BSOD on Vista x64 with 8GB RAM installed

timgaunt · Nov 18, 2008

Hi,

I've got an odd issue with my new PC which appears to have cropped up in a couple of other places on the forums under different guises but I'm lost as to how to apply their fixes to my box, they also appear to be slightly different.

Basically I installed Vista without too many issues with the full 8GB installed but then I started to get a few BSODs. I originally tried increasing the RAM voltages to 2.1 and changed the ?timings to 5-5-5-15 (which is what they're meant to be) etc but nothing would fix it. I then ran memtest and most of the sticks failed with 1/2 errors but one failed catastrophically with 999,999,999,999 errors or something so I sent it back. I was left running with just 2 of my 4 sticks which I have been for about two weeks and the machine was running like a dream (no sign of a BSOD).

Last night I got the sticks back and thinking it was a faulty memory issue threw the sticks back in and although I had an initial issue with a BSOD, set the voltages a little over the stock value (upped to 2.3V) things looked good again for a few hours of work so I left the computer downloading overnight. This morning when I got in however there was the typical BSOD (I wish they'd put a timestamp on those things), the only way I could then get the computer to restart without a BSOD was to remove two of the sticks.

I'm at a loss now as I'm not a hardware guy so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction my setup is as follows:
Microsoft Windows Vista (6.0) Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (Build 6001)
1 x P5Q-PRO BIOS v1306 (20/08/2008)
1 x Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
4 x 2GB DDR2 Corsair Dominator
2 x Gainward BLISS GeForce 6800GS 512MB PCI-E
1 x Western Digital 74GB "Raptor" 10k RPM SATA/150 8MB Cache (primary OS drive)
2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (RAID 1)
1 x Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 7200RPM SATA2/300 16MB Cache
1 x Antec NEO HE500GB 500W Modular PSU With 80mm Low Speed/noise Fan 18db

As I originally thought it was a heating issue I threw three Antec fans in but other than those, there are no fans in the box as I've installed a Zalman Reserator v2.
I've not re-run memtest yet but I'll do that in a bit, as the computer started fine, if it fails, could it be the DIMM slots causing the issue or is it more likely to be a timing/voltage issue?

Tim
p.s. I also upped the voltage to 2.3V (it was suggested in another forum) which seemed to work nicely though sometimes one of my screens would flicker, could it be that I've not got enough power in the box?

Clevo · Nov 18, 2008

It seems pretty clear to me you have a couple of dodgy sticks of RAM.... do they all match?

dmex · Nov 18, 2008

Hi Timgaunt,

Do you know the BSOD or BCCode number for the BSOD?

It helps identify the exact cause

Steven

Dwarf · Nov 18, 2008

Hi Tim and welcome to Vista Forums :party:

It could be a number of things. The obvious ones are 1) Memory and 2) Motherboard. I see that you have used 'memtest', so I won't provide any instructions on its use. Before you start, enter your BIOS and set all settings to their defaults or Auto. Next, starting with just 1 stick of RAM in slot 1, run memtest. Repeat this test with the same stick of RAM in the other slots. Repeat this sequence with your other sticks of RAM individually. Do you consistently get errors with a particular stick or with a particular slot?

skunksmash · Nov 18, 2008

some of your H/W is not playing nicely with the rest......

the faulty DIMM slot is a possibility i suppose, do you have or can you borrow any different RAM ??, i have heard more than a few stories of RAM incompatibilities with certain boards but Asus usually dont suffer from this problem, i personally have bought 4 Asus boards & they swallowed any RAM i gave them in any configuration.

you said the system purrs along with only 2 DIMMs in, have you tried all 4 DIMMs in the first bank..??, this will determine if all sticks are good. (i dont trust memtest finding errors seems to be very random, one day it will one day it wont)

also try running ''Orthos'' stress tester 2 sticks at a time, set it to priority 8, blend stress CPU & RAM, at these settings any problems with the RAM will show up in seconds.

im guessing it still BSODs even when you leave the board to auto detect RAM settings..??, is the RAM @ stock frequency now..?? try leaving the frequency stock, loosening the timings to 6-6-6-18 & leave the V-DIMM on auto....

we will know a little more with the actual BSOD code.

