................................7 [5]
tRP'...........................................7 [5]
tRAS..........................................24 [15]

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................3-5
tWTR..........................................3-6 (Benchmark Last 8-12)
tWR............................................4-6 (May need 8-14)
tRFC...........................................48-50 (52-62)
tRTP...........................................3-6
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:2

Channel A
Static tRead Value.........................:7-12

I see you have set somethings below, I would recommend then to be in Auto for you for now. Also, I see both Channel A and B has settings set, when it should only be one channel since you only are using 2x1GB. That makes me think you have your 2x1GB ram in The wrong slots. They should be in 1 + 3 or 2 + 4 for Dual channel

Please check that out!

tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:0
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto 0
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto 0
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto 0
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto 8
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto 8
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto 7
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto 9
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Channel B
Static tRead Value.........................:7-12
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:0
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto 0
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto 0
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto 0
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto 8
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto 8
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto 7
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto 9
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Motherboard Voltage Control
Voltage Type.………... Manual
CPU
CPU Vcore….……….........................: 1.15000V
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< Leave
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< Leave
CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: <<< Leave .760V [auto]
CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:<<< Leave (i dont have this option)

MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: <<1.2 For Stability
MCH Reference….…….0.800V...........; <<< .760V [auto]
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V...........: <<< [auto]
ICH I/O……………….....1.550V............: <<< 1.500 [auto]
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: <<< (i dont have this option)

DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....1.800V............: [2.100V]
DRAM Termination .…0.900V............: <<< [auto]
Channel A Reference 0.900V............: <<< [auto]
Channel B Reference 0.900V............: <<< [auto]

Advanced Settings
Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Disabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled] (i dont have this option)

[Rooster45]

Originally Posted by Lsdmeasap

I see you have set somethings below, I would recommend then to be in Auto for you for now. Also, I see both Channel A and B has settings set, when it should only be one channel since you only are using 2x1GB. That makes me think you have your 2x1GB ram in The wrong slots. They should be in 1 + 3 or 2 + 4 for Dual channel

Please check that out!

Nope, did not mess with those, and sticks are in slots 1&3. I only set the regular timings for 5-5-5-15 because the rest is beyond my capacity. Perhaps it defaulted to unusual values for some reason? Both Channels had the same values. I have some cheap G.Skill on the way for backup to make sure i don't get stuck without RAM, since Corsiar, OCZ and Crucial seem like a bad idea. If you get a chance I'd like your opinion on them. For now I'm going to try these settings and see what I come up with since the Crucials are a bit better spec I'd like to use them if I can.

[Lsdmeasap]

Hmm yeah well that is ODD for sure. I would set all of those to Auto below Static tRead Value on both channels

G.Skills are nice, Especially the ones with model #'s that end in K

Good luck on the testing with what you have. And keep in mind, Spec's are just "tested to be stable at stock" It by no means is the limit of the ram or the things needed to make it stable either. Some ram will do FAR beyond what the spec's are, others of lesser quality may or may not.

[Rooster45]

Good to know, G.Skills are #F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK. Anyway, I think we misunderstood each other on those advanced timings, I seriously left everything at auto after static tRead Value, I just listed whatever #s showed there by default. Anyway, 4 passes of Memtest+ come up clean so far, will leave it run all day tomorrow as well just to see what happens while I'm @ work. I set everything that you listed with a range of values to the lowest value so I'm assuming for the most part lower = more stability. Which values would I try changing to increase performance (with testing of course)? Mostly curious about this bit and which dirction I should try to take it:

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................3-5
tWTR..........................................3-6 (Benchmark Last 8-12)
tWR............................................4-6 (May need 8-14)
tRFC...........................................48-50 (52-62)
tRTP...........................................3-6
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:2


If it matters I plan on overclocking the processor, hopefully to at least 3.5 GHz or so for regular use, depending how it acts. I also flashed to f3 bios, no idea if that helped or not. Thanks agian for all your help, I really want to make these things work if I can.

[Lsdmeasap]

Ahh Ok! Yeah I thought you had "Auto 8" for example, with 8 being what you manually set

NO, lower is what you will need to test, tweak, test, tweak to get down to. And you may not get to the lowest with all of them and be stable. Highest for all ranges is what should be most stable. Lowest is best performance, must be tweaked down to.

Leave command rate, Start at trrd and work down, slowly

Well with overclocking you need to do one or the other at a time, and getting your CPU up there first is way eaiser. So best/easiest way to do that is set all ram timings very high, and use the lowest Memory Mutliplier so you know it is stable for sure. Then get your CPU overclocked to where you want it. This way when you have errors in Orthos/prime95 or whatever you are CPU testing with in windows you will know it is not the ram that is failing.

Then once your CPU is stable you can work on the ram.

[Rooster45]

Well then I hope that using the lowest values first is my problem because as it turns out i spoke too soon! Memtest+ completed 4 full passes with everything set to your low values as I mentioned, but gave 5 errors in 5.5 hours time when i let it run longer (4 on test 4 and 1 on test 6). guess I'll shoot for the high values then and try to get these things stable for an overnight test.

[Lsdmeasap]

Nice!

Yeah well lowest values are often stable, but it is generally suggested to work your way there since all sticks can differ.

