And finally.... My system has arrived...

[martini161]

usually bios control the north bridge voltages in steps, like 1.45 then 1.5, then 1.55 just up it one step at a time until its stable

[bandieramonte]

I can't run memtest to test my memories..
I'm following these instructions:

Memtest86+ is directly executable by any modern x86 compatible machine,
by writing the iso to a CD one can boot from the CD to run memtest.

Simply download the appropriate package, the Download - Pre-Compiled
Bootable ISO (.gz) for Linux users and the Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO
(.zip) for Windows users.

For Windows, unzip the package into a directory like C:\memtest. You will
now see a file called memtest86+-1.xx.iso in this directory. You will
need to burn this file to a CD with a CD recording program. Do note
however that you should not make a regular data CD on which you for
instance write your text documents and holiday photographs. Instead the
iso file is a so called image of a CD, it is a direct copy of a CD. Your
CD recording program will most likely have a feature called burn image or
something to that effect which you should use to burn the CD. Do NOT under
any circumstances select to create a bootable CD. The memtest ISO image is
already bootable. You need NOT create a new CD, you need to burn a CD
image. Usually you can simply double click the iso file in the Windows
explorer which will start your CD burning application and prompt you to
burn the CD.

and I'm downloading memtest from http://www.memtest86.com/download.html under the label ISO images suitable for creating a bootable Memtest86 CD-ROM

By no means would my system boot by the CD I burn, it would always go to the OS. I also tried by changing the boot sequence in the BIOS and setting my cd reader as the primary one.

How am I supposed to run memtest?

[ibleet]

After changing the boot sequence to "CD first", you may see the message, "press any key to boot from CD". If you don't press a key at that time, it will default to booting the OS.

If your system won't boot from the CD, you may have made a mistake somewhere in making the CD bootable.

If thats not your case, then you may want to do what I did...make a bootable flash drive with memtest on it. Just make sure your motherboard bios supports it.

[DMB2000uk]

You needed to have gotten the updated version of memtest86+, that isn't the memtest86 you downloaded.

Which is available from here: http://www.memtest.org/

Sorry for the confusion.

Dan

[bandieramonte]

Dan, I changed TRC setting to 30, and the problem persisted.

I also downloaded memtest from the link you provided and yes, I could finally run memtest. Firstly, I decided to run memtest with all the 4 sticks of ram (1GB each) just to see what happens, and the system froze even when running memtest..... The time that has elapsed by the moment when the system froze was about 26 min and the pass 1 had 51% completed, having 0 errors by then.

I will now run memtest with each of the RAM sticks to see if one of them is faulty or something.

[kenc51]

Have you tried to increase the chipset voltage?

[bandieramonte]

I still haven't tried that, because I don't know by how much to increase. Should I do it in one step increase? (the BIOS has an way to increase it by pressing the + keyboard button, maybe I should press this once?)

I tried another thing too:
I read somewhere that if the machine freezes while running memtest is because I have to disable USB Legacy Support from the BIOS, explaining the following:
Some BIOSes have a bug in them that reports the reserved memory areas
incorrectly in the e820 memory map. This causes memtest to write over the
memory area used by the USB legacy support resulting in freezes or reboots.

So I tried that, ran memtest again... and it did not freeze but, at the walltime of 8 min approx, thousands of errors began to appear on screen, at a speed of 1000 errors per second. Really, the errors count was increasing so fast... the screen got saturated by errors, after one minute of this, I restarted the machine and by this time more than 100,000 errors had appeared on memtest... is this something new or to many of you had this already happened?

I don't know what to do really... I will try with each memory module separately, but should I leave the USB Legacy support disabled? Or ignore that (maybe) false information and leave it as before? (Enabled) Or how can I do to run memtest without freezing my machine?

[martini161]

well if it gets errors its just memtests way of saying something is wrong ;) try increasing the chipset voltage 1 or 2 steps and if that doesnt get you stable then try running it with just one stick of ram, and if it gives you errors, try another stick. if all of the sticks give you errors, try one stick in a different slot on the motherboard, and if it still gives you errors move onto the next slot and if it still gives you errors in every spot then try another stick of ram in all the slots. i know this sounds very tedious but since you have 4 sticks of ram in all four slots theres no easy way to tell whats wrong (unless you know someone else who has ddr2 ram or a ddr2 mobo, then you can just try your ram in that persons mobo)

[bandieramonte]

When you say to increase the chipset voltage, I supposed you meant chipset with NorthBridge, so I increased its voltage in the BIOS by one step to 1.275V, and it still crashed, then by two steps, to 1.3V and it also crashed and faster...

