today i decided tp upgrade my system from 1gig of Geil ram to 2 gig. I have had the first set of ram for like 9 months so i bought another set today. i got home put it in my machine it booted up ok windows "seemed" to load faster, but pretty much once all my startup things had loaded my system would crash and restart.

so i decided to remove my original ram and play the try the different dimm slot game. with each time the system failing to boot. i then put my original ram back in and try 1 stick of the new stuff. my system loaded fine i played S/P bf2 for about 2 minutes b4 my computer restarted again. by this time i had had enough so i dl'd memtest and put the new ram in minus my old stuff, and ran memtest. it failed in 1 and a half minutes. so i took it back, but of course it didnt fail in there memtest which was an older version.

i showed their tech my screen shot of the fail, and he tried to say i was using an older version, when mine is 3.2 and theres is 1.65 ???wtf. they tried to make me take my ram back but i refused and asked for a replacement but the one i had purchased was the last one, so they sed that i can get a refund with the 15% restocking fee, i still refused and finally got a store credit with no restocking fee. Quite interesting tho as i have exactly the same ram and it works yet the new one doesnt.
/rant.

discuss

Why is it interesting? It failed memtest, its clearly f***ed. Things aren't always fine or in perfect working order no matter how much you pay or how respectable the brand is. You got a dodgy set of ram and its unfortunate that the people you bought it from are such f***sticks. Who did you buy from anyway?

Umart, it failed my memtest, but it suceeded for them so clearly its my fault and i dont deserve a replacement or refund.

:S I retract my statement, umart aren't f***wits, its just unfortunate they havn't bothered updating thier memtest. And store credit there is fine anyways, buy a 2gb set, sell your old.

mmmm that wouldnt be a bad idea, but im going to do an entire cpu mobo dual gfx upgrade at the end of the year, so ill wait untill then and buy 2gig of ram

i think there are two versions of memtest now too. The original is memtest86 and there's another one called memtest86+ or something which is some niggas improving the original or something

taggs is on the money

There is memtest86- ( www.memtest86.com ) this is the v3.2

Then there is also memtest86+ ( www.memtest.org ) this is v1.6 which is a newer more updated version built around memtest86- by some other peeps.


The + 1.6 version is the one we primarily use at CA just for interests sake. So the Umart tech is infact correct that you are using an older, different program. Still if it failed in either program something is definately not right.


Just some other relevant questions:
What motherboard are you using?
Have you flashed it to the latest BIOS?

last edited by rubba-chikin at 23:29:44 10/May/06

Thats weird that they named the newer version v1.6 when the older is v3.2. I can see where PRO thought they were using an older version of memtest.

Umart are f***wits when it comes to customer service of all kinds, don't kid yourself. But they've got the products, thus supply and demmand prevails.

TK its actually a different program made by different people, its just based around the same idea as the original memtest. It obviously hasn't been through as many releases.

Still regardless of which memtest you use, if it fails on either there is something wrong with the system you are using (bear in mind it may not be the RAM at fault).
It's not very hard to download a copy of 3.2, put it on a CD and run the test for a minute (thats how long pro-gem said it took to fail), pretty poor effort IMO to say no our newer version doesn't fail too bad go away.

last edited by rubba-chikin at 08:55:21 11/May/06

TK its actually a different program made by different people, its just based around the same idea as the original memtest

It's more than just the "same idea". Memtest86+ was built directly from the Memtest86 source-code because the original wasn't updated for ages:

The first version of Memtest86+ was released on early 2004, based on memtest86 v3.0 that was not updated since mid-2002. Our main challenge was to provide an up-to-date version of this useful tool, as reliable than the original

It could have been that you needed to give the RAM more volts too and hence it failing in yours and not at Umart...

Try using the MS memory tested - I've found it to be pretty good at picking up faults plus it boots off a floppy so you can bring it, shove it in Umarts face and tell them to test it with this memory tested.

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

ive got a p5p800 motherboard. The voltage shouldnt have anything to do with it, as i purchased the same ram 9 months ago and was getting another set yesterday which didnt work in any of my Dimm slots.

Board been flashed to the latest BIOS? p5p isnt one of the higher end boards iirc, so chances are when it was released it wasn't really intended for 4 sticks of RAM. Thats not to say it shouldn't work, however I have seen boards have issues like that with full ramslots, yet will happily chug away with 2 sticks no problemo. It can even be brand dependant, some brands will work some won't, it all depends on how the BIOS has been programmed to communicate with the memory modules.

Things like this are often addressed in BIOS updates, so be absolutely sure your motherboard is flashed up to the latest revision. Also bear in mind there are a few different models of the p5p800 there is the -vm -mx and se and s so make sure you get the correct one, it *shouldn't* let you flash to the wrong BIOS these days, however it may let you do a slightly different model so just be aware.

On the note of voltage, it should by default be on the correct voltage, unless you have manually set the voltage or you are running your system overclocked you will not need to touch the voltage settings.

another set yesterday which didnt work in any of my Dimm slots.

So you are saying out of the 2 new modules you have either stick will fail your memtest running as a SINGLE stick in ANY of the slots on the board?

last edited by rubba-chikin at 11:11:12 11/May/06

Yeah I definately would have checked the RAM voltage first. If that wasn't the problem, I woulda checked the bios. Did you check the timings too?

Computer stores tend to suck for customer service. I was really impressed with MSY's customer service though. I'd strongly recommend them.

Try using the MS memory tested - I've found it to be pretty good at picking up faults plus it boots off a floppy so you can bring it, shove it in Umarts face and tell them to test it with this memory tested.

i much prefer the ms memory tester

its never failed me

i tested the two new sticks at the same time, in the slots that my older ram normally uses and it failed. i tried using the new sticks individualy in different slots and the system ""wouldn't"" boot to windows. and i havent changed the voltage settings or the timings. ahh well doesnt matter to much any more, ill try another set later on when the come back in stock and im sure the one i purchased has been sold lol.

EDIT

last edited by PRO--GEM at 16:11:36 11/May/06

last edited by PRO--GEM at 16:11:54 11/May/06