# Added 1Gb RAM now system crashes.

## rolypoly

Hi,

I recently added 1Gb of RAM to my Gentoo system, bringing it up to a total of 1.5Gb (1 x 512Mb + 1 x 1Gb - both DDR400).

Until I added the memory my system had been rock solid with no issues what so ever.

Since adding the RAM, the system recognises it (recompiled kernel with up to 4Gb memory support) and boots fine, but when I'm using X windows (KDE 3.5 with xorg-x11 6.8.2-r6), it takes about 3 or 4 minutes and then X stops responding, the keyboard stops working but the mouse can still move. I can connect over the network using SSH and see that X is using almost 100% cpu. Killing the process (kill -9) restarts X and I can start all over again.

I immediately thought it was a faulty memory stick, so downloaded memtest86 v3.2 and left it running over night. In the morning there were no errors, so I guess it's not a memory hardware fault.

There doesn't seem to be any pattern to the freezes, for example, logging in via kdm, then opening kmail, konqueror is sometimes enough. Other times I can open kmail, konqueror, OOo 2, Firefox, VMWare with a guest OS using 256Mb of memory and some other apps (basically lots of stuff) and it's fine. Close all those apps down and open kwrite and X freezes.

It even froze on me when I plugged in a USB hard drive.

I've noticed the latest 'crash' has entered some info into dmesg and seems to be pointing towards vmware-vmx, but I think it has been something else in the past so vmware may not be to blame.

It only seems to happen when I'm in X (KDE). Working from a console doesn't seem to have any issues.

Can anyone suggest how I can try to track down what is causing this problem?

My machine is: 

AMD AthlonXP 2600+

1.5Gb RAM

VIA KT600S Pro mobo

Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller with 1x 9Gb drive + 1 x 18Gb drive

2 x 80Gb SATA drives

Nvidia GeForce FX5700LE AGP (8x) card.

I'm using gentoo-sources kernel 2.6.14-gentoo-r2 with modules for most things (I can provide a list along with kernel config if necessary).

Thanks,

Roland.

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## xaos5

what happens if you take the new memory out of your system? check /var/log/Xorg.0.log for errors since thats where you seem to be having problems. maybe its just kde, did your try something else like fluxbox/xfce/icewm/etc.

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## rolypoly

If I take the memory out, everything goes back to normal. But if it were a memory issue, why didn't memtest pick it up?

Haven't tried another WM yet, but do have xfce4 installed. However, I just tried recompiling xorg with gcc 3.4.4 and it failed. Tried again and it failed in a different place with a different error message. These were both done in a console session outside of X.

Tried

```
emerge --sync

emerge -up world

emerge -u world
```

and that failed during a compile as well (can't remember what it was trying to compile). 

If it's not memory, could it be something on the mobo? But, again, if it is related to memory, why didn't memtest pick it up?

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## Robin79

Hmm if i remeber i had the same issue when one of my memorys where broken i couldnt emerge a shit and after a while my comp just went black... so i bought a new motherboard... Not much help from me tough,,,

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## Demonarch

I'm just guessing but it might be a compatibility issue. Have you tried taking the old 512MB stick out and trying to run the system with only the new 1GB stick installed?Last edited by Demonarch on Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:09 am; edited 1 time in total

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## rolypoly

Yes, I've tried this   :Sad:  I've even tried the 1Gb stick in each of the 3 memory sockets.

I'm going to take the memory back to the store today and see if they can test/replace it.

If the memory stick is good, then it suggests I have a problem with my mobo. It's still under warranty, but trying to get it fixed might prove harder than just buying a new mobo!

And if I buy a new mobo, I might as well get something better, which means a new proc, new graphics card (PCIe) etc. Would be nice, but I can't afford it right now, so it looks like I'm stuck with 512Mb for the time being  :Evil or Very Mad: 

If I get the memory swapped and it fixes the problem I'll update this post.

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## noergeli

i remember having similar problems. Running memtest for several hours didn't show any errors. I didn't want to spend money for new RAM just for a guess, so i also tried the shareware-version of goldmemory, which filled up my screen with error-messages. 

What i've learned from that is memtest not reporting any errors does not mean there can't be a problem with your RAM. And like Demonarch said, if it's not defect, it might be a compatibility issue. It's always a good idea to check what RAM your MoBo'S manufacturer recommends.

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## darkphader

 *rolypoly wrote:*   

> If I take the memory out, everything goes back to normal. But if it were a memory issue, why didn't memtest pick it up?

 

Memory testing apps are very limited in their capabilities. If memory fails the test it probably is bad, but passing the test is rather meaningless.

Part swapping (or in your case removing/inserting) is the major hardware troubleshooting tool available in this day of highly integrated silicon (in the 70's we could use an o'scope to find bad logic gates), and the most reliable one.

It is clearly a problem due to the memory installation.

It could be defective memory (the most likely, and the one to bet on if you're a betting man).

It could be incompatible memory (check the motherboard docs for proper configurations but note that sometimes the docs and specs change due to bios/firmware updates and if your docs are later than your firmware your configuration may not be supported even thought it appears, from a cursory doc reading, that it is).

It could be the memory installation causes an overheating problem by blocking some air-flow (taller modules).

It could be a power supply previously stretched past its limit and it can't handle just this little bit extra load (the least likely).

It could be a defective motherboard that doesn't reliably support what it's supposed to.

Chris

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## drescherjm

I'll give you the short verion, Sorry if I miss too many details (need sleep soon)...  I have had problems in the past with unbuffered 1GB sticks (even expensive memory like corsair). The problem with these dimms is depending on their configuration a alot of these have 32 individual chips on the stick and this can be a problem as the high chip count creates a lot of signal noise on the memory bus. Registered memory solves this problem by placing a buffer between the memory and the bus. 

In my testing I found that a dimm may work fine in one mobo only to fail miserably in a second of the exact same type (same version, bios ...). My adice, is to lower the memory speed down to PC2700 or DDR 333 and see if you still have problems. 

How long did you run memtest? I remember that had a system in my department run memtest86 for ~72 hours before a single error showed up.

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## olger901

Memtest does not always indicate a problem the first time, let it at least have 4 to 5 passes, then you can say your memory is fine.

Also try changing the memory timings, that might work aswell.

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