mhorgel
12-13-2006, 09:41 AM
I will attempt to be as concise as possible, but I want to fully explain my problem. I have 2 sticks of the GBHZ, which I installed in a new build about 3 months ago. The system is as in my sig.
About 1 month ago, I began to get strange errors, reboots, "windows has recovered from a serious error", etc. The windows error reporting attributed things to a device driver. I am planning on a fresh install of Vista soon, so I decided to live with it until then.
Yesterday morning I got up, and my machine was stuck on the XP loading screen. When I rebooted, I got the usual windows error, though this time it was attributed to memory. At this point, I decided to reboot and reset all BIOS settings to default in order to see whether the problem was just an unstable overclock. The system would not POST. I unplugged for a few mins, no POST. I reset CMOS for a few mins, no POST. I reset CMOS for 12 hours, no POST. I removed both sticks of memory, beep code. I put one stick in each of the memory slots, no POST. I opened the Crucial Anniversary memory I was saving for a future build, installed 1 stick, and it POSTed. Thinking that the default Vdimm might be too low (despite the fact that the memory POSTed without incident while building), I raised the Vdimm to 2.1 in BIOS, left everything else at auto, installed both sticks of G-Skill, no POST.
At this point, I will start calling the sticks "stick 1" and "stick 2". When I removed the memory after the last failed attempt to POST, one end of stick 1 was very hot, almost too hot to touch. I decided not to test that stick any further. I installed stick 2 in each dimm slot, no POST. I reinstalled 1 stick of the Crucial, and the system is working flawlessly.
Is there anything else I can do other than RMA? Why would both sticks go bad together? That seems awfully coincidental.
In any case, any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Mark
About 1 month ago, I began to get strange errors, reboots, "windows has recovered from a serious error", etc. The windows error reporting attributed things to a device driver. I am planning on a fresh install of Vista soon, so I decided to live with it until then.
Yesterday morning I got up, and my machine was stuck on the XP loading screen. When I rebooted, I got the usual windows error, though this time it was attributed to memory. At this point, I decided to reboot and reset all BIOS settings to default in order to see whether the problem was just an unstable overclock. The system would not POST. I unplugged for a few mins, no POST. I reset CMOS for a few mins, no POST. I reset CMOS for 12 hours, no POST. I removed both sticks of memory, beep code. I put one stick in each of the memory slots, no POST. I opened the Crucial Anniversary memory I was saving for a future build, installed 1 stick, and it POSTed. Thinking that the default Vdimm might be too low (despite the fact that the memory POSTed without incident while building), I raised the Vdimm to 2.1 in BIOS, left everything else at auto, installed both sticks of G-Skill, no POST.
At this point, I will start calling the sticks "stick 1" and "stick 2". When I removed the memory after the last failed attempt to POST, one end of stick 1 was very hot, almost too hot to touch. I decided not to test that stick any further. I installed stick 2 in each dimm slot, no POST. I reinstalled 1 stick of the Crucial, and the system is working flawlessly.
Is there anything else I can do other than RMA? Why would both sticks go bad together? That seems awfully coincidental.
In any case, any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Mark