With a 4 hour pass, but failing on five you may just need to adjust the following >>>
trfc ..............50

MCH Core ..........1.25

Nice to see you are getting somewhere though! Good Job!

[Rooster45]

Originally Posted by Lsdmeasap

Nice!

Yeah well lowest values are often stable, but it is generally suggested to work your way there since all sticks can differ.

With a 4 hour pass, but failing on five you may just need to adjust the following >>>
trfc ..............50

MCH Core ..........1.25

Nice to see you are getting somewhere though! Good Job!

Well on that run it was four complete passes, not 4 hours without errors (couldn't supervise the entire time) but those were the errors that had showed by the time it reached the 5.5 hour mark.

I didn't see your reply here before I did another run last night, actually already had trfc @ 50, mch core @ 1.2 and still I got 5 or 6 errors (mostly test 4 and 6 still but I think there was one from 3 maybe) after almost 6 hours. Would mch core up to 1.25 from 1.2 make much differance? Still it seems to clear the first pass or two but I can't monitor it for hours on end.

Last night I used this:

DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [STANDARD]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.).....: Disabled
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [266MHz]
System Memory Multiplier ..............: [4.00]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............: 1066
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................5 [5]
tRCD .........................................7 [5]
tRP'...........................................7 [5]
tRAS..........................................24 [15]

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................5
tWTR..........................................6
tWR............................................6
tRFC...........................................50
tRTP...........................................6
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:2

Motherboard Voltage Control
Voltage Type.………... Manual
CPU
CPU Vcore….……….........................: 1.15000V
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< Leave
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< Leave
CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: <<< Leave .760V [auto]
CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:<<< Leave (i dont have this option)

MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: <<1.2
MCH Reference….…….0.800V...........; <<< .760V [auto]
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V...........: <<< [auto]
ICH I/O……………….....1.550V............: <<< 1.500 [auto]
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: <<< (i dont have this option)

DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....1.800V............: [2.100V]
DRAM Termination .…0.900V............: <<< [auto]
Channel A Reference 0.900V............: <<< [auto]
Channel B Reference 0.900V............: <<< [auto]


Fired up CPUz before that just to check it out because I figure it will come in handy for OCing the processor, and it brought up another question. under CPUz's "SPD" tab, it displays a timings table that reads:

For "JEDEC#2" (thats a memory profile I guess?)
frequency.............333mhz
cas# latency.........4
ras# to cas#.........5
ras# precharge......5
tRAS....................15
tRC......................20
command rate........(none given)
voltage.................1.8

For "EPP#2" (enhanced performance profile 2 would be my guess)
frequency.............533mhz
cas# latency.........5
ras# to cas#.........5
ras# precharge......5
tRAS....................15
tRC......................30
command rate........2T
voltage.................2.2

So does this suggest that voltage should be lower if the frequency latch is lower? Also I didn't notice an entry for "tRC" value in my bios, is there another name for that same value? Sorry for being such a noob, but I need to get this sorted soon because the rebate needs to go out for these things if I'm going to keep them.

Also, is a system considered stable if memtest runs without error for only a few hours? How long is enough to be sure everything is working properly?

[Lsdmeasap]

EPP is your 1066 Profile. but those settings will not fully work, such as trfc 30.

No it does not suggest anything along the lines you asked about, the two profiles is like this> One is JEDEC standard, which ALL ram must have programmed into it There is normally 2 of those a 667 and a 800 profile. The EPP is your overclocked 1066 profile.

Yes, 1.25 would be better.

Also you may want to start trying to bring other things down as well before going further, with trfc at 50 (tight) the other Loose settings may have things out of whack a bit

Try this with 1.25 MCH
tRRD...........................................3
tWTR..........................................3
tWR............................................6
tRFC...........................................50
tRTP...........................................4

Still no luck with 333 MCH latch eh?

[Rooster45]

Originally Posted by Lsdmeasap

EPP is your 1066 Profile. but those settings will not fully work, such as trfc 30.

No it does not suggest anything along the lines you asked about, the two profiles is like this> One is JEDEC standard, which ALL ram must have programmed into it There is normally 2 of those a 667 and a 800 profile. The EPP is your overclocked 1066 profile.

Yes, 1.25 would be better.

Also you may want to start trying to bring other things down as well before going further, with trfc at 50 (tight) the other Loose settings may have things out of whack a bit

Try this with 1.25 MCH
tRRD...........................................3
tWTR..........................................3
tWR............................................6
tRFC...........................................50
tRTP...........................................4

Still no luck with 333 MCH latch eh?

Did this, but I can't do exactly 1.25 MCh (even increments only) so i went for 1.26, also put MCH latch back at 333 and its multi at 4.0a (think that's right). Anyway, same as always it passes the first round or so of tests but after a few hours I had 5 or 6 errors, all from test #s 4,6,and 7.


*Update*
Just tried again. Had 266 MCH latch, 4.00a system memory multiplier. 1.26 MCh voltage.
tRRD...........................................3
tWTR..........................................3
tWR............................................6
tRFC...........................................50
tRTP...........................................4
dRAM voltage is still 2.10 volts.

Made three complete passes with no errors, then got an error on test 3 of pass 4 after it had been running for about an hour and a half. May have been the first time it gave an error on test 3 ever. Starting to get a bit discouraged here...