W3J lockups and Dual Channel Memory

I have had my W3J lockup during gameplay and have read several posts/replys about this. So I came across a post of redrob2 speaking of the same problem so I inquired and he told me he had bad memory. I thought maybe this was my issue so I ran memtest86 and sure enough my laptop locked up. So then I wanted to see which stick was bad so I checked each stick indivdually and found no problem with either. So I installed each stick back but into different slots then they were originally, but found the W3J still locked up with both sticks when I ran the memory test. So then I tested each stick in the other slot one at a time than I originally tested and both RAM passed.

This brings up a few questions. The first question I asked was whether or not memtest86 v1.65 was capable of testing dual channel and 667Mhz ram. But after running a game which would normally lockup in, it did not lockup. So it is possible that it is capable of testing it but doesnt really matter since with both sticks in it locks up leading me to think it is a Dual Channel issue. Has anyone else expierenced this? Could Asus fix the problem with a BIOS update? Is this why the new W3J's only come with 1 stick? Is this just a fluke and is only my machine doing this? Why does God hate W3J owners who game?

 

Thats a tough thing to diagnose. Bad memory can sometimes work and sometimes not. i would download the omega drivers for your laptop. and play the game as much as you can. You are right though maybe those mem tests are compatable with the new chipsets.

 

The Omega Drivers did not help.

 

do you have an older laptop with 533mhz mem lying around?

 

No, only the 667Mhz.

 

Would someone who has the same issue of their laptop locking up in a game be willing to remove 1 stick of RAM and then game and see if it still locks up?

 

Just curious, how often is it locking up? Its not unusual for mine to lock up every couple of days.

 

It would lock up anywhere from 15 minutes on up to 45 minutes playing World of Warcraft.

The good news is that it has been on a few hours and not locked up once. Also the heat coming from the side exhaust is much cooler than normal.

 

were u running speedfan or anything? because if you pc overheats like when doing a memtest which is very stressful or gaming it could freeze that way.

 

Whats speedfan? Does it come pre-installed from the factory?

 

My other question is why would it overheat with 2 sticks of RAM and not one?

 

On second thought, I think a lot of my "lockups" were due to minimizing HL2 and its horrendous load times.

 

The stock memory tested fine seperatley and also together. The Corsair 1GB 667Mhz sticks tested fine seperatley buy failed together causing my laptop to lockup. Anyone have any clues?

 

The ram is not defective, they are just incompatible working together. This is more common then you think.

If you look on the actual ram chips of the original and the new ram, if they are different they're probably not playing nice together.

Companies like Corsair, etc don't manufacture they own memory chips. The actual chips are purchased from companies like Micron, Samsung, Hynix, etc.

 

^ , yup this is correct, also back when everyone bought the Acer 8204, there were a handful amount of cases where they took out the ram and tried to place 2x 1gb Corsair @667mhz ram, and it would lock up on them too.

Back then they figured @667mhz ram was the problem, and not 533mhz. lol

There will be some more cases occuring, but for the most part a bios update or constant trying of the ram may just resolve the problem as a whole.

Each individual case would be handled, and in the end things would most likely end up positive.

Its interesting by switching the ram into different slots, cause the laptop not to lock up..lol anything you do can cause it to work or not. <- Interesting.

Thanks for the heads up,

MysticGolem

 

Haven't experienced any lockups during gameplay with my W3j. BUT the fan goes in full speed all the time, even when I have underclocked it and just browsing the web. This happened recently and I don't recall doing anything special that could cause this... Anyone have a solution?

 

Would exchanging the RAM do anything or is it a pig in a poke?

 

Your best bet is to exchange the memory that has matching memory chips. (i.e. if your original memory module has Micron ram chips, try to get another memory module with matching Micron ram chips.)

 

Minimalizing HL2 works fine for me but the initial load time is rather large. Are you saying that you think it locked up when really it was just slow to load?

 

If I may jump in here folks.......
am I right in ascertaining that the lock up prob is due to having 2 sticks of incompatible ram? Therefore, if one were to buy the W3J with 2 gigs installed, this prob should not occur?

 

I think your points are taken, but I for one can tell you that both of his sticks are as matching as notebook ram can be these days........ Now corsair doesn't sell matching and tested sticks for dual channel setups for notebooks, so the best anyone can do is to get two of the exact same model sticks and I can go one step further and tell you that every box of corsair 1gb ddr2 667 has had the exact same model chips on all of the dimms......

I'd also add into the loop that I know of at least 10-15 other people from this forum bought W3j's from us, along with two sticks of corsair 1gb ddr2 667 and they're as hardcore of KR if not more.... I'm just curious where all of the gamers have gone, because this is a weird situation.... the ram is fine, so you're not going to get i replaced.... the notebook is fine, so Asus isn't going to do anything about that.... The notebook supports 2gb, otherwise it wouldn't be working at all with it in or recognize it..... It is most likely a bios issue that needs to get resolved and if that is the only problem with the W3j, it's not that big of a deal...... early adopters needs to find these things and roll with the punches.

On a side note -

what kind of 3Dmark numbers are you getting with the different ram sticks installed?

If you could turn of the dual channel nature of the ram in the bios, you could indeed see if that's what's causing the problem.

 

I know that the Corsair 1GB 667MHZ RAM individually is fine that I have. But for some odd reason they either don't want to work together, or they don't want to work together in my W3J. The 2x512MB RAM that came with my W3J have no issues working together and my laptop works perfectly. I love this laptop, it was almost perfect to me in every sense, the only problem is I wanted to have 2GB. The size, weight, build, screen, touchpad, keyboard and performance are awesome, but I knew before I bought it I was going to need 2GB of RAM, and really only to play one game.

On the side note the system will not run 3Dmark05 or 06 with the Corsair 2x1GB 667MHZ RAM installed. The computer would lock up. I have narrowed down my testing and real world performance so I can check what works and what doesnt within 15 minutes of each test/variation.

I also wanted to point out my expierence from start to finish with Proportable has been great and I want to say this problem of mine has anything to do with Proportable. To a normal user this is not a problem, but alas I am not normal

 

So Justin,

This is not happening to everybody with 2 gigs then? Only a few isolated instances?

 

If it works fine in dual channel with the stock ram and it doesnt work fine with your 1gig sticks in dual channel its the ram plain and simple. It might be bad or it just doesnt like those memory chips. Return them get a different brand. While there are better high performance ram i would recomment kingston they seem to have less compatability issues.

 

Yea it was taking so dang long to load I thought my w3 locked up.

 

That is what I believe also but I can't see shelling out another $200+ dollars to test my theroy and then have a total of 4GB RAM that won't work in my laptop.

 

thats why i order from newegg.com they will accept returns.