Memory testing

[Loose rivets]

Following the upgrade of 512 m of Kingston DDR 400 pc3200 to my AMD based HP 3400+
(which had pc2700 DDR SDRAM) I am getting repeated crashes. today l lost quite a lot of work.

I gather that the faster memory is okay, but will run at the slower speed of the orgional.

Any reasonably quick way to check the memory? I looked at MS site and it would be easier to do build a new computer than go through that lot.

Cheers

LR

[Tarq57]

Try this site. I've found it quite useful for configuration issues, setting startup lists etc, and it reports actual CPU and RAM. You can test anonymously or register (free). Wouldn't bother with the driver detective, though. http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/pitstop.asp

[maxell]

Try a google for Memtest86 or Memtest86+

[Lost_luggage34]

I second Maxell's answer. Memtest 86+ finds problems that other tests do not !

[Mac the Knife]

Getting memory timings right is a bit of a black art these days, particularly if you're overclocking. Serious errors make Windows barf quite quickly, either on boot or when faced with a reasonably complex app.

More subtle timing issues may only show up occasionally, with a core dump or application crash.

I make sure that any systems I set up can run Memtest86 without hiccoughs for at least 6 hrs.

Can't remember when I last had a blue screen. I don't like MS business practices or attitude, but XP Pro, properly set up and with a little care and feeding, is very stable.

So is Linux....

[Loose rivets]

Thanks for that, I was just off to Circuit city, but will give it 86+ a run first. LR

[Mac the Knife]

I suspect that the memory timings in your BIOS setup are incorrect.

Google for "memory timings"

Here are some links for you:

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=12017

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...AMD/memory/131

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=873

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=2019

Getting these timings correct is one of the keys to a stable system. All too often crashes are blamed on the OS or the application when it isn't that at all.

[Loose rivets]

Thanks again. I did chage the mem, but also found rather a lot of stuff with Adaware. it was bad timing on my part (no pun etc) cos it has clouded the diags.

One thing with 86+ is that some seems to be AMD specific, and none of it seems to load anyway. I'm going to have to devote time to more serious things than JB thread!