Hey all,

Just build myself a new system with the following specs:
1x Asus Maximus Formula Special Ed (x38 - C2 - FSB1600 - DDR2)
1x Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0 Ghz 4 Mb L2
4x Corsair TwinX DDR2 800 - 1012MB - (XMS2-6400)
1x Aopen DVD writer IDE 20x
2x Samsung 500GB SATA II
1x MSI nVidia 8800 GTX 768Mb DDR3
1x Zalman PSU 600 watt (ZM600-hp)
1x Windows Vista Ultimate x64

Unfortunately I keep getting BSOD. My first thought was to run memtest but I hesitate because I believe it doesn't support my chipset (yet).

Can I run memtest on a intel x38 chipset mobo?
Are there people here who have done this? Just want to be sure I don't make things worse...

Anyhow, I've included 5 minidumps in a zip file. Anyone care to comment?
Seems to me they are all related to illegal r/w memory actions. Accept for 1 (driver issue?).

thx

[edit]Forgot to mention I get regular CRC errors during setups, zip/rar...[/edit]

Attached Files

minidumps.zip (86.6 KB, 2 views)

Welcome miscreant,
you have quite a system... I suspect the your memory settings are not correct. Getting CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Checks) is NEVER good! Carefully check the memory's voltage and timing settings and match the bios settings to the memory. Are you running default bios timings?

Thx for your response and making me feel welcome. I discovered this place because of the problems i currently have. The topics make a guy like me feel right at home

Yup, i'm using default settings (auto detect).
I just checked and the auto detect settings seem to be wrong. Latency settings should be 5-5-5-12 they were 5-5-5-15 (in bios) and 5-5-5-18 (memset - windows) and T1 instead of T2.
Haven't checked the voltage yet, should be 1.9 for my modules.

I've run memtest with (some trepedation and) the auto detect settings. This showed errors during test# 5,6 and 7. I don't know how to interpret these, but i'm sure i'll find some answers on the board.

Should i try again with manual settings for my RAM?
Shouldn't my motherboard detect the correct RAM settings from the SPD chip on the DIMM's?

So frustrating to buy a new system and start troubleshooting from day 1

"I've run memtest with (some trepedation and) the auto detect settings. This showed errors during test# 5,6 and 7. I don't know how to interpret these, but i'm sure i'll find some answers on the board"...

Any errors here mean trouble

"Should i try again with manual settings for my RAM?
Shouldn't my motherboard detect the correct RAM settings from the SPD chip on the DIMM's?

Yes, but go slow. One change at a time. Yes normally the motherboard does detect the speed of the RAM. At default settings, if errors are noted, I replace the RAM first...

I have similar Corsair RAM in my system, but only 2 512MB 800MHz modules, not 4

I've tweaked all settings and ran memtest every time i changed something. Things did go better (only errors during test 5)

Started testing per module. Never had an error.
Started testing per pair. With 2 modules - never an error.

Never tested 3 module's.

Seems that 4 dimm's just doesn't work. Maybe i could try to underclock but i don't want to.

I'll go back to the shop, tell them to find a solution. Other DIMM's - other motherboard.

My hope is that this Maximus Formula is defect and that it can be fixed by replacing it. Don't really want to change a thing concerning my hardware.

(Btw, you were right, voltage for memory was to low. - Even after setting to correct 1.9V i still had errors)