I will now proceed to test each memory module separately on each memory slot. Before doing this, I must ask what must I do if my system freezes when running the memtests? Should I consider this as if an error appeared on memtest or not necessarily? This is what is distorting the tests.. how may I avoid system freezes while running memtest?

[DMB2000uk]

If the system can not even run memtest without crashing, I would consider the system unstable. Which is probably due to the RAM.

You should find that it crashes less with just one stick at a time though.

Dan

[bandieramonte]

Then what should I do? Replace the RAM memories? If it crashes running memtest does it necessarily mean that the RAM memories are defective? What is the conclusion?

[DMB2000uk]

You still need to test the sticks one at a time. As you might only have one bad kit out of the two you bought, in that case, only one kit will need to be returned for replacement.

Dan

[bandieramonte]

Well well, I finally managed to make a series of individualized tests using memtest and in fact, I don't understand the results... This is what I did:

I removed the motherboard from the case and set it up over a solid surface, just the way you do when you get benchmarks. I left everything connected just exactly the way I had it when it was in the case. So I removed all the RAM sticks. I inserted only one stick into the motherboard's DIMM 1 slot. I ran memtest... and there were no errors. This made me conclude that this memory stick is fine. Then I removed this RAM stick from DIMM 1 and inserted it into DIMM 2 slot, and no errors. I did the same with the DIMM 3 and 4 slots and there were not erors either. So, if I'm not wrong, I concluded that all the motherboard's memory slots are fine.

Then I removed this memory stick and inserted the second memory stick into DIMM 1 slot. No errors. I did the same with the rest of the memory sticks and no errors either. So I concluded that all memory sticks should be fine. Then I decided to make a test with 2 memory sticks inserted in dual channel mode, that is, in DIMM 1 and 3 slots. No errors whatsoever. I also tested with the second dual channel mode, which is inserting 2 memory sticks in DIMM 2 and 4 slots. No errors...

... So I decided to test with all 4 memory sticks, ... and no errors nor freezes!! I don't really understand this.. Maybe my system hates being inside my case??

I don't know what to conclude from this.. What may be going on here?

[Methious]

Might have been a grounding problem. When you go to put it back in the case be careful not to ground it. Also take a look at the bottom of the board and see if any of the motherboard standoffs (the little brass things you screw into) aren't in slots that don't correspond with holes in the motherboard. If their are extra standoffs remove them they can ground components.

[DMB2000uk]

Well at least you took the board out of the case, good job you did else you wouldn't have found that the RAM is actually OK and something else is up.

Booting into windows outside of the case (did you get as far as loading it before?) can you pass prime95 error free as well? (Just do a 30min test).

Dan

[bandieramonte]

Sure, I will now try to boot to Windows and run Prime95 and see if it can handle it. But what concerns me is why did the system always failed memtest when inside the case.

And Methious, I was very sure that the little standoffs were not in case's slots that didn't correspond to the motherboard's holes. And what did you mean by being careful on not grounding it? How may I know if I'm grounding my system?

[DMB2000uk]

Grounding is when a metal part of the motherboard (from some electrical circuit) is touching another metal part of the case (or otherwise) that it shouldn't be.

This allows a current to flow along a different path from the one intended which will cause your PC to do unexpected things (like crash). It is called grounding as the current tends to flow back to earth, which is the ground.

Dan

[martini161]

Grounding is when a metal part of the motherboard (from some electrical circuit) is touching another metal part of the case (or otherwise) that it shouldn't be.

This allows a current to flow along a different path from the one intended which will cause your PC to do unexpected things (like crash). It is called grounding as the current tends to flow back to earth, which is the ground.

Dan

no actually what you guys are describing is a short circut. grounding just means that you are not "floating" electrically, that any electricity (static or otherwise) goes directly to the ground. if your computer isnt grounded, it aint gonna run. the third prong on american outlets (the one on the bottom) is the ground.

[bandieramonte]

So I must ground my system, but avoid short circuits? What am I supposed to do?

Apart of what Dan said about avoiding contact between the motherboard's metal parts and the case's metal parts, is there anything else I must take care regarding the grounding and short circuits subject?

[martini161]

as for grounding, dont worry about it. as for short circuts, just make sure nothing from you case is touching the back of your motherboard. come to think of it, the armor (i have one) should have come with these little pieces of plastic, three of them i think, to little ones and one big one. heres a screenshot of the manual page: