Are there any tech support people here?

[DUMBARRANGER56]

try pulling out anything unessential like any USB devices and extra PCI cards and remove all sticks of RAM leaving only one

OK - so far no problems with 1 stick of RAM (2 GB) but I can't run my programs on less than 8. I guess we will figure out that later.

I have attached the SIW file and ran Windows 7 upgrade adviser - it said everything was fine. I am going to reattach the other hard drives, one at a time and see if they all meet the requirements. THEN I guess I can add RAM one stick at a time. Hopefully I will hear from you guys by then

Have you tried to have only 4 gig in ? Some Mobo will not like having 8 gig, specially if you are connected with a 4-pin mobo header.

What kind of program do you have that require more than 4 gig anyway ? Unless you do profesionnal video editing or heavy graphics programming you should not need 8 gig.

My MOBO can take up to 16 GB of RAM, whichis why I bought it and went with a 64 bit Windows. I do professional film scoring with sampled instruments, 4 GB does not vut it. I was actually planning on buying 2 4 GB sticks in the near future and going up to 12 GB, then, eventually, 16.

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

My 2¢...

Try boosting your MCH Core (in BIOS) from 1.100V to 1.160V. Sometimes Gigabyte MBs don't handle 8gigs of RAM and Windows 7 together well at all... perhaps the way 7 uses RAM is different than XP.

I have a Gigabyte MB too, and I couldn't leave the MCH Core on auto... I'd get BSODs all day.

Thanks - I will try that. I had a Gigabyte MOBO that went bad - whicvhis why I bought this one - and I had 8 GB on the last Giabyte board and had no problems at all. I think one of the RAM modules may have gone bad OR - maybe there is a bad RAM socket on the MOBO?

 

[ickymay]

My 2¢...

Try boosting your MCH Core (in BIOS) from 1.100V to 1.160V. Sometimes Gigabyte MBs don't handle 8gigs of RAM and Windows 7 together well at all... perhaps the way 7 uses RAM is different than XP.

I have a Gigabyte MB too, and I couldn't leave the MCH Core on auto... I'd get BSODs all day.

Thanks - I will try that. I had a Gigabyte MOBO that went bad - whicvhis why I bought this one - and I had 8 GB on the last Giabyte board and had no problems at all. I think one of the RAM modules may have gone bad OR - maybe there is a bad RAM socket on the MOBO?

maybe you feel like your getting close to the problem , thinking it's RAM ?

for what it's worth the relationship between motherboard and ram has always at best been fragile until you find the perfect combination ?

each time you add an extra stick the timings and voltages on many motherboards can change slightly, then to quote since windows 95 Microsoft have stated about memory testing programs

Defective memory chips may not be detected by memory checking tools. Some memory checking programs are not adequate tests because they do not test RAM in the same way that Windows uses RAM. Most memory checkers use read/write cycles when scanning memory. Since Windows is executing code from memory, it uses execute cycles. Execute cycles are different from read/write cycles and are more vulnerable to parity errors. It is possible for memory checking programs to find parity errors if the memory is extremely faulty.

now that you have windows running can you run through the checks I asked for here and especially upload the html output from SIW so we can help identify exactly your RAM make and model and try help match up to your board ?

In the interim if you fancy looking for bad RAM slot or sticks I get consistent results by burning to CD (using an ISO burner) & running from boot memtest86+ for at least 5 passes and moving the sticks between slots to verify motherboard ram slots work as well as the ram sticks ?

for 4 gig and over maybe also try version 4.0 ?

 

[ManOwar2]

OK - so far no problems with 1 stick of RAM (2 GB) but I can't run my programs on less than 8. I guess we will figure out that later.

I have attached the SIW file and ran Windows 7 upgrade adviser - it said everything was fine. I am going to reattach the other hard drives, one at a time and see if they all meet the requirements. THEN I guess I can add RAM one stick at a time. Hopefully I will hear from you guys by then

Have you tried to have only 4 gig in ? Some Mobo will not like having 8 gig, specially if you are connected with a 4-pin mobo header.

What kind of program do you have that require more than 4 gig anyway ? Unless you do profesionnal video editing or heavy graphics programming you should not need 8 gig.

My MOBO can take up to 16 GB of RAM, whichis why I bought it and went with a 64 bit Windows. I do professional film scoring with sampled instruments, 4 GB does not vut it. I was actually planning on buying 2 4 GB sticks in the near future and going up to 12 GB, then, eventually, 16.

I understand but still, some mobo beyond 4 gig, even thought they support 8 or 16 for mosts, will not work wells.

You may have to follow advice given to you and try differents bios settings to make it work with 8 gig.

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

My 2¢...

