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| Thread: My RAM broke... |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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TheDeath
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posted December 21, 2008 04:14 PM |
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My RAM broke...
...yesterday.
picture this: my computer's motherboard and video card are old (some may say very old but meh), like 6 years. The RAM was purchased recently, I think maximum 1.5 years ago. The Harddisk some 2 years ago.
And guess what? The RAM failed, not the older components. I'm starting to get what they mean with "old things last longer and are more robust; new things get too excited for performance the first few months".
Now as you can imagine with such an old motherboard it would be very hard to upgrade anything. Even though I admire the motherboard's robustness (it was also second hand!!!), even if I'll replace it, I will never forget it's bravery ( ) and I will keep it somewhere (still functional  ). The recycle bin is not for veterans like these
You know, I'm really not pissed by the "old" performance of this comp I have -- I am not interested at all in the trend or "OMG specs", just interested in a bloody functional computer, but alas these days, you only find mostly junk that gets broken in a year  (on average at least)
But that is not the problem. The problem is replacing the motherboard itself -- it means I will have to reinstall Windows. And that also means I will have to reconfigure Windows, which is a TOTAL pain in the ***.
So the thing is, anyone know of a solution to avoid the reinstallation of the other programs? I can handle Windows and reconfigure it, since I know it's kinda impossible to do it otherwise, but I absolutely HATE the reinstallation and reconfiguration of every one of them, I've just got too many programs.
Why the hell can't they just store everything (configuration and settings) in a good old .ini file and not have anything "special" and just be able to be copy-pasted 
If you want to know whether your RAM is safe or not (it is extremely important that the RAM works correctly) try a booting tool called MemTest86+. Download the appropriate "image" file (whatever you plan to boot from), disconnect the hard disk (just for safety so it doesn't get accidentally erased in case of some BIOS virus or error) and boot from the respective medium.
Example: I downloaded the Floppy image, formatted a floppy, and wrote the image to it (with rawrite, don't worry you'll just have to open a .bat file, it's done automatically). Then I shut the computer down, disconnected the hard drive, put the floppy, and booted from it. Then it gave me a whole lot of errors while checking the RAM... at that point I was like OMG.
(I don't think my old Motherboard supports booting from USB, and I don't have a USB stick either... gonna get one these days)
If you don't test the RAM, signs of a bad RAM are:
- random CRC errors (prolly it's why I got those when trying to make that image of the system partition)
- random shut downs (could be caused by anything else too)
- "cannot read instruction at address 0xXXXXXXXX" type of errors
- weird errors which shouldn't be there
- and stuff like that
Please note, a bad RAM can screw up your files. If you load a document in memory, write something there, the RAM being bad not wanting to do what you tell it, then save it to the HD, your document gets screwed up in the HD completely -- because of the RAM which told the HD to write the wrong stuff.
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JoonasTo
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posted December 21, 2008 04:18 PM |
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Edited by JoonasTo at 16:20, 21 Dec 2008.
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If your ram is kingston or corsair just get new one. They have unlimited warranty so you can get new one for free.
Also new motherboard does not mean new windows. It works even without reinstall.
Those can also be motherboard errors btw.
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Asheera
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posted December 21, 2008 04:27 PM |
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Quote:
Also new motherboard does not mean new windows. It works even without reinstall.
Windows stores some info of the motherboard in the Boot Sector. It may work after a motherboard change, but then again in some cases it may not, even if the Motherboard is the SAME model (well that's what a friend who's expert in computers told me, at least)
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Hell_Wizard
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posted December 21, 2008 04:28 PM |
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Poor man.....................................
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JoonasTo
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posted December 21, 2008 04:33 PM |
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I haven't encountered need for reinstall yet but it always needs to be re-activated after a motherboard change. Heck, I even switched a HD from on PC to another at least three times and it still didn't need reinstall.
But maybe you could try to save the registry theDeath? That might work but I have no idea if it actually will.
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mvassilev
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posted December 21, 2008 05:42 PM |
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TheDeath
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posted December 21, 2008 05:45 PM |
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Ok I've read a bit of info about "repairing" Windows XP from the CD. They say it doesn't work very well when upgrading different chipsets of MB, and may not work in processor upgrades (is that true? cause the new MBs won't support my old processor's socket).
But it said that I have to do this:
1) Boot into Safe mode, uninstall the drivers of the old motherboard (do I just go into Add/Remove Programs, or do I need something else, because my motherboard had both an integrated network and sound card).
2) Boot XP Setup from the CD, and choose to repair it.
3) When rebooting, put the new motherboard drivers into the CD-ROM and install them
4) it should work...
SHOULD -- not sure if it DOES however. I've also read it **** up your registry... guess I'll need a Registry Cleaner afterward.
Frankly speaking, I have no idea why Microsoft just made it so damn complicated. Why couldn't they just make a simple driver folder, which you can manipulate easily between upgrades, and without the damn registry and other "system" settings -- allowing you to just simple copy-paste the proggies. Some proggies I have have no installation and I applaud their creators for doing that.
