Author Topic: Video problems from new memory (Read 796 times)

TheDudeDVant · « **on:** December 13, 2004, 10:17:28 AM »

Hi all. This one stumped me. Not that stumping me takes that much or anything.. haha

my computer is a P42.6c with a Abit Is7 m/b.. I have 512mb of pc400 Corsair ram. The os is Win98. I went to add another 512mb of ram and my 3d video is all screwed. 2d as in the desktop/webpages look fine. Its only when I go to play a game. Any game the video is all funked looking and usually causes a crash that i have to reboot from.. I have had my cpu clocked to 3ghz for sometime now. I believe I have the same vid problem if my box is clocked or not. My vid card is a 256mb fx 5700. I tried reinstalling vid drivers and dx9c i think it was. Anyone seen this before? Any help is appreciated 8)

Edit: the memory im adding is corsair pc400 as well. The only difference I can find in the memory is one has a cas latency of 2.5 and the other 3.0..

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 13, 2004, 12:52:42 PM »

If you are overclocking your processor, do you have the memory overclocked too? The timings on the RAM shouldnt matter, as it will just slow the faster one down to run at the slower one's speed, but if you are trying to overclock the memory it probably doesnt like it very much. Make sure you are not pushing the RAM faster than it was meant to go, and set the timings to optimum (i.e. slowest timings). If your BIOS allows you to change it, I'm assuming it does if you have the processor overclocked. Beyond that, unless the RAM itself is bad, you'll have to wait for one of the guys who knows more about overclocking than I do.

TheDudeDVant · « **Reply #2 on:** December 13, 2004, 01:11:15 PM »

I posted this on another forum.. They gave me the idea that maybe my CAS latency is set wrong in my bios.. Actually think this might be it.. I think, if I remember right, that the bios reads the CAS at 2.5 when my new memory is 3.0. Didnt mean to get different memory.. Same manufacturer.!! lol

Yea.. I have slowed my memory down to a ratio of 5:4... So, all is or at least has been well with that part.. haha

Roscoroo · « **Reply #3 on:** December 13, 2004, 03:11:55 PM »

win 98se doesnt always like to go over 512 in system ram ... even with the 1.5 sp added . even after finer tuning and all that mine always goes nuts at 1 gig .

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 13, 2004, 03:42:06 PM »

I do know that the Corsair "value" series RAM, while very stable if you run it at the proper latency timings and bus speed, is very UNstable if you try to push it to lower latency timings or push up the bus speed. Plus what Roscoroo said.

TheDudeDVant · « **Reply #5 on:** December 13, 2004, 05:21:27 PM »

Good call Roscoroo and thanks for the help Star! I found the fix.. Least it works so far.. Had to add these lines after running sysedit...

[VCache]
MinFileCache=30720
MaxFileCache=30720
ChunkSize=1024

[386Enh]
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1

Seems to be working now.. Hope it stays stable.. Have 1024mb of ram running in dual channel on win98se.. hehe

Roscoroo · « **Reply #6 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:07:33 PM »

my dual channel accepted it too ..my older single channel MB argued when i went abouve 768 in ram . Glad you got it to work ... you know for shure as soon as you install a large game or by the second or 3 reboot. set it to slow boot (memory test on start) for memory check also .

Tilt · « **Reply #7 on:** December 14, 2004, 07:22:15 AM »

How do I know if my MB is dual or single channel?

TheDudeDVant · « **Reply #8 on:** December 14, 2004, 09:29:44 AM »

Best guess is to look at the MB documentation.. The 'dual channel' is software based I do believe so I do not know a way to just look at the MB to tell.. What type MB are you running?

Tilt · « **Reply #9 on:** December 14, 2004, 02:20:51 PM »

Features---

ATA 133/100/66; 4 SATA
SATA RAID 0/1/0+1/JBOD
3 IEEE 1394 FireWire Ports
6 USB 2.0/1.1 Ports (4 Rear + 2 Additional)
ICS 1893Y PHY
6ch Audio + S/PDIF + NVIDIA SoundStorm
CMOS Reloaded
BIOS Live Update
Specification---

NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset
AMD AthlonXP/ Athlon/ Duron Processor
400/333/266/200 MHz FSB
Dual DDR400/333/266
ATA 133/100/66; 4 SATA

Memory
Supports dual channel memory interface
Supports up to 3GB memory (unbuffered DIMM)
Supports PC1600 (DDR200), PC2100 (DDR266), PC2700 (DDR333) and PC3200 (DDR400) DDR SDRAM DIMM, 2.5V type
Three 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM sockets

The box refers to Dual channel DDR400........

Like you I run win98se and AH will not run if I add a 2nd 512 RAM

TheDudeDVant · « **Reply #10 on:** December 14, 2004, 02:38:08 PM »

Tilt.. what i have is 4x 256mb ram sticks.. I started with just 2 for 512mb..

In order for your mb to run in dual mode, you have to have 2 identical ram sticks installed. Example.. For me I had to place them in slots 1 and 3... Your m/b could be different but I doubt it unless you only have two DIMM slots.. In that case it would be 1 and 2 ...

My situation was Win98 recognized the added memory but 3d applications (such as AH) would not run.

The above fix worked for me. After I added those lines (cut and pasted actually) all I had to do was reboot and all worked normally.

The box refers to DDR400 I would think because this is the fastest memory your board will support. A combination of any memory slower would probably still work..

What is the name brand of that board if you dont mind??

To add the lines...

Run sysedit from the start menu/RUN
Locate the System.INI window
Both edits are in this window. I had to actually add them as nothing was under my vcache header and added the other at the bottom..

Tilt · « **Reply #11 on:** December 14, 2004, 02:42:40 PM »

http://www.dfi.com

dfi NFII Ultra Inifinity

In fact it has three slots and I have one ddr400 512 stick in it and a spare ddr400 512 stick that I put in and experienced exactly what you did.....ie np on 2d, but pixel land when i wanted to run AH

TheDudeDVant · « **Reply #12 on:** December 14, 2004, 02:46:45 PM »

Strange.. The dual chan. is software based I'm almost certain.. Check your documentation to find which two Dimm slots work together for dual chan... Add your memory and make the above edits.. You should be good from there..

Edit: Oh.. and as far as knowing you are operating in Dual mode, mine says it on boot up during the bios screens. lol Not too scientific, eh? hehe As far as I know the dual channel idea was started by Intel attempting to catch up to AMD's quad pumping? Or something like that.. Using intel's dual channel, the mb reads both memory moduals at the same time effectivly doubling your fsb.. I could be wrong but I think it was a work around Intel came up with to attempt pace w/ AMD's chips. Since you have an AMD, dunno what, if any, advantages it would give you.. Obviously I need to do more reading on this.. haha

Tilt · « **Reply #13 on:** December 14, 2004, 02:58:14 PM »

I owe you a pint kappa

just done it ...it works I have 1012 RAM and AH runs.........

I also loaded all textures back to system and vid..........

My vid card is very similar to yours 5600 256RAM

ps and yes the boot up now shows dual channel in bold letters

TheDudeDVant · « **Reply #14 on:** December 14, 2004, 03:02:56 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Tilt
http://www.dfi.com

dfi NFII Ultra Inifinity

In fact it has three slots and I have one ddr400 512 stick in it and a spare ddr400 512 stick that I put in and experienced exactly what you did.....ie np on 2d, but pixel land when i wanted to run AH

I'd bet it was the 2 blue slots to run in dual chan.. My guess from seeing the pic of your board.. Looks nice btw 8)