New Graphics and ram installed - crashes galore

[Lawsy1]

Hi,

Just upgraded my machine - specs below :-

ATX Case with 300W supply
MSI KT4av- L Mobo
256Mb Samsung PC2100 DDR Ram
60GB Hard drive
120GB Hard drive
Geforce MX440 Graphics
On board Sound
AMD 2500 XP Barton
Pioner A08 DVD rewriter
LG DVD Drive
Floppy
Various USB Peripherals
Various Fans (runs fairly Cool)
Firewire Card
USB Card


Cant think of anything else. Upgraded it with Kingston DDR 400 512mb ram and a Connect Raedon 9800 Pro graphics card.

Now put everything in and now computer crashes in several ways.

1. The text on screen seems to go to arabic and then after 5 seconds the raedon recovery programme kicks in - resets the card and works again for a little way
2. Put the machine under loading (playing call of duty) the screen gous blue (no message) and just hangs
3. The blue screen with error message comes up intermittently and obviously needs a reset.

Now to say the above is annoying is an understatement.

I thought id better test the RAM. I ran memtest overnight and this morning i have over 2000 errors. So methinks the ram is knackered.

Now my question is could the ram cause the problem with the graphics card.

Also i must be on the limit with my power supply. I ran Aida 32 and these are my power ratings with general use :-

CPU core 1.66v
CPU Aux 0.06V
+3.3v 3.17V
+5v 4.76V
+12V 12.28V
-012v 12.61V
-5V 5.45V
+5v Stanby 4.9V
VBAT 3.36V

Can someone give me feedback on these ratings.

I will put back my old ram and try the card again tonight. Otherwise it looks like a big RMA back to ebuyer (that will be fun)

Any help greatly appreciated.

Lawsy

[PhilEnfield]

Pinched from another website :

• Supports DDR200/266/333/400* memory. (*Refer to MSI recommanded module)
Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR voltage, memory speed Example: Kingston HyperX DDR500 PC4000 operates at 2.65V, 3-4-4-8, CL=3.
For more information about specification of high performance memory modules, please check with your Memory Manufactures for more details.

[PhilEnfield]

Sorry ... meant to ad ... it sounds like the RAM ;) .... try going to Crucial's site and use the scanner option.

[Neo]

You definantly need to get a better power supply. Its undervolting in some places, and over the limit in others.

[Lawsy1]

Phil,

sorry m8 , that posts means nothing to me. Does my board support ddr 400 or not. Or is it just Kingston ?

Neo - any recommendations on a power supply and size?

Thanks for both your help.

Lawsy

[Neo]

A power supply from Antec, Enermax, or Thermaltake should do you good. 400 watts or more is a nice number for your system.

[PhilEnfield]

Phil,

sorry m8 , that posts means nothing to me. Does my board support ddr 400 or not. Or is it just Kingston ?

Neo - any recommendations on a power supply and size?

Thanks for both your help.

Lawsy

Yes m8 .... your mobo supports it ok, but it may be that your bios defaults need adjusting for the Kingston RAM.

[PhilEnfield]

Is this the Kingston Stick you have ? :

KVR400X64C25/512

512MB 400MHz DDR PC3200 DIMM CL2.5 Dual Ra

If so that is the one Kingston recommend for your mobo, so it should be fine.

[Lawsy1]

Phil,

no , i have KVR400x64c3a/512.

God knows what the difference is.

I have now changed the ram back to my old ram. Has not crashed yet but the Graphics is playing up big time. My screen is now psychodelic colour scheme.

Could this be the power supply?.

Having tested the Kingston Ram with Memtest and got so many errors is it reasonable to assume this is knackered or could there be other factors.

Sorry to be a pain and all help appreciated.

Lawsy

[PhilEnfield]

I think you need to get an MSI Recommended Memory Module for this board .... have a look here :

http://www.msicomputer.com/msiforms/KT4AV_recommend.asp

[Lazza]

Agree with Phil but knowing MSI boards I bet almost any money you have to change the PSU as well to stop this. :(

I stopped using most of their boards a while back because of how fussy they are, get one working right and it's great but getting there is sadly not always an easy or pleasant task. Think I used cheap Corsair "Value Select" RAM last time I built a system using one of these and that worked out fine.