daza_brown

Hi all, I have joined this site as I have had an on-going problem with a computer i built myself a couple of years ago.

Basically the computer was fine for ages, then about 1 year ago it just totally froze solid whilst playing a game and wouldn't re-start (bleeping with a ram error), after buying new ram it worked again for approximately 3 months then the same problem re-occurred. I then brough a further stick of ram and once again worked but this time for only approx. 6 weeks.

As a tempory measure to keep the computer working whilst new ram was on order i used an old 256mb, slower module of ram which has been working (slowly) ever since. The ram that stopped working after the computer froze (all 512mb) will no longer work.

I was wondering if this is any sort of common problem, I have tried things such as changing bios settings etc but all to no success.

The computer is;
Gigabyte GA(maybe GN) 400 motherboard
AMD Athlon 2800+ processor
ATI 256mb graphics card
512mb pc3200 ddr400 ram

That is what I can remember off top of my head, any more (or more detailed) PC specs required I can find them out.

Thanks in advance

Darren

scottydont2841

Does the mobo support the speed and size of the RAM?

daza_brown

Yeah, when the computer was built I checked it was all competable before i even brought it, also the computer worked for around 1 - 2 years before it first broke.

Tumbleweed36

Talk to us about your power supply, including the brand name, wattage, and amps per rail. The reason I say this, is that one of the premier ram manufacturer's says that inadequate power supplies and the lack of a steady power supply (fluxuating current) are responsible

for more Ram failures than any other reason. Knowing this info might help to research what is causing your issues.

daza_brown

Not sure if this is the right info., this is the table on the side of the PSU;



Hope this helps, as far as I can make out the only brand name is 'switching power supply' The PSU came with case (A non-descript brand)

Tumbleweed36

Thanks for the reply. Now, give us more information on the video card. What kind AGP, PCI-e, pci, etc. What model and that should help us to add up some issues. Frankly, I suspect your power supply without more information, but we shall see as we gather more information. Do look further for a brand name if you could, not sure you will find it, but at least search more to help us identify what we are dealing with. The off-brand power supplies are usually either weak or have fluxuating power and either can kill ram, so we are looking for signs.

daza_brown

Here is the specs I know/can find out for you;

PSU: is already listed above.
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-7N400 (8x AGP) Socket A
Processor: AMD Athlon 2800+
Graphics: ATI Radeon 9800 SE 128MB DDR (AGP)
HD: Western Digital 80GB

Tumbleweed36

Actually a 400 watt supply should pull this rig if it is a decent one. I have no way of knowing what brand and that would help a lot, but what I think is that your power supply quality is causing you to burn up ram because of voltages that are not steady. One must remeber, as they age, the deteriate so that could be a problem.

Just for kicks, download and run SensorviewPro and see what you get in the way of temps and voltages for this rig. Report back with results. That will not report fluxuations, but will tell about the strength of the supply in general and that might help us.

Here is the link.

daza_brown

Thanks for all your help so far

I have include a screen shot of what the results where from the voltage test, didnt see an option to make a log so thourght this would be best way.

Voltages Picture

As can be seen in the picture there are fluctuations in some of the voltages, which one(s) effect the RAM?

Cheers

Tumbleweed36

Your +5 rail is way below specs. It is my opinion that the freezes you are seeing is from inadequate power. Do you have a friend that you can borrow a good known power supply from to test it with? When you have inadequate power anyplace, it can cause component failure in other parts of the computer. Post back with questions/concerns.