SK

timgaunt · Nov 18, 2008

Wow, thanks for your speedy replies guys, it's much apprechiated.

I'll re-run memtest tonight as that'll take a while, in regards the error messages, I've had a fair few, isn't there a way I can look through the dump reports for the exact numbers? I did take a couple of photos before but at the time I was running without a PageSys file (see Toms Hardware) so I've just checked but there wasn't any error message though the stop code was 0x0000001E if that helps?

I can recall seeing a less or not_equal a fair few times, othertimes it has been page_fault_in_a_nonpage_area.

These are some shots from my original memtest:

This one just kept looping the erros and didn't go anywhere after 1min 55s (I left it overnight)

Again, left overnight, this was the one that I sent back

Tim

timgaunt · Nov 18, 2008

Dwarf said:
Hi Tim and welcome to Vista Forums

Thanks!

I also forgot to mention that all the sticks are the same sticks so that should be ok...

timgaunt · Nov 18, 2008

hmmm, it lost my last (rather length reply).

dmex said:
Do you know the BSOD or BCCode number for the BSOD?

Sadly not, I did take a couple of pics of the BSOD when they originally happened but I was running without a PageSys file so I didn't get a dump then though the stop code was 0x0000001E if that helps? I thought there was a way I could get to the dump reports, I had a quick Google but any pointers would be apprechiated...

I had a few different error messages this morning but the ones I remember are: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and PAGE_FAULT_IN_A_NONPAGE_AREA does that help? I'll pop the sticks back in tonight and will make a note of them all (wasn't in a good mood this morning!!).

Clevo said:
It seems pretty clear to me you have a couple of dodgy sticks of RAM.... do they all match?

Match, yes they're all the same 2GB DDR2 Corsair Dominator kits (bought together). I've sent a couple back already (see memtest photo below).

http://blogs.sitedoc.co.uk/tim/img/8GB_Ram_Issue_6.JPG
This one just kept looping over and over again to around 32767 but only reported 0:2 errors even after being left all night

http://blogs.sitedoc.co.uk/tim/img/8GB_Ram_Issue_8.JPG
No prizes for why I sent this stick back...

Dwarf said:
Hi Tim and welcome to Vista Forums

Cheers chap! Shame it's a question to start with!!

Dwarf said:
Repeat this test with the same stick of RAM in the other slots. Repeat this sequence with your other sticks of RAM individually. Do you consistently get errors with a particular stick or with a particular slot?

Will do that tonight and see what happens, and I'll report back thanks.

skunksmash said:
some of your H/W is not playing nicely with the rest......

hmmm figures

skunksmash said:
you said the system purrs along with only 2 DIMMs in, have you tried all 4 DIMMs in the first bank..??, this will determine if all sticks are good. (i dont trust memtest finding errors seems to be very random, one day it will one day it wont)

I've not yet no, I'll try that in a bit

skunksmash said:
also try running ''Orthos'' stress tester 2 sticks at a time, set it to priority 8, blend stress CPU & RAM, at these settings any problems with the RAM will show up in seconds.

Downloading v0.4 now and trying, will report back thanks.

skunksmash said:
im guessing it still BSODs even when you leave the board to auto detect RAM settings..??, is the RAM @ stock frequency now..?? try leaving the frequency stock, loosening the timings to 6-6-6-18 & leave the V-DIMM on auto....

Yes, I've left it all on Auto before, I only changed this on suggestions from others, with the two sticks in it's fine, I'll try your suggestion of changing the timings this evening.

Thanks for all your pointers so far guys, I just wish it was plug and play because when it runs with 8GB damn it's fast

Tim

sygnus21 · Nov 18, 2008

You might be stressing your memory controllers with all your dimm slots filled with memory. Some motherboards act funny when all four slots are filled, especially if you're overclocking.

My Intel D975XBX2 MB won't post if I try even a modest overclock with all four slots filled without a memory downclock. And when I did get the system to run, I would get weird problems and BSoD's.

Also Corsair usually recommends downclocking your memory if running all slots with memory. So for example, If its running at 1066MHz, downclock to 800MHz, If its running at 800MHz, downclock to 667.