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JoonasTo
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posted December 21, 2008 05:49 PM |
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Quote:
Ok I've read a bit of info about "repairing" Windows XP from the CD. They say it doesn't work very well when upgrading different chipsets of MB, and may not work in processor upgrades (is that true? cause the new MBs won't support my old processor's socket).
If you change from one core processor to two core processor then at least then it seems to be.
Quote:
Frankly speaking, I have no idea why Microsoft just made it so damn complicated. Why couldn't they just make a simple driver folder, which you can manipulate easily between upgrades, and without the damn registry and other "system" settings -- allowing you to just simple copy-paste the proggies. Some proggies I have have no installation and I applaud their creators for doing that.
If you learn that let us all know, will ya?
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TheDeath
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posted December 24, 2008 12:47 AM |
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@Joonas: no idea but I tell you one thing: I hate Microsoft and their stupid ideas of a 'centralized registry'
(is this a problem in Linux, I mean the reinstalling thing?)
Ok so because I have to go find a new system, here's a copy-paste from the post I made at CH:
To be honest I'm really bad at picking motherboards (I'm more of the soft-geek type rather than the hard-geek  ), so if you guys can help out I'd be less worried if stuff will be compatible or I just lost money for nothing.
What I would like (preferably):
1) RAM with ECC (error correction; yeah I became paranoid)
so the motherboard must support ECC as well...
must support DDR2 RAM in case you were wondering, if it supports DDR3 RAM it's just a bonus (for later RAM upgrade though I doubt, I plan on getting 4GB anyway)
2) A socket for Intel processor Core i7 920 (I think it's called '1366')
so the motherboard must have that socket
3) I don't really want a super high-end video card (even a GeForce 7000 series would suffice ); reason is I prefer software (CPU) power
I would prefer optimized for Nvidia though (the motherboard), preferably tell me which video cards it works with
If the motherboard has integrated video, then if it's similar to a 7000 series in power (in short, not too powerful, just 'decent') it would be ok.
Heck for me, I have a GeForce 5200 FX card currently and I think it's somewhat okish -- so I don't really want a high-end video card (like the 8800)
Oh and I Don't Plan to Overclock Anything! just in case someone got it the wrong way...
(also romanian guys here: I'm thinking of buying from mediadot; hope it is reliable, I bought the current monitor I use from them (1 year ago))
any recommendations or info? I hope that it would be ok with a 'decent' video card instead of a powerhouse one (like the 8800 or 9000 series) -- I don't really plan on playing new games anyway.
as for the new RAM, I plan on getting 4GB (two 2GB) with a radiator and ECC from Kingston. Performance isn't very bad -- if you divide the frequency (667 Mhz) by the latency (5), you end up with 133.4, not that bad considering the "performance" RAM have a 160 result (higher is better), but then again my RAM was slow anyway (130 Mhz and probably some latency) and I didn't crack up.
In short, I want stability (and error correction) over extreme performance.
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william
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posted December 24, 2008 12:55 AM |
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Well you're on the right track if you are gonna get Kingston. they are great and I haven't had any problems with the Kingston RAM. 
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TheDeath
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posted December 24, 2008 12:58 AM |
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Yeah but my current motherboard doesn't support DDR2 and the i7 processor, so I need help (I'm REALLY bad at picking motherboards  ).
I had Kingston before but I don't blame them -- they give lifetime warranty -- maybe it was because of my faulty UPS (before I replaced it, it sometimes stopped my computer randomly) and could have damaged the RAM.
Yes I think Kingston are more reliable (as in stability) than others because they seem less to have less performance than Corsair or Kingmax (but I don't mind). Also they are the only ones in the online store (mediadot above) with ECC as far as I could see (well 4GB range anyway)
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Binabik
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posted December 24, 2008 01:43 AM |
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I don't get it. If your memory went bad why are you replacing the motherboard? Why not just stick some new RAM in there and be done with it.
Quote:
because my motherboard had both an integrated network and sound card
Is your comp one of those brands that has a bunch of proprietary stuff in it? If so you might not be able to buy off the shelf parts and install them. You might have to get parts from the computer manufacturer.
Is your Windows CD from the manufacturer of the comp? If so it might not even be a real Windows CD, it might be one of those installation discs that completely wipes your hard drive and reinstalls everything exactly like it came from the factory.
As far as drivers, Windows should already have most drivers that you need, so you likely won't need to do a thing about drivers. And even if Windows doesn't have the specific drivers for your hardware, it should still have generic drivers that will probably work just fine.
But first things first. I still don't see why you need to get a new motherboard when your RAM is bad (assuming it really is bad).
But if you do put a new motherboard in, if it's the same as the old one I don't see any reason why you would need to reinstall the OS. If it's different then I'm not sure, but most likely you will have to reinstall, or maybe repair the OS. If it were me I'd fdisk the hard drive and reformat and reinstall everything from scratch. But if you don't want to do all the work (backing up everything is the biggest task, not reinstalling), then reinstalling over top of the old OS or doing a repair are probably the best options.
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Why couldn't they just make a simple driver folder, which you can manipulate easily between upgrades
You don't "manipulate" drivers. There's nothing to manipulate. You simply install them, and they install themselves where they want. Microsoft and/or Windows has virtually nothing to do with this.
