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That’s very similar if not almost the exact same memory I’m using that’s failing MemTest86, except they’re 2GB DIMMs instead of 4GB.  The specs and model appear to be identical, except for the capacity. The latency and voltage are the same as yours.

The question now is what do I do next?  I could get another pair of 1GB DIMMs, but I’d like to bump it up to at least 6GB.  I’m wondering if I should contact tech support at either Corsair or Intel or both to see what they would suggest.

I liked it so much better when you could go out and just buy another pair of DIMMs when you wanted to increase your capacity.  Memory comes in so many flavors these days that it’s extremely difficult to find some that matches your system unless you have a list of recommended DIMMs from the motherboard manufacturer.  The Intel board has no such list associated with it and I couldn’t find any specific recommendations on their website either.

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Yes.  I tried it with the two 1GB DIMMs in DIMM slots 0 (the blue slots) and the 2GB DIMMs in DIMM slots 1 (the black slots).  I’ve also tried it with them switched to the opposing slots.

Mike – since you’ve tested this board firsthand, which SDRAMs did you use?

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Now I’m stumped.  As I previously indicated, I ran MemTest86 on the two 2GB SDRAMs and it failed.  I returned the DIMMs to Newegg and ordered another set of the exact same memory sticks.  They were kind enought o revise my RMA request to a refund instead of replacement DIMMs.  I received them today and installed them as before.  Before starting up Media Center I decided to run MemTest86 first to make sure the new memory was good.

To my surprise, the memory failed the test again and caused the PC to reboot at exactly the same spot (Test 0, 28% complete).  I swapped positions between the 2GB sticks and the 1GB sticks with the same result (i.e., DIMM channels 0 and 1).  I ran the test again with just the two 4GB sticks and it failed at 40% of Test 0.  I then tried it using a three DIMM configuration (two 1GB sticks in DIMM slots 0 and one 2GB stick in channel A of DIMM slot 1).  I got the same result as with the two 2GB sticks (failure at 40% of Test 0).  For some reason this motherboard does not like the 2GB SDRAMs even though they appear to meet the required specs. 

I’m not sure what to do with this now.  Is the problem with the memory or could it be the motherboard?  There’s a good chance that the 2GB sticks are fine but simply not compatible with this board.  I’m not sure how Newegg is going to feel about me returning DIMMs that may otherwise test perfectly good.  It’s just too coincidental to have two identical pairs of DIMMs test bad in exactly the same way.

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The Noctua cooler is nice but it does take up a lot of room.  I picked it mainly because it was highly rated at silentpcreview.com.  It was also the only top rated cooler that wasn’t as tall as a skyscraper.

Reseating the memory didn’t appear to help, although subsequent errors never produced the three beeps indicative of a memory failure.  Instead, the PC either simply locked up or it shut down with no error indications at all.

I decided to give MemTest86 a try and it showed that the 2x2GB DIMMs were definitely the culprit.  The test hung when I tried to run it with all 6GB installed.  I then tried it with just the two 2GB sticks and it caused the PC to reboot after just a few seconds into the first test.  Repeated attempts yielded the same result.  The two 1GB DIMMs tested perfectly after three complete passes.

I’ve already RMA’d the 2x2GB DIMMs back to Newegg.  I originally asked for replacements but then I discovered that the same DIMMs are now on sale with free shipping and a $10 rebate.  I’m hoping my revised request to Newegg to change to a refund instead of replacement DIMMs is honored.  Besides, I would have probably bought a new pair regardless of the price because the turnaround time for replacements could take weeks whereas I can get them overnight with a new order.

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I’m using Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333 dual channel SDRAM (2x2GB and 2x1GB, models TW3X4G1333C9A G and TW3X2G1333C9A G, respectively).  They’re both rated at 1.5V.

I just uninstalled the Sapphire graphics card to allow for better cooling between the CPU and the Ceton card.  I only installed it because the output of the Intel HD graphics resulted in severe overscan.  I have since found out that I can adjust it to fit the display.

I generally prefer full-sized ATX boards because it allows me to spread out the components for better air flow.  I’m using a Noctua NH-C12P cooler for the CPU and it’s huge.  I had to go with a low-profile cooler due to the height of my Silverstone case.

I was using the Windows memory checker but I’ll give MemTest86 a try and see if it tells me anything new.

 

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Ditto for me.  I always checked the unread posts since my last visit and using the link at the top made it easy.  On the plus side, not having the link forced me to look at areas of the site I rarely visited in the past.  Now I’ve just got to find time to read through it all.

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I’ve been trying to get my family used to the idea of Windows Media Center with extenders.  My wife is resistant to anything technological so I succumbed and let her keep her cable box in the bedroom.  The thing is, she has a standard def box on a 32″ HDTV and she could care less that it’s not in HD.  I think a lot of people fall into this category and just want to watch TV regardless of how good it looks.  How else can you explain why so many people will gladly watch TV on a 3″ portable device screen?