Try boosting your MCH Core (in BIOS) from 1.100V to 1.160V. Sometimes Gigabyte MBs don't handle 8gigs of RAM and Windows 7 together well at all... perhaps the way 7 uses RAM is different than XP.

I have a Gigabyte MB too, and I couldn't leave the MCH Core on auto... I'd get BSODs all day.

Thanks - I will try that. I had a Gigabyte MOBO that went bad - whicvhis why I bought this one - and I had 8 GB on the last Giabyte board and had no problems at all. I think one of the RAM modules may have gone bad OR - maybe there is a bad RAM socket on the MOBO?

maybe you feel like your getting close to the problem , thinking it's RAM ?

for what it's worth the relationship between motherboard and ram has always at best been fragile until you find the perfect combination ?

each time you add an extra stick the timings and voltages on many motherboards can change slightly, then to quote since windows 95 Microsoft have stated about memory testing programs

Defective memory chips may not be detected by memory checking tools. Some memory checking programs are not adequate tests because they do not test RAM in the same way that Windows uses RAM. Most memory checkers use read/write cycles when scanning memory. Since Windows is executing code from memory, it uses execute cycles. Execute cycles are different from read/write cycles and are more vulnerable to parity errors. It is possible for memory checking programs to find parity errors if the memory is extremely faulty.

now that you have windows running can you run through the checks I asked for here and especially upload the html output from SIW so we can help identify exactly your RAM make and model and try help match up to your board ?

In the interim if you fancy looking for bad RAM slot or sticks I get consistent results by burning to CD (using an ISO burner) & running from boot memtest86+ for at least 5 passes and moving the sticks between slots to verify motherboard ram slots work as well as the ram sticks ?

for 4 gig and over maybe also try version 4.0 ?

ONCE AGAIN - I am back to confusion. I DO think we are getting somewhere with the RAM, but I am wondering what happened with the other reports I sent you? I ran SIW and sent you the HTML printout. Did you not get it?

I will send you another version of it because I have added RAM and rerun SIW, but I have to do it from the other computer. I also ran the Windows 7 compatibility and EVERYTHING passed. I will run it again now.

Now - with various RAM, RAM slot configurations - can I put any single RAM stick in any of the 4 slots and expect it to work? also since I have DDR2 - shouldn't they be installed in pairs?.

FINALLY - the last SIW had a line that read " Accuracy of DMI cannot be verified" What does that mean?

I will send the SIW soon

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

Have you tried to have only 4 gig in ? Some Mobo will not like having 8 gig, specially if you are connected with a 4-pin mobo header.

What kind of program do you have that require more than 4 gig anyway ? Unless you do profesionnal video editing or heavy graphics programming you should not need 8 gig.

My MOBO can take up to 16 GB of RAM, whichis why I bought it and went with a 64 bit Windows. I do professional film scoring with sampled instruments, 4 GB does not vut it. I was actually planning on buying 2 4 GB sticks in the near future and going up to 12 GB, then, eventually, 16.

I understand but still, some mobo beyond 4 gig, even thought they support 8 or 16 for mosts, will not work wells.

You may have to follow advice given to you and try differents bios settings to make it work with 8 gig.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I tried to run SIW and every time I tried to save to HTML, nothinghappened.

THen BAM - NO VIDEO AGAIN

what is this all about?????????????

PLEASE HELP BEFORE I GO COMPLETELY NUTS

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

Have you tried to have only 4 gig in ? Some Mobo will not like having 8 gig, specially if you are connected with a 4-pin mobo header.

What kind of program do you have that require more than 4 gig anyway ? Unless you do profesionnal video editing or heavy graphics programming you should not need 8 gig.

My MOBO can take up to 16 GB of RAM, whichis why I bought it and went with a 64 bit Windows. I do professional film scoring with sampled instruments, 4 GB does not vut it. I was actually planning on buying 2 4 GB sticks in the near future and going up to 12 GB, then, eventually, 16.

I understand but still, some mobo beyond 4 gig, even thought they support 8 or 16 for mosts, will not work wells.

You may have to follow advice given to you and try different bios settings to make it work with 8 gig.

I am attaching the SIW file. I went back to 2 GB or RAM and I do not know how long this will last.

 

[stevieray]

I assume you have 4 RAM sticks, each 2 gigs, right? Put 1 stick in the first slot... run it like that for a while (or 'till it crashes). If it doesn't crash, put that stick aside and put another stick in the second slot. Again, run it for a while. If you can get all the way through all four sticks, each in a different slot, and it runs OK, then its probably not a bad stick or a bad RAM slot. If everything checks out OK, then try raising the MCH Core voltage by a single step and put all of the RAM back in.