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TheDeath
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posted December 24, 2008 02:00 AM |
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Edited by TheDeath at 02:06, 24 Dec 2008.
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Quote:
But first things first. I still don't see why you need to get a new motherboard when your RAM is bad (assuming it really is bad).
That's the thing: it surely IS bad, though I'm not sure if it's the RAM or the motherboard who gives the errors. Could be both. Could be either one. The motherboard is old (and second hand ) so I'll have to replace it anyway. Probably it is the motherboard's fault. Either way it doesn't even work with DDR2 for example.
Technically the RAM is still in warranty but going to the service, especially right now (Christmas and all) is more trouble than worth. (the RAM has lifetime warranty)
If the motherboard isn't faulty then I have to admit, it's a really sturdy piece of gear and I'm going to keep it (probably assemble a 2nd computer with older components, not that bad at all, doesn't bother me much) 
Quote:
But if you do put a new motherboard in, if it's the same as the old one I don't see any reason why you would need to reinstall the OS. If it's different then I'm not sure, but most likely you will have to reinstall, or maybe repair the OS. If it were me I'd fdisk the hard drive and reformat and reinstall everything from scratch. But if you don't want to do all the work (backing up everything is the biggest task, not reinstalling), then reinstalling over top of the old OS or doing a repair are probably the best options.
Backing up is easy: copy all files from old hard-drive to new hard-drive (partition, not Windows partition)
(of course I'll get a new hard-drive, they are cheap anyway and it would be better if I had another one for extra 'backup').
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You don't "manipulate" drivers. There's nothing to manipulate. You simply install them, and they install themselves where they want. Microsoft and/or Windows has virtually nothing to do with this.
By 'manipulate' I meant uninstall/install them without screwing up other apps or the registry except the section with the drivers.
For example, you could have a registry for apps, a registry for drivers, etc... this way if you update or need completely different drivers, you'll just affect only the 'driver' folder -- the apps registry would remain intact.
But no of course, in the current situation, you can't use the old registry because of the old drivers, and so you can't save 'parts' of it. (yes I know you can manually but it's too tedious and unsafe, not to mention it might screw up things)
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Nikita
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posted December 24, 2008 02:33 AM |
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As for changing MB and keeping Windows,is that possible?since i read somewhere that there is a little storage area on MB that stores all that.Why cant u install all ur programs on DVDs or CDs and?And u r sooo lucky u have the recovery disc,nowadays(new computers)the dont give recoveries anymore
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del_diablo
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posted December 24, 2008 10:21 AM |
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@Joonas: no idea but I tell you one thing: I hate Microsoft and their stupid ideas of a 'centralized registry'
(is this a problem in Linux, I mean the reinstalling thing?)
Since i never bothered to overchange my Debian i cannot really tell. From what i have heard from others there is no problem is just swapping the HD from one PC to another. The main reason behind that is the driver support from the kernel i hear.
The only mess i hear about is either GPUs the producer refuses to make working drivers for and yet-to be intigrated in the kernel drivers for stuff. WLAN cards is a extreme example, but again its not really a mess to compile it. However the producers tend to leave really poor instructions.
Frankly i know there are several restore and backup programs i never used either. Or you could save all your files on /home, meaning you could litteraly swap distro every 3rd day and get away with it.
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radar
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posted December 24, 2008 11:06 AM |
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Edited by radar at 11:13, 24 Dec 2008.
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mvassilev
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posted December 24, 2008 06:41 PM |
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Quote:
Borsuck
I'm a bad person. I lold.
Sorry for the off-topic.
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TheDeath
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posted December 24, 2008 08:11 PM |
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Quote:
Borsuck, as far as I know i7s work with DDR3 memories only. There's no i7 ready motherboard which wouldn't support that
And if you want some extra CPU power why not to overclock it? Those processors are extremally easy to do so.
Overclocking is lame
anyway I just found out, DDR3 sticks do not have ECC (error correction) and the developers haven't made one yet, because they listen to the stupid dumbass gamers who don't care about data stability but only want raw performance 
not to mention DDR3 is expensive, and what's so great about i7 really? not worth it, I'll go with Core 2 Quad Q9550 or Xeon Quad family (the latter is typically used in servers but heck, if that means the only way to get ECC, I'll do it ).
I want a motherboard to support ECC -- it does not have to be "fully buffered" or "registered". I repeat, it does NOT have to be, I found Kingston RAM modules which have ECC but no buffer.
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radar
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posted December 24, 2008 08:39 PM |
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Quote:
what's so great about i7 really?
They are the best CPUs available atm (performance-wise).
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TheDeath
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posted December 24, 2008 09:09 PM |
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Edited by TheDeath at 21:10, 24 Dec 2008.
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Care to elaborate that?
or was that just an advertisement of yours?
when I asked what's so great about them, I wanted a somewhat technical-wise response -- for example, Hyper Threading (but my P4 right now has Hyper Threading too, don't know why Core2 don't). Compared to other Quad Cores, what's so great about i7s?
BTW: Core2 Extreme Quads can cost like 4 times as much as the i7 I mentioned above (even though it is the cheapest i7, the most expensive one is like 3 times this one)
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