briax999

Hello. I recently got a old P4 to be used by mom:

Mobo: ECS P4vmm2 version 1.0
Processor Pentium 4 1.6 ghz
Video Card: built-in
Sound Card: built-in
Ram: PIQ ddr 266mhz 256mb 2v
Hard Disk: 2hdisk: 40 gig matrox and 30 gig matrox
and 1 CD-rom

My Mobo has 2 ddr slots and 2 sdram slots. I checked the jumpers and they are well set to ddr, not sdram.

So i got 2 identical 512mb Samsung ddr 266mhz 2.5volts of ram (1gig of ram total) and replaced the old PIQ ddr ram and booted it up.

Windows loaded, everything at startup was ok. The problem appeared when Explorer started crashing. So i went ahead and memtested it. The results were 10+ errors: "####### could not store data accurately".

Suspecting it might be one of the new Samsung ram's, i took them out. Popped them back in one at a time and memtested each for 40 mins on the same one slot. No errors came about.

So i suspected it might be the second ddr slot, so I went to test it with the 2 samsung rams for 40 mins each again and no errors came about.

I checked my bios but only the options for the sdram were available. Switched the voltage option to 2 volts instead of 2.5. Memtested it, surprisingly errors weren't so much frequent but were still present.

Desperate.... formated the computer thinking windows wasn't just used to the new ram settings. Boom, did the same test above and same results.

So it might be the bios needs some updating... boom!..bios isnt available for my mobo p4vmm2 pcb version 1.0. They only have update p4vmm2 pcb version 1.1 above. (If anyone has new bios update for version 1 please link thanks)

so here i am out of ideas, please helpppp.......................................

briax999

problem might be solved...

so i went back to the store and they replaced it with 2 x 333mhz 512mb samsung rams.

memstested it for 20 mins and everything was ok...weird.

i'll have to memtest it overnight just to be sure.

i'm posting for those who might encounter this problem.

wrench97

Sounds like the ram wasn't compatible with your motherboard.

briax999

bad news. i memtested it overnight, there was one error.

wrench97, could it be the powersupply? The computer came in with 300 watts power supply. I read somwhere that P4's need atleast 350v. Could one memory stick offset everything?

wrench97

For integrated video it should be fine, if you still have the voltage set to 2v set it up to the voltage the sticks you currently have are rated for and retest.

briax999

Thanks for the reply wrench97.

Yup. when I memtested it overnight, its was set to the correct voltage according to the ram's sticker, 2.5. I'll try to memtest it over night again with 2v later.

There was this one guy who had the same problem in another forum. He had another kind of mobo though. Someone suggested to him that it was a OS problem. Pre-XP Windows like windows 98se on P4 mobo's cant handle ram's above 512mb well.

He had a link for a fix for this but its for windows 98 ME. I wonder if its applicable to XP?

here is the link: http://www.mysuperpc.com/pmu/out_of_memory.shtml
(sorry can i post links here?)

briax999

my bad, i found another site that says the memory 512mb bottleneck only applies to pre-xp.

wrench97

Leave the ram at 2.5v, see how it runs in windows you may be alright.

briax999

wrench97, my bad again...

What I thought I was adjusting was the voltage, was actually the CL speed. Sorry...

My question is overnight I change my mobo settings to run it at CL 2 instead of CL 2.5 which is the spec on the ram. It was stable in memtest. Is it safe to run it on 2 which isnt the ram's spec? Or should i go change it to ram's with CL 2 specs

I'm guessing my mobo's more compatible with ram's with CL 2.

wrench97

Usually the higher number(slower timing) is more stable.

If it tested good at 2 leave it, it won't hurt anything.

briax999

thanks!