Groovy Posted June 19, 2001 Share Posted June 19, 2001 Hello! :confused: I just added another 256 of RAM to my system (Man, WW2OL eats it up!) and, now, Combat Mission crashes to a BSOD within a few minutes of starting up, then reboots. If I pull it back out, CM will work okay. I haven't had any other crashing issues with any other software. Any ideas? I have: AMD 1333 Asus A7M266 Motherboard 2100 DDR memory (2 256 Dimms) Elsa Gladiac 920 (GeForce3) Having that text problem, too, and gosh it's irritating. Read the posts on that one, though. Thanks! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 19, 2001 Share Posted June 19, 2001 What OS are you running ? Do you have any further details on your BSOD ? What brand is the memory and does it match the same specs (and possibly brand) as the first DIMM ? There's a possibility that your new DIMM isn't fully compatible with your system. I'm not sure if other programs are loading up into the memory space provided by your new DIMM like CM may be doing. You may want to examine your DIMM slot and make sure there isn't any debris of any sort in the contacts. Do the same for the DIMM's contacts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovy Posted June 19, 2001 Author Share Posted June 19, 2001 I'm running Windows 2000. Both mem modules are Crucial non registered non ECC 2.5 clock 2100 DDR Ram. (One I purchased originally with the MB, the other just a couple weeks ago.) The error is some sort of Page fault - I'll recreate it tonight, and write it down. I'll check the contacts, etc., but it's strange this error seems to only happen with CM. (At least so far! I'll try to create it elsewhere.) (I have SP2 installed, and have updated my MB bios to current.) Thanks! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Page Faults are definitely memory errors (or errors with swap memory - probably not the case here). It's strange that CM is the only program to bring up this problem. I run a system with 512Mb in it and CM has no problems, so it isn't a case of having too much memory and CM having a problem with that. Was the computer physically unplugged from from power when you added the second DIMM ? If not it is possible that it got damaged since PCI 2.1+ specs allow for power to be on the PCI bus even when the system is shutdown (for "power-on" NICs & modems). Are you using "SPD" settings for your RAM or do you have manual settings enabled ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovy Posted June 20, 2001 Author Share Posted June 20, 2001 After further experimentation here's what I've tried: Crucial advised me to set my page size at 0. :confused: Didn't make sense, but I figured I'd try it, but to no avail. My crash this time was just a screen freeze, after a bing! sound. It happened very quickly, too. (Less than a minute after I started CM.) I then tried resetting my page file to 1024 (it was originally at 384.) and, though that delayed my crash to 5 minutes or so after the start, it still crashed, this time to a BSOD that had some hex code, and the phrase "Driver IRQL not less or equal." There was some other stuff, but the darn thing rebooted before I could finish reading. This problem may not be isolated to CM like I thought earlier - I tried WW2OL which crashed on me tonight, too. (Though it's hard to tell if it's my machine, or buggy WW2OL.) Well, my machine was not physically unplugged when I installed it. I have done the super long boot up that tested all the mem several times through, and that didn't catch any errors. Also, I've completed Sandra's mem benchmark. Should I find some other memory tester? Thanks for your help! Groovy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 I never know what to think of memory diagnostics. There doesn't seem to be a perfect program that is going to catch all possible problems with memory (including far more expensive testers). If you remove your new DIMM do the problems go away or do they remain ? If they go away, then swap out your old DIMM for the new one (leaving your system at 256Mb of memory) at DIMM slot 1. Do the problems reoccur or become worse ? If they go away put your old DIMM in slot 2 and see if the original problem duplicates itself. It seems like drudge work, but sometimes that is the only viable option with what you have on hand to troubleshoot a computer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovy Posted June 20, 2001 Author Share Posted June 20, 2001 Thanks for the advice! Yah, that was going to be my next test to see if I can isolate the problem to the new stick itself, or the mere fact that it's an additional stick. Hopefully, it's the new stick itself -that's an easy resolution. I'll keep posting for the record... Groovy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovy Posted June 29, 2001 Author Share Posted June 29, 2001 Okay, finally got back after vacation, and on this problem, and here's what I've found: Replacing my original DIMM with the new one, and staying at 256 megs works just fine, no crashes. Adding my older DIMM to the second slot produces the crashes again. So, clearly, the issue here is the mere fact that I'm adding a second DIMM. I've double checked, both DIMMs are the same part number from Crucial, so there shouldn't be any conflict there. However, I've since managed to confirm that this issue affects my system, not just CM. :mad: That lame initial advice from Crucial didn't fix squat, so I guess I'm just gonna keep goin' after both Crucial and ASUS to see if I can find a resolution. If anyone has advice on strategy, here, I'd appreciate it. Thanks for the help! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 Can you put in a single DIMM at the second DIMM slot only (so that there is only 256Mb of RAM, but installed at DIMM2 instead of DIMM1) ? Assuming that your computer can do this (it usually should be capable of this) it would be interesting to see if there is some sort of electrical/mechanical problem with that particular DIMM slot. If no problems occur, then there may be some BIOS settings that can be tinkered with. What is your AGP Aperture set to ? Increase (or possibly decrease) it and see if this makes any difference. In the Chip Configuration screen of the CMOS/BIOS setup you may want to experiment with the "SuperBypass" features. Assuming your DIMMs have SPD chips on them, I'd enable that feature in the BIOS too (rather than manually tuning the settings for memory). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfe Posted June 30, 2001 Share Posted June 30, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Well, my machine was not physically unplugged when I installed it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ewww. That's not good. ATX boards always have a bit of juice running around when they're plugged in because of the soft-power support. Next time, unplug that puppy. A couple of suggestions before RMAing your mem: After you've moved things around to see if that fixes things, if you still have probs, then try clearing the BIOS (should be a jumper somewhere on the motherboard). And there should also be a selection in the BIOS to "Update ESCD" (or "Reset Configuration"). If none of that works, you may have a bad DIMM. Crucial has a lifetime warranty and a good return policy (atleast the last time I checked). BTW, you can currently get a pair of 256MB SDRAM/DDR SDRAM DIMMs (512MB!) for ~$100 and free 2-day shipping. That's *INSANE*!!! - Chris [ 06-30-2001: Message edited by: Wolfe ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovy Posted July 9, 2001 Author Share Posted July 9, 2001 Issue Wrap Up (I hope!) I just went through a long weekend of formatting and re-installing, and it appears that that has fixed the CM crashes. I did also apply a bios update to my ASUS A7M266 motherboard. Although it didn't say that it was addressing memory issues, I suspect that's what fixed it. In any case either it was the bios, or the complete format and reinstall of everything. :cool: Thanks especially, Schrullenhaft, for your tech help! Jason. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soddball Posted July 9, 2001 Share Posted July 9, 2001 Just as an aside - my office PC is the new Asus 266Mhz with DDR. Running win98 with 1x256MB DIMM. It sucks. We bought it as a test bed to see whether it's worth upgrading from the A7V-133, and it isn't. Stick with the 133 is my advice. No, it isn't my installation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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