Dual Head Video Card Problem

[mahleumon]

I'm going to give a simple breakdown of my specs and two layouts, one that works and one that doesn't.

P4 2.4 800 FSB

ATI 9500 Pro Video Card

Creative Audigy X-Gamer

Generic 400 Watt PS

Either 2 Sticks or 4 Sticks (Depending--See Below)

DDR 400 4x256 MB All Geil but different CL, Etc.

Two 17 Inch Monitors

Logitech Z-560 Speakers

Quick Explanation of Problem: Having problems getting my second monitor to work with either/both Third or Fourth Ram Chip in place. I have four chips, but I believe that at least three have corrupted areas. I haven't ran a full memtest, but the quick one gave errors. Just so you know, I'm not sure which ones have the errors.

Working Layout: I have two chips that I run in Dual Channel and use most of the time. I think I have areas corrupted in one or both of these also, but most of the time I have no problems and I just can't afford even a 25 dollar ram chip right now. Saving for a house. Sucks. I can live with the occasional blue screen, (most often Page Fault in a Non-Paged Area, etc.) With these two installed I can install Windows Xp pro and all drivers, including ATI Video Drivers, just fine and can run my Dual Display without a hitch. Like I said, I can live with this.

Non-Working Layout: When I install either/both of the other two chips, this is what happens. Windows installs fine. SP2 installs fine, Three Quarters of the time, if not I just try to install it again and it goes in ok. All other drivers, updates, etc install fine, except Old/New Display Drivers I've tried both.I will list now what happens in different senerios.

1. If I let Windows Update or if I manually install ATI Drivers, (Without Plugging in Second Monitor), my computer for the most part works like normal. Remember, I get an occasional Blue Screen, that is normal with the bad ram.

2. After I do #1 and Display drivers are installed and computer is working fine, I try on of these different installs.

a.) Computer is Off, I plug in Second Monitor. Either I get boot into Windows and then a Total Freeze, I get a boot to Windows XP Bios Screen and Freeze, or I get a set of beep codes, which are for either memory or acutally for IRQ Fault of some kind. (Before I install Display Driver, I have a 1394 card that shares IRQ 16 with Video, I disable it)

b.) I know this is a no no, but With Computer On, I plug in Second Monitor and yes you guessed it. Total Freeze.

c.) To Fix, I can't just do a bios reset, I have to either Unplug Video Card and reset or take out one or both of the two ram chips. Same fix doesn't work all the time and sometimes I can just take out one chip and reboot, and it is ok. Also, without taking out Hardware, I can boot into Safe Mode, but just uninstalling Video Drivers doesn't always work. I have major problems once I plug that second monitor in and try to solve it through software. Eventually for about 50/50 I can get it to work in windows and reboot, reinstall drivers, and do not plug the monitor in, but the other half of the time I have to unplug a piece of hardware.

d.) Also, sometimes after I fix with reset of hardware, I get a bios config error, but not all the time. I put bios back in basic setup and boot into windows.

Problems I have checked: 1.AGP in bios set 2.IRQ not shared 3.Generic PS, but works with less ram, is that because just that little bit more of power for the other two chips, puts it over the edge?

Could it be a short of somekind?

Conclusion: Two chips---Working Dual Display Three or Four Chips--Working computer but no Dual Display

P.S. If I put my Ram Voltage at 2.80 it works better, well longer without a restart required.

I will run memtest sometime and either RMA my ram if possible or buy new, but I would like to fix this if at all possible. I know, probably not.

Thanks, Dan

[ripken204]

step1:test each ram module individually, meaning pull out 3 and test one at a time, do this until you find the faulty module(s).

[mahleumon]

I will test each chip sometime. Does anyone know if Geil replaces Ram that was bought off Ebay?

Update: I lowered my Chips to DDR 333 instead of 400 which was 1:1 and now they are 5:6, I believe. I then plugged in my Second Monitor and Bam, went in perfectly. No Problems to date, not even a blue screen. Grant it, it has only been two days, but I'm happy so far.