KVR400X64C3A/512 in 775i65G

[rodrigues96]

Good evening everyone.
2 Weeks ago I received a computer to repair, and it's assembly date was 2006(the date of the components of the machine stands for 2006).
And, after cleaning it up, reinstall windows, etc., and modifying were I shouldn't on the BIOS, the RAM modules stopped working correctly.

Motherboard: AsRock 775i65G R2.0$
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 @3.2Ghz
BIOS VERSION: P3.30

Why aren't them working correctly? Well, this is why:

• RAM modules(the 5 modules I have) are making MODEM style noise
• By modifying the Clocks(CAS#, RAS#, CAS# to RAS#, RAS# Precharge), sometimes the "starting windows" appears, other times it doesn't(Blue screen of death / Black screen relating the error)
• Sometimes it loads SystemRescueCD(Found in the Hiren's Boot 15.1 CD), other times it doesn't.
• When SystemRescueCD loads, there is 30% chance of getting the graphical environment working.
• When running MemTest86+, the RAM modules starts making noises, and 60% of the time I get more than 6000 errors, and the 40%... The computer breaks, or the test gets buggy(starts passing tests without a proper testing of the RAM modules).

Once again, for no one to troll me or whatever, RAMS are MAKING noise, It's not the chipset, not the CPU Fan, not the coils, nor the HDD(I disconnected it), nor the CD Driver(I disconnected it as well, used a USB flash drive to perform the tests as well).
I know that RAMS don't contain moving parts, yet, they're making noise, how... I don't know!

What I can ensure is:
HDD is new, the "heads" of the old HDD(Maxtor) stopped working(end of life).
RAMS modules: 1 came with the computer(stated in the subject), other 3 were given by a friend of mine, which 2 were used, 1 brand new(It wasn't in the case, however I've got the confirmation that it wasn't used in it's "lifetime", until the last week).

There wasn't a electricity pike(In the Area I'm living, it's rare to have electricity failures or pikes), so the PSU is working perfectly.

As I don't know the brand of the used rams given by my friend, I'll just write down the ones which I know perfectly the brands:

• Kingston KVR400X64C3A/512 => 512MB, CL 2.5, DDR 400(I Guess)
• TwinMos M2G9O16A-TT, 1GB, CL 2.5, DDR 400(Written in the RAM module)

Now my question is:
What am I missing in the BIOS configuration?
What are the configurations which I should put in the chipset page & CPU page to make these RAM modules works perfectly?

I've been fighting with this for already a week and half, and no one can, neither help, nor give possible solutions to make this MoBo work again, and any help I get to put this computer back online is appreciated!

Thanks for the time spent reading the text above!

[Calum]

Welcome to Computer Hope, sounds like quite a frustrating issue you have here.

My advice is that you need to start from the beginning with this.
Use one stick of RAM at a time, enter the BIOS, reset it to defaults, then boot to Memtest86+ and test it.  Once it's done say 3 or 5 passes, remove that stick, place it to one side as working, and try another.  Repeat until you've tested every stick in this manner, if you find a faulty stick place it to one side and keep it separate so you don't get them mixed up.
If you test each stick individually and they all pass Memtest, start testing them in pairs.
If none of the sticks pass Memtest, you either have a lot of faulty sticks (unlikely), compatibility issues, or a bad board.  I see you're on the latest BIOS already which is good.

Post back once you've tried the above and we can go from there, there may be further adjustments required but until you've tested each stick individually and then any that pass individually, in pairs, it's a shot in the dark to be honest.

[kbit]

I believe that motherboard supports 2 different types of ram , you can only use two of the four slots at any time , an either or scenario .

[Lisa_maree]

Hi

As you said the memory can't make noise. So it needs to be a coil or the power supply. Is there any bulging capacitors on the motherboard ?
Are any parts getting hot especially the motherboard switch mode regulators?
You say the power supply is perfect, this is the most likely part on a machine of this age to have gone faulty  do you have a new power supply to use to confirm.
 An oscilloscope can test the power supply noise.   

[DaveLembke]

Looking at your board here to see what level of quality parts were used and layout... I'd suggest swapping out the power supply as Lisa stated. The power supplies can make strange noises when they are struggling. Capacitors that are venting can also make strange noises and the time period that this was built was towards the tail end of a massive bad capacitor plague that hit the electronics market. Any capacitors that have any yellow or brown stuff coming out of the bottom or top of them are junk and will cause ripple as well as unstable voltages when the electrolyte is bad.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/775i65G%20R2.0/

Lastly are all fans turning that need to be... reason why I ask this is because I heard a noise in a computer case once and come to find out it was the fan that vents the warm air out the back side. It was frozen up with hair wrapped around its shaft and the BIOS was set to variable speed with the system controlling the speed. The pwm control was sending a square wave to the fan that was frozen and the fan blade was acting like a speaker to amplify the noise made when the square wave was hitting the coil and blade was stuck.

