[luv-main] Stumped - memory compatibility issue?
hey all, I have an issue with some memory that has me stumped. Due to an upgrade, I had 4x1GB sticks of RAM spare, so I figured I'd put these into another machine of mine that currently only has 1 GB total. (It's a little ITX board for media playback) However, after putting the new RAM in, the machine won't boot Ubuntu reliably, and memtest+ on the Ubuntu install disc shows up lots of memory errors. The memory was also *extremely* hot when I removed it from the machine. I tried the memory in pairs of two matched sticks at a time. Returning the memory to original machine, it runs memtest+ with no errors. Is there some kind of memory incompatibility that I'm unaware of going on here? The specs: Machine A, working combination: Motherboard: Intel P35 chipset RAM: 4x 1GB of DDR2-800 Machine B, working combination: Motherboard: Zotac nForce 630i RAM: 2x 512MB of DDR2-667 The latter motherboard says it supports DDR2-800 memory. I moved the CPU over from machine A to B, but that didn't help. I was especially bothered by the RAM getting very hot - I'm pretty sure that's not normal - although that machine is in a very small case without brilliant ventilation. But it was hot after just a few minutes of run time. I wondered if you had any thoughts? Thanks, Toby
I had a memory issue with memory above 512Mb. The errors only occured after days of running (causing root to be remounted read only due to errors) and memtest++ only found problems under test6 I think. I clocked down the memory speeds in the BIOS and it was fine and just ran it with the slower clocking. On 27 October 2011 14:49, Toby Corkindale <toby.corkindale@strategicdata.com.au> wrote:
hey all, I have an issue with some memory that has me stumped.
Due to an upgrade, I had 4x1GB sticks of RAM spare, so I figured I'd put these into another machine of mine that currently only has 1 GB total. (It's a little ITX board for media playback) ...
Perhaps it's related to your mother board and large amounts of memory. Many motherboards may claim to support a certain speed but not work reliably with more than 1-2 sticks at that speed. Andrew
Hi Toby. Could you have the motherboard RAM voltages running too high for the 1Gb RAM to handle? Compare the BIOS RAM voltage settings for the two boards and ensure that the Zotac board is not running higher voltages. Is the RAM one of the brands and part numbers shown as supported in the motherboard documentation? Regards, Morrie. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Toby Corkindale" <toby.corkindale@strategicdata.com.au> To: "luv-main" <luv-main@luv.asn.au> Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 2:49 PM Subject: [luv-main] Stumped - memory compatibility issue?
hey all, I have an issue with some memory that has me stumped.
Due to an upgrade, I had 4x1GB sticks of RAM spare, so I figured I'd put these into another machine of mine that currently only has 1 GB total. (It's a little ITX board for media playback)
However, after putting the new RAM in, the machine won't boot Ubuntu reliably, and memtest+ on the Ubuntu install disc shows up lots of memory errors. The memory was also *extremely* hot when I removed it from the machine. I tried the memory in pairs of two matched sticks at a time.
Returning the memory to original machine, it runs memtest+ with no errors.
Is there some kind of memory incompatibility that I'm unaware of going on here?
The specs:
Machine A, working combination: Motherboard: Intel P35 chipset RAM: 4x 1GB of DDR2-800
Machine B, working combination: Motherboard: Zotac nForce 630i RAM: 2x 512MB of DDR2-667
The latter motherboard says it supports DDR2-800 memory. I moved the CPU over from machine A to B, but that didn't help. I was especially bothered by the RAM getting very hot - I'm pretty sure that's not normal - although that machine is in a very small case without brilliant ventilation. But it was hot after just a few minutes of run time.
I wondered if you had any thoughts?
Thanks, Toby _______________________________________________ luv-main mailing list luv-main@lists.luv.asn.au http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-main
On 27/10/11 20:19, Morrie Wyatt wrote:
Hi Toby.
Could you have the motherboard RAM voltages running too high for the 1Gb RAM to handle?
The ITX board I'm using didn't have any options to over-voltage the RAM manually, I think. (I wondered about this too) I really hope it wasn't trying to do so automatically :/
Compare the BIOS RAM voltage settings for the two boards and ensure that the Zotac board is not running higher voltages.
I'll have to see if that voltage is reported anywhere; I know it is on the Asus board, but don't recall it on the Zotac nForce one.
Is the RAM one of the brands and part numbers shown as supported in the motherboard documentation?
A-ha-ha.. I threw out the motherboard documentation years ago :/ Good points though. Cheers! Toby
On Wed, Nov 02, 2011 at 11:03:48AM +1100, Toby Corkindale wrote:
Is the RAM one of the brands and part numbers shown as supported in the motherboard documentation?
A-ha-ha.. I threw out the motherboard documentation years ago :/
most motherboard manufacturers have PDF versions of their motherboard manuals and other documentation (also firmware updates etc) available for download. all you need for a search is the brand and the model. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au> BOFH excuse #296: The hardware bus needs a new token.
On Wed, 2 Nov 2011, Toby Corkindale wrote:
Is the RAM one of the brands and part numbers shown as supported in the motherboard documentation?
A-ha-ha.. I threw out the motherboard documentation years ago :/
Why on earth wouldn't all motherboards be compatible with all RAM that fits in the socket? Or is this just another wonderful case of "standards are wonderful. There are so many of them to choose from"? Mind you, ark.intel.com tells me that the ICH8 chipsets in my laptops can take a maximum of 4GB of ram, but they both have 6GB in them according to /usr/bin/free. Magic, I guess. -- Tim Connors
On 02/11/11 13:55, Tim Connors wrote:
ark.intel.com tells me that the ICH8 chipsets in my laptops can take a maximum of 4GB of ram
I've seen other info on ark.intel.com that is just plain wrong, so I wouldn't go trusting it.. -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC
On Wed, 2 Nov 2011, Toby Corkindale wrote:
Is the RAM one of the brands and part numbers shown as supported
in
the motherboard documentation?
A-ha-ha.. I threw out the motherboard documentation years ago :/
Why on earth wouldn't all motherboards be compatible with all RAM that fits in the socket? Or is this just another wonderful case of "standards are wonderful. There are so many of them to choose from"?
Mind you, ark.intel.com tells me that the ICH8 chipsets in my laptops can take a maximum of 4GB of ram, but they both have 6GB in them according to /usr/bin/free. Magic, I guess.
We got caught out just recently when we went to put 'registered' memory in a server that wanted 'unbuffered' memory. It fit perfectly but just didn't work. James
participants (7)
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Andrew Worsley -
Chris Samuel -
Craig Sanders -
James Harper -
Morrie Wyatt -
Tim Connors -
Toby Corkindale