A few years ago, I helped a couple friends build home computers. Both were Athlon64 X2 machines and they performed well. Last year, I put together a system using an XFX Micro-ATX 680i 7150. Initially, I had a 2.8GHz Pentium D LGA-775 and 4GB of DDR2-800 and an 8800GT. The problem with the setup was that it was only capable of single channel memory. Over several months, I worked on an upgrade process of several new parts. First was a Q9400 2.66GHz Core 2 Quad. Next, I picked up a Gigabyte EP45T-UD3LR and two 2GB Crucial Ballistix red Tracers, DDR3-12800 (1600MHz). In hindsight, I probably should not have gone with this combination. Yesterday, I got my Antec TruePower New 750w PSU and the Cooler Master V8, and started putting it all together.
Using the manual as a guide, I placed the two memory modules in slots 1 and 3 and turned on the system. I entered the BIOS and began looking around, but within a few seconds, the lights on my Razer keyboard and mouse went out and the BIOS clock stopped ticking. The lights on the memory modules were still cycling, so I thought WTH? I shut the machine off, waited a few seconds and turned it back on. Back into the BIOS and it did mostly the same thing. I had time enough to set the first boot device, disable the parallel port and enable USB support before it locked up, so nothing got saved. This went on a couple more times before I tried loading failsafe defaults, then optimal defaults. Sometimes, I would get a little more time out of it, but never more than a few minutes. I dug out a PS/2 keyboard and started using it instead. When the computer freezes, the lights on the keyboard begin blinking on and off.
After numerous attempts, and much cursing, I managed to get the system pseudo-stable running with a single stick of memory (either stick of memory). Using optimal defaults, where the memory is discovered as 1333MHz with 9-9-9-24 timings at 1.500V, I can boot from CD, install and configure Ubuntu. Individually, the memory modules will run Memtest86+ for 6 - 7 hours and never throw any errors, but together, whether they're set up for single channel or dual channel, they will either throw errors or lock up within a minute.
I posted this to Crucial's forum:
I started acquiring parts about a month ago and started setting everything up today after my power supply (Antec TruePower New 750w) came in. I'm facing continual crashes. My configuration is a Gigabyte EP45T-UD3LR with a Core 2 Quad Q9400 and 4GB of Ballistix Tracer (BL2KIT25664TR1608). When I turned it on for the fist time, I entered the bios and after just a few seconds, the lights on my USB keyboard and mouse went out and the system apparently froze. The clock in the bios stopped ticking but the lights on the memory sticks continued to cycle. Per directions on the mobo, the memory was placed in slots 1 and 3, thereby activating dual channel. I tried loading failsafe defaults and also loading optimal defaults, but the computer still freezes within a seconds after post. I plugged in a PS/2 keyboard as I've had problems with USB on other systems, and disconnected all SATA devices, disconnected network, unplugged sound, essentially getting rid of anything not essential to booting. The next time it locked up on me, I noticed that while the lights on the USB had been failing, the lights on the PS/2 keyboard were now blinking on and off. Doing some forum hunting, I found extremely similar issues with other models of Gigabyte boards. Using they're attempts, I set CPU Host Clock Control specifically to 333 instead of Auto and Performance Enhance to Standard instead of the default of Extreme. Although the memory was being detected as 9-9-9-24, I set these specifically instead of leaving them as Auto. MCH Core, which I read was the Northbridge voltage, was set to 1.100V. Per suggestions, I tried raising this to 1.200V and for the moment, didn't change the DRAM voltage, detected as 1.5V. When the system starts up, I do get further, but it normally freezes while trying to boot from the Ubuntu 9.10 live CD. As a hunch, I moved the second memory module from slot 3 to slot 2, effectively forcing the system into single channel mode. It works better, as I can get fully loaded into Ubuntu but after several minutes, it still usually freezes. The next time I restarted, I launched memtest86 and let it dig through the 4GB of configured memory and it started reporting errors after about 10 minutes. I tried adjusting memory timings to what the memory is rated for, 8-8-8-24 at 1.64V as 1.65V isn't an option (1.64V or 1.66V), but when I save and exit, I get continual short beeps, indicating a power issue. The next time it went back into the bios, it told me that there was an overclocking issue and set the values back to what they had been previously. I shut down and removed the second stick of memory entirely, booted from CD and launched Memtest86 again. This time around, I'm now 32 minutes into testing and so far, no errors reported from the single stick of memory. If it still has not errored out after an hour, I'm going to shut down and repeat the tests on the other stick.
It's my own fault for buying memory that was not on Gigabyte's spec sheet, but I bought the memory that I wanted, that was within the parameters listed by Gigabyte. I would really love to be able to keep the components I've bought, and eventually take the board up to 8GB, but so far, it doesn't look promising.
Help, please?
Can anyone help me sort this out? My intention is to populate the system with 8GB of memory, hopefully at the 1600MHz the memory is rated for, but so far, I have my doubts and the Gigabyte motherboard has me extremely put off.