But for the fact that its not just a noise, but you have serious stability issues, I'd swap the power supply out with a known good one. If you are running it without an added video card and just off the integrated video that this board has then a 300-350 watt would be plenty, however a larger wattage would also work for testing if you needed to borrow one from a friend etc.

[rodrigues96]

Hello everyone, and thanks for the help(and sorry for the late response from me)
I had disassembled the Computer, and took 2 photos of what I think it's not normal:
https://imgur.com/V56VXBn,IEvMRk4
I haven't noticed the capacitator in that state.
It had a brown "liquid" above it(and I removed it, with a paper)

And the chipset is kinda bad on cosmetic.

Related to the RAM modules, all modules aren't working, even with defaults, or custom configurations.
I'll test out the RAM modules again, with BIOS defaults, and I'll post a feedback of the results.


About the PSU, I can't detach the bigger cable from the motherboard, looks like *it's soldered into the motherboard*(Just to explain the state of the connector of the PSU to the motherboard)
If I try to remove it, I'm afraid the motherboard PSU socket will came along.

@Update:
I had tested the RAM modules, with the default values of the BIOS, I'm still getting the noise coming from the RAM/CPU/Chipset area.

However, when I modify the CAS#, RAS#, RAS# to CAS# and RAS# Pre Charge, the noise produced is different.
If needed, I'll record the noise, and post it here.

[DaveLembke]

There should be a locking tab that you can press/squeeze to allow the power supply connection to come free from the motherboards power supply plug. I have yet to see a modern computer with soldered power connections direct from power supply to motherboard for a desktop computer.

If you removed some electrolyte from the top of one of the capacitors then you will have to at minimum replace that capacitor, however given its age and the capacitor plague your capacitors of that same manufacturer may all be the ones with the wrong electrolyte formula.

More info here on the Capacitor Plague: http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=9

Replacement of these capacitors should only be performed by a skilled individual who knows their way around a soldering iron, electronics, and how not to destroy a circuit board with replacement. *The easiest method of capacitor replacement that I have assisted others with was with carefully removing the failed capacitors by squeezing the aluminum outter can and carefully pulling straight up away from the board. But first you need to write down the correct polarity orientation so you know which way the replacement cap is soldred to the legs + to + and - to - . This essentially rips the legs from the bad capacitors inner cardboard&foil plate core and you end up with 2 legs sticking upright from the board. You then need to either mount the new capacitor 90 degrees out if you have a heatsink to conflict with height, or if your lucky its in a location where you can stack the new capacitor soldered to the old capacitors legs as stand offs. In an extreme situation a capacitor bank daughter board could be made to place the capacitors elsewhere inside the case and 2 wires for + and - of each capacitor soldered to the top of the old capacitor legs with correct polarity. ( I had to make a capacitor bank daughter board for a HP SFF system that had an air ram squirrel cage fan on the Pentium 4 heatsink to fix an office computer for example )

Trying to remove the old capacitor's legs from the motherboard you will probably find that the one leg of the 2 will remove easy, but the other you will be applying lots of heat from the soldering iron and it will not budge. This is because there is generally a ground plane or + leg plane that is shared among the bank of capacitors and due to thermal conductivity the heat is drawn away from the soldering iron out into a wide trace that draws the heat away to the point that not enough heat can be applied to make the lead molten to remove the component. A repair shop or person with the right tools can safely remove this by using a heated tip vacuum solder sucker. Most people dont have this tool ad instead just have a soldering iron. Also to note that the cheap heated solder suckers that come with a bulb to squeeze still are no match to most legs that are stuck this way unless you get lucky with a very hot tip that can overcome the heat sinking of the trace and also not cook the trace off the board and burn the mask.

Lastly the easiest solution is to find a new Socket 775 motherboard that supports the CPU you have and go that route, but if buying used just be aware that due to the capacitor plague of 1999 to around 2007 with the height of the problem being worst around 2004-2006 ish you could end up buying another board with plagued capacitors as well. The price for new Socket 775 boards seems to also have gone up in the last 2 years due to the obsolesence of the socket 775 and people stretching the life of their Dual and Quad Core CPU's, so due to limited supply for new boards and a demand, the prices can be more than a newer motherboard that would support a much better CPU.

[rodrigues96]

Thanks for the answer.
I had bought a motherboard 775i65G from ebay, and replaced the motherboard, and it started working perfectly.
Thank you all for helping me out with this issue.

[DaveLembke]

Good to hear your all set after swapping out the motherboard.