PC still crashing!

OnePound

Hi

There are no messages like you describe. Heres a shot of the screen

http://s555.photobucket.com/albums/jj476/tan8856/pc2/

AirCooledHeaven

Well I was hoping for a PFN_LIST_CORRUPT message as this is a 95% indication of a RAM problem. What you have could be a memory problem, device driver conflict, or invalid registry entry. I'm assuming that the problem only started to occur once you introduced the 1GB memory, and that you haven't installed any new software or any new hardware (apart from the RAM) since or at the same time as fitting the new ram. This being the case I would remove the 1GB module and re-install the two 256K modules and see if the stability improves. Can you also post all manufacturer/part number/identification codes on the 1GB ram (not on the actual chips but on any labels).

I had exactly this problem with a PC using an A7V8X-X, it would run memtest and prime95 for hours on end without any failures, but it would crash while doing the most innocuous things, mainly surfing with internet explorer.

PeterPerfect

Things to consider:
- Reset your BIOS back to the original state, with the old memory modules. Put in the new memory, and the BIOS should recognize the change and put a message on the screen. You should then go into the BIOS and acknowledge the change and save the settings. Changing anything by hand could cause more problems.
- The failure could be a bad memory module, not fitted correctly, or even support for it through the BIOS. Check to see if there is a new BIOS version available.
- The memory address space may not be accessed correctly causing a system to fail
- Make sure you have increased your virtual memory settings with 1Gbytes
- Windows XP was only just being released 8 years ago, and 512Mbytes was the benchmark for memory required.

You will need to give the complete make and model for more information. There maybe a limiting factor on the amount of memory can be installed

OnePound

AirCooledHeaven wrote: »

Well I was hoping for a PFN_LIST_CORRUPT message as this is a 95% indication of a RAM problem. What you have could be a memory problem, device driver conflict, or invalid registry entry. I'm assuming that the problem only started to occur once you introduced the 1GB memory, and that you haven't installed any new software or any new hardware (apart from the RAM) since or at the same time as fitting the new ram. This being the case I would remove the 1GB module and re-install the two 256K modules and see if the stability improves. Can you also post all manufacturer/part number/identification codes on the 1GB ram (not on the actual chips but on any labels).

I had exactly this problem with a PC using an A7V8X-X, it would run memtest and prime95 for hours on end without any failures, but it would crash while doing the most innocuous things, mainly surfing with internet explorer.

Yes my pc was fine until I put the new 1gb in. Initially I added it to the existing 2*256 but when I encountered this problem I took the old ram out but the problem still existed. I have also tried just having the old ram back in but still have the problem.

I now have the old ram back in again.

I havent added any other hardware and the only software ive downloaded is memtest.exe but that was after the problem started.

The numbers on the 1gb chip are:

D32PB1GN
STT DDR400 1GB PC3200 64MX8
MM# RoHS

OnePound

AirCooledHeaven wrote: »

I had exactly this problem with a PC using an A7V8X-X, it would run memtest and prime95 for hours on end without any failures, but it would crash while doing the most innocuous things, mainly surfing with internet explorer.

Also, I backed up my c drive onto an external hard drive yesterday and my pc was fine for the 2 hours that process was running. As soon as the process finished my pc crashed again! Same thing as happened with memtest.

OnePound

PeterPerfect wrote: »

Things to consider:
- Reset your BIOS back to the original state, with the old memory modules. Put in the new memory, and the BIOS should recognize the change and put a message on the screen. You should then go into the BIOS and acknowledge the change and save the settings. Changing anything by hand could cause more problems.
- The failure could be a bad memory module, not fitted correctly, or even support for it through the BIOS. Check to see if there is a new BIOS version available.
- The memory address space may not be accessed correctly causing a system to fail
- Make sure you have increased your virtual memory settings with 1Gbytes
- Windows XP was only just being released 8 years ago, and 512Mbytes was the benchmark for memory required.

You will need to give the complete make and model for more information. There maybe a limiting factor on the amount of memory can be installed

I have put the old modules back in and will reset the bios next time it crashes (any minute now im sure!)

Initially I just opened up my pc and put the new ram in the remaining slot. I didnt know i had to make changes in the bios and there were no prompts of any kind. Windows seemed to load fine and was visibly faster but then started crashing and here we are.

My pc is mesh amd athlon xp 2400+ 2.00 ghz 512 ram
mobo is asus A7V8X via kt400 chipset ddr400

There are limits on what ram i can put in eg pc3200 only has 1 dimm support. there are very limited recommendations on what specific ram i can use (eg brand) with the max being 512 however the manual says it can carry max 3gb ram and that 1gb can be loaded, it just doesnt recommend any.

PeterPerfect

The BIOS will recognize any hardware changes and thus update the information. It is worth going into the BIOS to check that the memory has been recognized correctly. If this looks ok, then it sounds more likely that XP is the cause. As you mentioned above, the system crashed after a backup. Does the event logs show any indication of application/process failure? Have you enough virtual memory set?

AirCooledHeaven

OnePound wrote: »

Yes my pc was fine until I put the new 1gb in. Initially I added it to the existing 2*256 but when I encountered this problem I took the old ram out but the problem still existed. I have also tried just having the old ram back in but still have the problem.

I now have the old ram back in again.

I havent added any other hardware and the only software ive downloaded is memtest.exe but that was after the problem started.

The numbers on the 1gb chip are:

D32PB1GN
STT DDR400 1GB PC3200 64MX8
MM# RoHS

The fact it is still crashing with the old 256 memory sticks in is a bit worrying. I would go into the bios and find the option to 'load default values' and then reboot.

old_codger1

OnePound wrote: »

Initially I just opened up my pc and put the new ram in the remaining slot. I didnt know i had to make changes in the bios and there were no prompts of any kind. Windows seemed to load fine and was visibly faster but then started crashing and here we are.

Just as a mater of interest, (and apologies if you've already said this and I've missed it), but you did disconnect the PC from the power cable beore you started fidling inside the machine, did you? The alternative is to switch off the on/off switch that's on the back of the power supply but I prefer the old fashioned version myself

OnePound

old_codger1 wrote: »

Just as a mater of interest, (and apologies if you've already said this and I've missed it), but you did disconnect the PC from the power cable beore you started fidling inside the machine, did you? The alternative is to switch off the on/off switch that's on the back of the power supply but I prefer the old fashioned version myself

I always switch everything off including at the socket on the wall! I dont fancy being fried to a crisp :eek: