my RAM is not on the compatability list for the EP35-DS3L

M

Moocher

New Member
I bought the Patriot extreme RAM (DIMM-PDC24G6400LLK) for my GA-EP35-DS3L motherboard. I have had some problems with Dual channel memory and I think I just might have found my problem...

What happened is that whenever I tested my memory in dual channel it would always fail, but the RAM sticks would pass if I tested alone. I thought I might have a bad board but it turns out that my mobo does not support this particular RAM stick in 2gig dual-channel kit O_O ... I tried to look for any other RAM companies it supported in 2gig sticks (for Dual channel) but apart from geil and MICRON it either supports 1gig or 512 sticks.


My question is if there is any way that I can still run my 2gig sticks in Dual channel (maybe change something in the BIOS)? bc I would otherwise have to live with only 4gigs of RAM and those would occupy all my slots (instead of having 2 free for expansion)
 
Just because RAM is not on the compatability list doesn't mean it wont work it just means it wasn't tested by Gigabyte. That RAM should work fine, try increasing the vdimm by 0.1v.
 
I don't want to sound stupid...but what exactly is that? and where can I find that in the BIOS...I tried increasing the voltage to the .1 to the NB, and increasing the RAM voltage by .3 then I ram memtest. It passed the first 3 tests, but found 2 errors once it got to the 4 test. I know the RAM is good, bc I have tested it independently of my board.
 
when your system boots go into the bios. look for power settings (if your bios has either "advanced" or "power" areas on it, it is usually in there). What you are looking for is memory voltage and NB core voltage.

Memory voltage is always at 1.8V at default, put it to 1.9-2.0V . If your bios only allows say 1.89 and then the next one up 2.13, use 2.13V.

For NB core voltage, because you are going to have all 4 four slots filled it is best to put this up a little. NB (north bridge) core volatge increases the power going accross the northbridge. Put that to 1.4-1.5V.

If that still doesn't work, at boot up look at the top of the bios screen (don't go into bios, when the bios loads it gives information about RAM, CPU, drives etc that have been detected, that bit), it will say what bios version you are on and the revision. Make a note of this. Go to your mobo manufacturer website and check for bios updates. If you are way out of date chances are that the bios you have won't support the modern 4slot RAM configuration, so an update will be in order. If that is the case, post back for more info and i will help you out :)
 
With a gigabyte board you mean need to press Ctrl-F1 at the main menu to unlock the 'advanced' mode.
 
OK I still cant find where the NB voltage control is... or how to make the screen stay longer so I can write down the BIOS version of my board. As I speak I am running memtest...hopefully increasing my RAM voltage by .2 and my7 FSB voltage by .1 will fix my problem
 
Memtest is currently at 8% and no errors, thats better past the point where I saw errors last time... So far so good :)

I'll update again soon
 
Sadly at this point It has failed three times in test 7... not sure if you are "allowed" to fail a few and still be stable... but I will continue to watch it. please feel free to post at anytime.
 
If you are still encountering more errors you may want to raise the voltage even more or switch the memory in another motherboard and let Memtest run for several hours. The random access memory might be bad. No errors should occur when you run Memtest.
 
I used to be sure that the RAM was not bad... but now I'm not so sure. When I took it to the store for the people to test, they only tested it for a few minutes and said that they were positive the RAM was ok. I think they were wrong because I tested here at home and it took 30 minutes before I saw even 1 error... so do you guys think I should return the RAM sticks? or could I just have a bad board.

It freakin pays to stand your ground, afterall they (the store) would love to save money by saying its not a bad product...
 
Well the thing is that Im not even sure where the problem lies (mobo or RAM)

I cleared CMOS and loaded uptimized settings and memtest found errors

I upped the voltaged (2ce) on both FSB and RAM and still got the same result (allbeit later in the test)

Then finaly I changed the timings to what was on the box (4-4-4-12) and still I got errors ...

The I have just updated the BIOS and I ran memtest all to the same outcome
 
I just ran memtest for about 6 hours (13 runs through the entire program) on one of my RAM sticks and it passed without a single error... at this point I am almost certain that I have good RAM.

How can I determine if it a software problem opposed to a bad motherboard?
 
I ran memtest through with Dual channel RAM in so I could write down the errors I was getting:



Test 5: pass (0), failing address (00008c1aad8 – 140.6MB), Good(00000008), Bad(00000088), Err-Bits(00000080), Count(1)
Test 7: pass (0), failing address (0001504db44 – 336.8MB), Good(a5f28a79), Bad(a5f28a69), Err-Bits(00000010), Count(2)
Test 7: pass (0), failing address (0011dd8de6c – 4573.8MB), Good(0fab9b41), Bad(0fab9b51), Err-Bits(00000010), Count(3)

Whats does it mean?
 
Last edited:
It means an error occurred when writing/reading to those address ranges.

When you are testing your RAM individually and in pairs have you tried changing the slots they are in? It's possible you have a bad slot and that's why it's failing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top