This issue has been discussed all over Corsair's forums numerous times. You can see one example here: Full dimm slots - Please school me. - The Corsair Support Forums. Take a look at the first link in DereKT's reply to my question.

You can also ask about this issue in the Corsair forums and they will tell you the same thing and suggest you downclock your memory and up your memory controller voltage by about .2volts.

As a side note, if you read your MB's manual closely, it'll say something to the effect that the max memory is, for example 8gigs, but it won't say 8gigs at the highest FSB. Example 8gig at 1066MHz. Vague to say the least.

Hope this helps.

Jim R · Nov 18, 2008

Don't overclock and try setting your C.I.A. 2 to "Standard" on the MIT BIOS page. instead of the default "Turbo" to see if the problems go away. I tried some PC8500 memory that was supposed to be good to 1066Mhz but wouldn't stay stable no matter what timings or voltage tweaks were made.

Backing down to 800Mhz made things stable (even using the C.I.A. 2 intelligent acceleration set to one step over "Turbo"... "Cruise"?? I forget the name of that setting.)

Also, MemTest86+ 2.1 is available (Just out Nov 15/08) Download (Pre-built & ISOs)

timgaunt · Dec 2, 2008

Sorry for the silence guys but shortly after I posted it really died and one of the sticks on testing was totally dead so I wanted to send that back and get my new sticks before testing anything.

With all the settings in the BIOS reset to the standard settings (i.e. all Voltages set to Auto) and all sticks installed (4 x 2GB on a board that supports 16GB), when starting up I get a selection of the following error messages just before the login screen of a standard boot:

PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
Technical info: STOP: 0x0000004E (0x0000000000000099, 0x000000000008B978, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000001)
---------------
mountmgr.sys
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Techincal info: STOP: 0x00000050 (0xFFFFFA5FFF9D4048, 0x0000000000000000, 0xFFFFFA60009CD9B6, 0x0000000000000005)
mountmgr.sys - Address FFFFFA60009CD9B6 base at FFFFFA60009C2000, DateStamp 47919871
---------------
When attempting to log into Safe Mode I get past the login screen and then get the following BSOD:
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
techincal info: STOP: 0x0000000A (0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000001, 0xFFFFF80002094D25)
---------------

When lowering the clock speed on the RAM slightly (from the suggested 1066 to 835 I think it was) the system appears to be more stable and will boot into windows as started. As of posting this message I've had it running for about 10mins without a BSOD so perhaps Jim R is onto something (though I'm not sure what you're on about C.I.A. etc :P).

I've not run memtest etc yet but I'll try and do that over the next few days. I'm going to get Orthus going now to see if that finds anyhting.

Any insight would be really apprechiated!

Tim

SCSIraidGURU · Dec 2, 2008

I would start by putting it back to default timing. Vista x64 and XP x64 does not overclock very well.

sygnus21 · Dec 2, 2008

SCSIraidGURU said:
Vista x64 and XP x64 does not overclock very well.

...and that would be based on???

Jim R · Dec 2, 2008

sygnus21 said:
SCSIraidGURU said:

Vista x64 and XP x64 does not overclock very well.

Click to expand...

...and that would be based on???

Based on the errors you are getting right now.

If you can get the system to behave with normal settings, then you can try to push it. If you can't even get normal clocking to work, you don't have a hope until you deal with that issue first.

Have you tried the version of Memtest I suggested. It seems to be better than the old 3.4 (non + version) you picture in your post. It deals with the newer chipsets better.

sygnus21 · Dec 2, 2008

Jim R said:
sygnus21 said:

SCSIraidGURU said:

Vista x64 and XP x64 does not overclock very well.

Click to expand...

...and that would be based on???

Click to expand...

Based on the errors you are getting right now.

If you can get the system to behave with normal settings, then you can try to push it. If you can't even get normal clocking to work, you don't have a hope until you deal with that issue first.

Have you tried the version of Memtest I suggested. It seems to be better than the old 3.4 (non + version) you picture in your post. It deals with the newer chipsets better.

