Prob will Dell Dimension XPS Gen 3 & 1gig crucial ballistix ram upgrade?

lewis_johnstone · Oct 26, 2005, 06:59 AM

Hi,

About 6 months or so back, i upgraded my pc to 2gig ram by purchasing 1 gig crucial ballistix pc-4200 dual channel ddr2 ram.

My pc has been running perfectly fine, until BAM today i came back to my already running pc to see the dreaded 'BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH'?

Saying something like "Windows has experienced a prob. and has shutdown to avoid further damage. If this is the first time u have seen this error please reboot your pc"

I Rebooted to see a 'black screen', with a single line of text "R423 XT 133-A31994-104 BR#7694 A12 DDR3 BIOS Rel9.3.1.18"

THERE ARE SYSTEM CHECK LIGHTS ON BACK OF PC FOR TROUBLESHOOTING, and "2 yellow + 2 green" was showing up = memory problem (according to manual)

I removed the 1gig of crucial ballistix and PC BOOTED UP JUST FINE!?!?!?!?!????

swimtech · Oct 26, 2005, 07:15 AM

Check the condition again - confirm the repeatability of the failure - put the suspect defective 1G DDR Ram back in and see if the failure recurrs - and swap memory slots. Then, take it out again - boots OK now? If it does, your done - call Crucial for your replacement ram.

lewis_johnstone · Oct 26, 2005, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swimtech

Check the condition again - confirm the repeatability of the failure - put the suspect defective 1G DDR Ram back in and see if the failure recurrs - and swap memory slots. Then, take it out again - boots OK now? If it does, your done - call Crucial for your replacement ram.

I got a problem there, for some reason this is the 1 computer component i got that i dont still have packaging or reciept for...

[I'm sure i recall the ram arriving from crucial without a reciept, really wierd]

This ballistix ram has a lifetime warranty too aparrently. Cant find it either.

I just gotta pray that it works when i put it back in, cant think what could have brought on this problem

swimtech · Oct 26, 2005, 08:30 AM

Are both your ram sticks the same, or different?

BTW, on the warranty with the Crucial stick(s) - I wouldn't worry about the receipt - just call them if that comes to pass. All Crucial memory has a lifetime warranty...

If you are trying to run two different ram sticks in dual channel mode, you could get errors.

lewis_johnstone · Oct 26, 2005, 08:38 AM

The 1gig crucial ballistix comes in x2 512mb sticks. Which i installed as pairs [dual channel]

Originally there was just 1gig ddr2 pc-4200 Samsung/dell ram installed, again x2 512MB. They are installed in pairs. [dual channel]

So all 4 slots were taken up. Obviously right now it's just the 2

swimtech · Oct 26, 2005, 08:44 AM

Have you tried running just the Crucial sticks together?

lewis_johnstone · Oct 26, 2005, 12:28 PM

i'm going to.

But not till 2morrow, I got presentation to do 4 uni. I dont want to mess wit my pc just now...

I'll post back then

soloz2 · Oct 26, 2005, 01:42 PM

try running memtest on each pair of memory individually and then again with both pairs in. see if you get any errors. odds are you probably will get errors together with the problem you're experiencing.

lewis_johnstone · Oct 27, 2005, 01:58 PM

Well i just tested the Crucial Ballistix ram by itself and AGAIN pc wouldnt boot up and i got a memory prob warning light on back of PC.

[PUT MY 1GIG SAMSUNG/DELL RAM THAT CAME WITH PC BACK IN AND IT LOADED UP FINE]

Not sure wether i should RMA for cash or a replacement.

Anyone here got much experience with crucial ram? Was this just a 1 off freak occurance??!?!?

swimtech · Oct 27, 2005, 03:01 PM

First defective Crucial ram I have ever heard of - in eight years - really - and I use it exclusively here at work and at home. However, I don't have any experience with their Ballistix line at all... I'd just call it a one off and get replacements - heh - they'll have a lifetime warranty too.

Maybe when you call or email them, you can ask them if they have had a higher percentage failure rate with that line. Considering it is their envelope pushing product it is likely to, but is also likely comparable to or better than industry average - considering their long track record.

lewis_johnstone · Nov 5, 2005, 09:50 AM

Well i just recieved my replacements from crucial.

Seems all is well again, i ran memtest

http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

And seems everything is ok.

Errr memetest wouldnt let me test all ram at once, so i have done 1024MB twice. Not sure if it tested the same 1024MB twice or both???

Not to sure about that. However, everything seems to be running fine