Stability Question

Dave76 said:

Looks like your zeroing in on the cause.

Sometimes it's more than one cause.

Let the guys in Crashes & Debugging look into this further.

Yeah, hopefully. Just one question: from your experience, how much of a difference can something like too low a voltage make to stability? Could my RAM running at 1.5V actually have made the system less stable? My knowledge of hardware is very limited so I can't begin to understand...

jalebi said:

Dave76 said:

Looks like your zeroing in on the cause.

Sometimes it's more than one cause.

Let the guys in Crashes & Debugging look into this further.

Yeah, hopefully. Just one question: from your experience, how much of a difference can something like too low a voltage make to stability? Could my RAM running at 1.5V actually have made the system less stable? My knowledge of hardware is very limited so I can't begin to understand...

Certain Chipsets and Hardware expect certain values for a specific reason. It is like trying to hookup one of your devices to an AC Adapter. If you don't use the right voltage and amp setting on a universal AC adapter, you have a chance of either burning out the system or not providing enough power to the system. The same happens with the Computer system, hence you need to read more about your system or make sure you get the specific parts of your computer.

If you don't do so, you run into problems such as what you had as far as stability. Memory Timing and Voltage is due to how the board is made and also the type of memory you get. The memory is designed to work at certain timings and at a certain voltage level. Having too much voltage or the wrong timing means the memory does not return data either the proper order or at all, which causes an error and causes the OS to Blue screen because it did not get information properly and it throws up its hands going, "WTF?!?"

This is why, initially, we stated not to mess with the settings. Normally, the board would have detected the correct settings, if the ram was the right type for the board. Most people tweak those settings due to changes in the system, namely overclocking to get it to work properly. But if you are using memory that is optimized for a different chipset, the board will have some problems because the memory might be expecting one set of conditions and not another or designed to only handle certain conditions.

From experience, the rule of thumb for hardware changes or upgrades is research before buying. Know your board, know what it takes and expects. Research the parts you plan to put in or at least use memory finders from various vendors to see what memory will go with the system and if there are needs you need to do. And most importantly... Don't mix RAM. The most common and annoying mistakes a lot of users do is mix RAM manufactures within a system. The reason not to do this is that different implementations of RAM configurations have been a source of stability problems due to timing and settings. If you plan on upgrading RAM, you should consider doing a complete replacing to avoid introducing more headaches such as different manufacturer ram in your system.