Ram or mobo problem?

[speedlever]

Typing this on my iPad so apologies for any autocorrect errors that I don't catch. This is much more difficult than using any of my PCs.

Running W7/64 on a home brew system built early 2007.
Asus P5B-E with latest BIOS
Intel e6600
2x1Gb sticks of Corsair cm2x1024-6400c4
2x2Gb sticks of AData DQVE1B16
5-5-5-18
Corsair HX520 psu
Intel x25m 80Gb SSD
Various sata hd's

I've tried to keep all drivers updated. Computer has run fine but had a recent bsod of the IRQL not less or equal variety. Updated a few drivers and all has been well except for some odd 15-25 second irregular hangs of Firefox and occasionally Chrome which may have developed after updates to Firefox 6.

I ran the win7 memory diag and it reported hardware (not specific) problems. I d/l memtest86 v4.2, burned it to a CD and began running tests. Thus far i've found all 4 sticks to fail individually in the A dimm slots 1 and 2 (yellow and black). All fail on test 6 at various times, one stick not failing until passes 4 and 6.

I'm currently testing the B dimm slots 3 and 4 (yellow and black). I just saw a fail on pass 3 with test 7 on AData stick 1 in slot 3 as I type this.

How can I determine if I have memory or mobo problems, based on what I'm seeing? The test results seem to indicate mobo failure. Or do they?

I'm not sure there's any point to continuing memtest86 any further.

Any suggestions?

Secondary question... And very basic.
RAM should match up in the colored slots, right? IE, put Corsair sticks in yellow slots and AData sticks in black slots, or viceversa.

I've always found the mobo user guide confusing about this as it describes Channel A as Dimm A1(yellow) and Dimm A2(black), and Channel B as Dimm B1(yellow) and Dimm B2(black).

Note B in the UG says the mobo supports one pair of modules inserted into either Channel A or Channel B as one pair of dual-channel memory configuration. This sounds like the Corsair memory should be in the A slots (yellow and black) rather than matching color slots in DimmA and DimmB.

Did I misread the UG or have I misunderstood how dual-channel works?

 

[seavixen32]

I'm no expert on RAM, but I would have thought that if all the sticks are failing in different slots, then it certainly would point to a motherboard problem.

I notice that you have using RAM from different manufacturers. Are the specifications for each stick the same?

As for the coloured slots, I too am under the impression that matching pairs of RAM sticks should go in the same coloured slots.

 

[speedlever]

I just confirmed the ram vs channel/color issue. The UG is too confusing. I get single channel ops with the ram all in channel A. I get dual channel ops with the ram in the same colored slots. That ends that ambiguity.

In frustration, I plugged all my ram back into the mobo and am now using my mainPC. I don't know how I can run with all the errors I was getting, and yet here I am.

I don't know the timings on the AData ram. The Corsair is printed on each stick 4-4-4-12. So I figure running at 5-5-5-18 should be reasonably safe.

Checking my old order at Newegg (3+ years ago) it links me to a product with 5-5-5-18 timings. Newgg says it's the same memory module number, so I assume it's the same.