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I’ve been trying to get my family used to the idea of Windows Media Center with extenders.  My wife is resistant to anything technological so I succumbed and let her keep her cable box in the bedroom.  The thing is, she has a standard def box on a 32″ HDTV and she could care less that it’s not in HD.  I think a lot of people fall into this category and just want to watch TV regardless of how good it looks.  How else can you explain why so many people will gladly watch TV on a 3″ portable device screen?

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If the average household is around 3-4 people, 9.25 hours a day isn’t really out of line.  If you figure most people watch prime time TV between the hours of 8 and 11 and everyone has their own TV, I could see how that amount could easily be met or exceeded.  My wife has Fox news on all day long so she probably hits that number all on her own.  I know lots of people that leave the TV on all the time even though they’re primarily using it for background noise with little actual viewing time.

I get up early and watch a 1-hour show before leaving for work while eating my breakfast.  I watch another 1-hour show when I come home for lunch (I’m only 5 minutes from my office).  When I get home I’m probably good for at least another 3-4 hours of programming with breaks in between to see what’s happening at the missingremote and other forums.  Keep in mind that I record everything and skip the commercials so you can knock 30-35% of the total hours off my actual viewing time.

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If the average household is around 3-4 people, 9.25 hours a day isn’t really out of line.  If you figure most people watch prime time TV between the hours of 8 and 11 and everyone has their own TV, I could see how that amount could easily be met or exceeded.  My wife has Fox news on all day long so she probably hits that number all on her own.  I know lots of people that leave the TV on all the time even though they’re primarily using it for background noise with little actual viewing time.

I get up early and watch a 1-hour show before leaving for work while eating my breakfast.  I watch another 1-hour show when I come home for lunch (I’m only 5 minutes from my office).  When I get home I’m probably good for at least another 3-4 hours of programming with breaks in between to see what’s happening at the missingremote and other forums.  Keep in mind that I record everything and skip the commercials so you can knock 30-35% of the total hours off my actual viewing time.

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I’ve got three Linksys DMA2200’s and got hit by this over the weekend.  I checked The Green Button forums and found the topmost thread in the extender forum was the one discussing this very issue.  After a bit of reading therough the thread it became apparent that I had to assign a static IP address to each extender and change the DNS address to something bogus.  Once I did that I got all three extenders back up and running.

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I’ve got three Linksys DMA2200’s and got hit by this over the weekend.  I checked The Green Button forums and found the topmost thread in the extender forum was the one discussing this very issue.  After a bit of reading therough the thread it became apparent that I had to assign a static IP address to each extender and change the DNS address to something bogus.  Once I did that I got all three extenders back up and running.

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I know everyone gripes about their cable bills but I can’t really fault the providers for raising prices.  People keep demanding more and more content so the providers try and oblige.  Content costs money and their providers keep raising their prices.  Since we all know all costs are passed along to the consumer we get stuck paying the bill.  Cablecos also have to keep updating their infrastructure to keep up with the demand for more bandwidth so on and on it goes. 

Cable rate hikes are in the same category as death and taxes.  They’re all something you can count on.  That being said, I’m on the verge of dropping HBO.  Verizon charges me about $23 per month for just HBO, even though I get every HBO channel in existence.  With NetFlix I don’t need all the movies.  I only watch HBO for their regular series, which amounts to only a few shows per week.

I’d love to see providers offer their services a la carte instead of bundled in packages with a hundred channels I’ll never watch.  Aside from my locals, I only watch a handful of channels on cable.  My wife likes other channels so the total count is a bit higher between the two of us.

I’ve been able to reduce my monthly costs a bit after getting my Ceton InfiniTV 4.  I no longer pay monthly equipment rental fees except for a few CableCARDs.  It does tick me off that in order to get FxHD I have to get the HD Xtreme package or whatever they’re calling it now for an additional monthly fee.

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I know everyone gripes about their cable bills but I can’t really fault the providers for raising prices.  People keep demanding more and more content so the providers try and oblige.  Content costs money and their providers keep raising their prices.  Since we all know all costs are passed along to the consumer we get stuck paying the bill.  Cablecos also have to keep updating their infrastructure to keep up with the demand for more bandwidth so on and on it goes. 

Cable rate hikes are in the same category as death and taxes.  They’re all something you can count on.  That being said, I’m on the verge of dropping HBO.  Verizon charges me about $23 per month for just HBO, even though I get every HBO channel in existence.  With NetFlix I don’t need all the movies.  I only watch HBO for their regular series, which amounts to only a few shows per week.

I’d love to see providers offer their services a la carte instead of bundled in packages with a hundred channels I’ll never watch.  Aside from my locals, I only watch a handful of channels on cable.  My wife likes other channels so the total count is a bit higher between the two of us.

I’ve been able to reduce my monthly costs a bit after getting my Ceton InfiniTV 4.  I no longer pay monthly equipment rental fees except for a few CableCARDs.  It does tick me off that in order to get FxHD I have to get the HD Xtreme package or whatever they’re calling it now for an additional monthly fee.

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Watchin’ it in HD on FIOS via my Ceton InfiniTV 4 and lovin’ it. ;D

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