First off, i'm not the one with the problems

Now, with the problems Timgaunt is having, I think he should seriously think about my reply to him earlier in this thread here: http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/193199-bsod-vista-x64-8gb-ram-installed-post889358.html#post889358

And yes, stressing your memory controllers will and could cause your memory to fail or act as though it's failed.

And for the record, his problem has more to do with hardware then Windows.

Just my two cents...

Jim R · Dec 2, 2008

OK, OK, I stand corrected

Please read as

Based on the problems Timgaunt is having right now.

He needs to get the system stable at normal settings before pushing it.

I agree; his problem has more to do with the hardware than with Windows.

timgaunt · Dec 3, 2008

hey, no need to argue over me guys

Jim R said:
He needs to get the system stable at normal settings before pushing it.

For the record, as I have been stating since the start of this thread I am not trying to overclock my system at all and I have no intention of overclocking as it's powerful enough for the work that I do. The only time I altered any settings was when it was suggested I set the Voltages of the RAM.

The issue is that without overclocking the system BSODs. In my last post you will notice that I have taken the suggestions from Jim R and sygnus21 of "downclocking" the RAM to 875 I think it was from the factory default of 1066 and so far the system has been running fine -though the RAM appears to run somewhat hot (MOBO is about 50C whereas the CPU is 35C). Is that something I should worry about?

Tim

sygnus21 · Dec 3, 2008

The issue is that without overclocking the system BSODs. In my last post you will notice that I have taken the suggestions from Jim R and sygnus21 of "downclocking" the RAM to 875 I think it was from the factory default of 1066 and so far the system has been running fine -though the RAM appears to run somewhat hot (MOBO is about 50C whereas the CPU is 35C). Is that something I should worry about?

Tim

Can your motherboard run 1066 RAM? In your memory settings is this one of the speeds?

I ask because you say "the RAM to 875 I think it was from the factory default of 1066"

If the default speed Runs at 1066 on the MB, then the next logical downclock should be 800MHz, not 875. In other words your BIOS should have these memory settings:

1066
800
667
533

So if you downclock from 1066, the next logical step should be 800, from 800 would be 667 and so forth.

So, with your memory running at 875, yeah, it’s technically a downclock from 1066…but it’s an overclock from 800.

If the system is running fine at those settings and you’re happy with the performance, then good, but for the sake of your motherboard’s memory controllers, I would downclock from 1066 to 800 or, if your board doesn’t support 1066, then from 800 to 667.

I would also up your North Bridge (NB)/Memory Controller Hub (MCH) voltage to +.2volts, i.e., if the volts are 1.75, then .2 would be 1.95volts. Leave the RAM at 2.1volts and timings at 5-5-5-15.

This should take the stress off the controllers and cure some of the heat on the RAM.

If you have any questions concerning the RAM, I would suggest you ask at the Corsair forums, they have excellent help there, as well as this board

timgaunt · Dec 3, 2008

sygnus21 said:
Can your motherboard run 1066 RAM? In your memory settings is this one of the speeds?

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

According to the ASUS site it should support upto 1200 MHz

sygnus21 said:
I ask because you say "the RAM to 875 I think it was from the factory default of 1066"

If the default speed Runs at 1066 on the MB, then the next logical downclock should be 800MHz, not 875. In other words your BIOS should have these memory settings:

I have two settings between 1066 and 800 but I'll lower it further then to 800 that's no problem.

sygnus21 said:
I would also up your North Bridge (NB)/Memory Controller Hub (MCH) voltage to +.2volts, i.e., if the volts are 1.75, then .2 would be 1.95volts. Leave the RAM at 2.1volts and timings at 5-5-5-15.

Thanks, I'll give that a go.

sygnus21 said:
If you have any questions concerning the RAM, I would suggest you ask at the Corsair forums, they have excellent help there, as well as this board

Thanks sygnus21 will do. Hopefully this is the end of it all now though!

SCSIraidGURU · Dec 3, 2008

I would start with the default timing on 8GB of RAM. Get it running stable. Make sure all the sticks are working before attempting any overclocking. This removes all other possibilities from the problems. You should use matching sticks of RAM. I run 16GB (8 x 2GB). I made sure they were matched.

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