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

I assume you have 4 RAM sticks, each 2 gigs, right? Put 1 stick in the first slot... run it like that for a while (or 'till it crashes). If it doesn't crash, put that stick aside and put another stick in the second slot. Again, run it for a while. If you can get all the way through all four sticks, each in a different slot, and it runs OK, then its probably not a bad stick or a bad RAM slot. If everything checks out OK, then try raising the MCH Core voltage by a single step and put all of the RAM back in.

Steve

Thanks - Let me give you this info - I ran MEMTEST on all 4 (separate and 2 at a time) and there were no errors on the RAM. I will do what you suggest on testing each one in a slot.

HOWEVER - I have che3cked the BIOS and I have no way of raising the MCH Core. Can you give me a hint on that? I checked the BIOS but there was nothing there about the MCH core.

 

[stevieray]

OK, in your BIOS its called "Northbridge Volt Control". Try changing it from [Normal] to [+0.05]. If it won't accept such a small increase, try [+0.1]. You can raise the voltage up as far as 1.4V which would be [+0.3], just do it in small steps until you reach stability.

PS What type of RAM are you running?

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

I assume you have 4 RAM sticks, each 2 gigs, right? Put 1 stick in the first slot... run it like that for a while (or 'till it crashes). If it doesn't crash, put that stick aside and put another stick in the second slot. Again, run it for a while. If you can get all the way through all four sticks, each in a different slot, and it runs OK, then its probably not a bad stick or a bad RAM slot. If everything checks out OK, then try raising the MCH Core voltage by a single step and put all of the RAM back in.

Steve - I put a stick in the first slot - no problems, everything was OK. I put a different one in the second slot and it ran ok. I put a different one in the third slot - CRASH right away. I took the exact same stick and put it in the 4th slot and it is running fine (now) lets see how long it lasts.

I think it is the MOBO

 

[stevieray]

You kept asking if it could be a bad MB... looks like your gut instinct was right! How old is this new(er) MB? Can you still send it back?

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

You kept asking if it could be a bad MB... looks like your gut instinct was right! How old is this new(er) MB? Can you still send it back?

I hope I can send it back - it is only about 6 weeks old! The biggest problem is I can't seem to remember where I bought it and can't find the receipt!!! It jhas to be here somewhere

Another complexity, however. When I took my 4th stick of RAM and put it in the third slot, this one worked!! Of course, there was a slight flicker where it almost crashed, but it worked.

I have contacted Gigabyte, but I have also ordered another motherboard from another company, just to have a back up. I am losing business over this. But I may need to upgrade my RAM anyway, I want to go up to 12 or 16 GB.

Still, why would one have these problems?

 

[stevieray]

So the third slot worked, but was a little iffy? Hmmm... well, if you feel like experimenting, you could try the voltage boost and see if that settles things down.

Load one RAM stick in the first slot, fire it up and go into the BIOS and raise the Northbridge voltage. Then shut down, load the rest of the sticks, and try it out.

In the mean time, try and find that receipt. You're much better off going through the retailer rather than trying to RMA it back to Gigabyte yourself... let the store handle it.

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

So the third slot worked, but was a little iffy? Hmmm... well, if you feel like experimenting, you could try the voltage boost and see if that settles things down.

Load one RAM stick in the first slot, fire it up and go into the BIOS and raise the Northbridge voltage. Then shut down, load the rest of the sticks, and try it out.

In the mean time, try and find that receipt. You're much better off going through the retailer rather than trying to RMA it back to Gigabyte yourself... let the store handle it.

Well, I contacted Gigabyte and I will send the board back. I may try this first, but. like I said, I already bought another mobo. I can't take weeks trying to get this one to work. If it is this difficult with 8 GB, what willhappen when I strt putting in 4 GB sticks???

I will let you know if this tweak helps - I do very much appreciate your help. If Gigabyte sends me back the mobo fixed, I will make another computer out of it - I certainly have enough equipment parts!!!!

 

[stevieray]

Let us know how everything turns out!

 

[ManOwar2]

Hope this will fix your issue.

Mobo problem are usually the most boring one since you end up having to dismantle your whole system. I'm sure it will fix your problem from what I have read since my last post on this thread.

 

[DUMBARRANGER56]

Let us know how everything turns out!

WELL - new MOBO - same problems. So, is it the CPU? Is it the Power supply?

I am taking it in to the shop - I give up. If I keep replacing things, it will cost me more than a new comp! It has been frustrating, however - I do not like to allow things to beat me!


In any event - thanks for your help

 

[ManOwar2]

Then I would likely suspect the RAM even in the case it would not fail a memtest. ram-mobo compatiblity issue ? I doubt your cpu is in cause.

Your PSU however, is something you must not neglect.

What is your PSU model and how much ampere can it deliver and is it single rail ?

 

[ickymay]

I am attaching the SIW file.

where is this html file ?