[SINK]

I've had 2gb of ram (2x 1024mb pc-6400 OZC Platinum rev-2) installed for the past 6 months with no problems, however vista was using 65% of it when idle so I decided to add another 2gb of the same type.

Unfortunately it seems to be causing major instability, it crashes after 5 - 10 hours of operation. Sometimes its a blue screen with a memory reference error or other times it just hangs. It even crashed when running windows memory diagnostic tool. I took my old sticks and left just my new ones in there and ran the test again with no problems.

Is it a problem with Windows or the motherboard, I did reset the CMOS every time changed the configuration. Maybe its the DIMM 2 & 4 slots on my motherboard I don't know.

My system specs are as follows:-

Motherboard - Abit IN9 32X-MAX Wi-Fi
CPU - Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700
GPU - Ponit of View GeForce 8800GTX
RAM - 4x 1024mb pc-6400 OZC Platinum rev-2
OS - Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Any help would be appreciated.

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It sounds like your old sticks are faulty. I would run memtest on your old sticks one at a time.

Click here for a guide to using memtest

Click here to download memtest

If you have the same experience with this that you did with the Windows tool then your old RAM is most likely faulty.

Edited by Titan8990, 02 August 2007 - 02:27 PM.

[Titan8990]

It sounds like your old sticks are faulty. I would run memtest on your old sticks one at a time.

Click here for a guide to using memtest

Click here to download memtest

If you have the same experience with this that you did with the Windows tool then your old RAM is most likely faulty.

Edited by Titan8990, 02 August 2007 - 02:27 PM.

[SINK]

I am aware that 32-bit os can only reference 4gb's of memory in total due to the limitations of 32-bit memory reference. But the surplus memory should just remain idle and not cause it to crash. As my graphics card has 768mb I should still have about 3.3gb of main memory, and computer properties in Vista shows this.

[SINK]

It sounds like your old sticks are faulty. I would run memtest on your old sticks one at a time.

Click here for a guide to using memtest

Click here to download memtest

If you have the same experience with this that you did with the Windows tool then your old RAM is most likely faulty.

I don't think so because I ran the memory diagnostic tool with just my old 2 sticks and again with just my new 2 sticks with no problems. Problems only crop up when I install all 4 sticks at once.

[Titan8990]

Sorry, I had to change my first post because I didn't think that was your problem after I had thought about it. Have you checked your BIOS to make sure all timings and voltages are correct. Not all boards automatically set them.

So if you run memtest with 4 sticks it always crashes but whenever you use any two sticks there are no issues?

Edited by Titan8990, 02 August 2007 - 02:41 PM.

[SINK]

Vista has its own built in memory diagnostic tool and yes with any two sticks it runs fine with no problems it's only with 4 sticks that it crashes. When 2 sticks are installed it takes about 15 mins, when 4 sticks are installed the farthest it's gone is 25% complete then it just hangs for hours. There is a note down the bottom which warns that it might look like it is hanging when its actually preforming tests but i left it for 3 hours and it never moved past 25% and the keyboard became unresponsive.

I checked my BIOS settings and it's running at 1.85 volts with a shutoff max at 2.2 and a shutoff min of 1.5. Clock speed is set to Auto and its selected 800, and memory timings are 5-5-5-15 when the memory is certified to 4-4-4-15.

Edited by SINK, 02 August 2007 - 02:59 PM.

[james_8970]

Can you give me a link to both kits of memory you are currently using.
James

[SINK]

Sure thing

http://www.ocztechno..._2_dual_channel

[james_8970]

Is this one of the two kits? Or do you have two kits of this set?
James

[SINK]

Two identical kits of this set. Cpu-z even reads their manufacture date as the same day altough i don't know how accurate that is since they were bought almost 6 months apart.

[james_8970]

Up the voltages to 2.0V, your lifetime warrenty lasts to 2.2V. My particular RAM needs to be at 2.1V, it's similar RAM, slightly lower binned. It's 4-5-4-15, I have it at 4-4-4-12 at 2.1V.
Try it at 2.0V see what happends, if it's still not stable rise it to 2.1V, if you need to go any higher then that for stability then the voltage isn't to blame, as long as you havn't overclocked.
If the voltage is stable at 2.0V try 1.95V and see if it's stable, the lower the V you can run it at the better as it'll run cooler.
James

Edited by james_8970, 02 August 2007 - 09:50 PM.

[SINK]

Thanks for the advice, I will atempt it tomorrow and let you know the result.

[james_8970]

Sounds good, good luck.
James

[SINK]

It worked thanks for all the help.

One other thing. I've heard of PAE or Physical Address Extension which in certain cases will allow my OS to access all my memory. Will it work in my case and do I need to change any bios settings?

[SINK]

I tried using the BCDEDIT /SET PAE ForceEnable command but it says access denied.