"No Memory" alarm on Bad Axe 2

matt_garman · Post by **matt_garman** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 8:51 am

My main workstation is a Core 2 Duo E6600 on an Intel BOXD975XBX2KR "Bad Axe 2". The machine has 2x1024 G.Skill DDR2-800 F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ for RAM. RAM voltage is 2.16 V, CPU is stock voltage but overclocked to 3.0 GHz.

This rig has worked totally fine for months, generally being pushed pretty hard (running seti@home 24x7, video encoding, running a virtual machine, etc).

Just today, I was surfing the web and it hard locked on me: no mouse, screen totally frozen, couldn't ping it, even the Num Lock key didn't do anything. I rebooted it, and it came back with a blank screen and three loud beeps. This is the BIOS error code for "No Memory". So I powered down, waited 30 seconds or so, then powered back on: same thing.

So I powered down, pulled the second RAM stick, powered on. The machine booted fine. I put the RAM back in: "No Memory" beep code. I then pulled the first stick, and put the second in its place. Booted fine. I put the second stick back in: booted correctly!

It's working, so I haven't tried swapping the RAM sticks back to their original configuration.

Does anyone have any idea what might have happened? I don't think I've ever run Memtest86+ on this RAM... maybe it's time to do that, eh?

Any thoughts are welcome!
Matt

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:54 pm

on my old Pentium 3 computer, sometimes it didn't detect RAM sticks, maybe it's the way i pushed them in the slot, dunno...so i played with the sticks in the slots, changing the order they are inserted (128mb-256mb-128mb or 128-128-256 or 256-128-128)

but for diagnostics and testing, you should get the Ultimate Boot CD, it's free too:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

i think it got Memtest86+ in that package.

on a side note, my media center main board didn't want the Major/Samsung RAM stick, but the Kingston-brand worked fine...compatibility issue i guess.

matt_garman · Post by **matt_garman** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 11:06 am

I ran about 24 hours of memtest86+ v1.70. I had one error on test 7 (random sequence test) fairly early on, but no other errors. I then had memtest run only test 7 for another 12 hours or so: no errors.

Since doing the memtest, my machine has become increasingly unstable: it reboot itself during the night. I reset it this morning before work; now I can't login remotely (can't even ping it). So I'm assuming it's hard-locked.

I think I'm just going to RMA the memory for now (since it does have a lifetime warranty).

If I continue to have problems after getting the new memory, I guess I'll RMA the board.

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:33 pm

RMAing the RAM is not a problem, it's very small, it doesn't cost an arm to send by mail. Downside is you won't have this RAM for a while in your computer. and the Main Board is a lot more of a hassle to send by mail, hoping you have access to another computer, and some antistatic bags to protect your static-sensitive components.

...man i would hate to RMA my board!

matt_garman · Post by **matt_garman** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:20 pm

Well, what do ya'll think now... I clocked the CPU back down to stock speed (2.4 GHz), and set the RAM to factory settings.

I set the computer to run another round of memtest86+ v1.70. The system froze after about 14 hours.

I rebooted, went into the BIOS to set the computer back to it's overclocked state (3.0 GHz, but stock CPU voltage), and rebooted. I got the three beep "no memory" error code. I tried pulling the 2nd RAM stick, and tried to reboot: wouldn't POST. I swapped RAM sticks: three beep error code!

So I set the motherboard jumper to "reset" mode, and tried rebooting: same problem: "no memory" beep code with both RAM sticks or one, and won't POST with the other.

So... return the RAM or the motherboard? Surely RAM doesn't go from perfect (or at least nearly perfect) to totally dead that quickly.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Matt

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:40 pm

i would suggest to test the RAM sticks in another computer, if you have another one with compatible RAM slots. that might be problematic, if you don't have another computer, and a friend who do have one with the same/compatible RAM slots might say no because he worry about his computer not working well after testing your RAM in his computer...

matt_garman · Post by **matt_garman** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:28 am

RaptorZX3 wrote:i would suggest to test the RAM sticks in another computer, if you have another one with compatible RAM slots. that might be problematic, if you don't have another computer, and a friend who do have one with the same/compatible RAM slots might say no because he worry about his computer not working well after testing your RAM in his computer...

I didn't exactly do that, but: I got some more DDR2 RAM (exact same stuff, actually, G. Skill DDR2-800 "HZ"). I put it in the XBX2 and had the same results: either a "no memory" beep code, POST failure, or lockup during memtest.

The same (new) memory went into a different motherboard and had no memtest errors in 24 hours.

I RMA'ed the memory anyway. I'm also trying to RMA the motherboard, but Intel is telling me I need to test with memory from their tested system memory list. I don't really want to buy more RAM, nor do I know anyone with memory from that list. Should I just lie and tell them I borrowed a friend's memory and had the same problems?

Also, FWIW, with both the old and the new memory, I tried all different combinations of one or two DIMMs and all different slot combinations.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Matt