I'm up the creek...

[Neo]

Hi All,
For several months now I have been experiencing an intermittent problem with Firefox crashing on me for no apparent reason.

To make a long story short, after trying every software trick in the book I tried booting into another OS (I have eight of them on my PC).
Well guess what, FF crashed on the other OS too (for the record it was MEPIS).
I also had some funny issues in XP.

That's a pretty good indication that I am dealing with a hardware issue.

Well since the error message would more often then not say something about the video card I thought I would try and replace it.

I went out and bought a new video card and all worked well for the first day... then tonight FF went and crashed on my again.

I am now contemplating whether or not I should try replacing putting the video card in the only other slot on my mobo to see if that would help (in case is it is a bad slot).
The old video card had to be plugged into the power supply, this new one draws all of it's power from the slot itself.

So have I been able to exclude the power supply as the source of the problem?

Replacing the power supply is a relatively inexpensive option, however I dread having to replace the mobo and cpu (it would be very expensive to have to replace all of the other necessary components like RAM that I would need to use a new mobo).

I built my computer nearly six years ago, back then it was bleeding edge and I actually had to overclock it to get it to run stable (20%).

I cringe when I think of how much money I spent to build it all those years ago, but a nice stable computer sure would be nice to have.

Any thoughts?

[djohnston]

First thing I'd do is run a RAM test, and let it run overnight. Some of the older PCLinuxOS live CDs had the memory test entries in the GRUB boot screen. If you install the (small) memtest86 package from Synaptic, then run mylivecd to create a remaster, I believe the memory test option will show in the remastered iso's boot screen. In any case, try to find a live CD with the memory test option.

[Crow]

Some time ago we used to retire the memory modules and clean the connectors as part of the regular computer service.

[Neo]

Wow, thank you guys so much!

I ran memtest and was surprised to see how many errors I had.

I guess I need to buy new RAM.

Hopefully DDR2 is still available an not too expensive.
Does anyone know if I can use DDR3 in place of DDR2 (even though my mobo came out long before DDR2)?

Many thanks again guys, your help is so much appreciated!

[Ramchu]

DDR2 is still available take a look on tigerdirect.com

[Neo]

You just for fun I tried "underclocking" my RAM and ran the Memtest again.
This time there were no errors.

My RAM is OCZ and they say to run the ram at 2.10 volts and set the timings at 4-4-4-12.
Of course when I first built my computer I just installed the RAM and never gave it another thought.
It wasn't until 3-4 years ago that I took a closer look at it and realized that my mobo was automatically only supplying 2.00 volts and the timings were 5-5-5-15.
So back then I upped the voltage to 2.10 and the timings to 4-4-4-12.
All was well until recently.

Remember this isn't me just upping the voltage trying to overclock the RAM for the hell of it, these are the manufacturer's recommended settings.

So I just went in and set the RAM voltage to auto and the timings to auto.
Now my timings are 5-2-2-18 (I don't know what the voltage is running at) and I no longer have errors in Memtest.

I hope this means that I no longer get FF crashing or any other odd unexplainable behavior from my computer (like the screen suddenly flashing black and bringing me to the login page - not a power loss).

Fingers crossed folks, fingers crossed...

[kjpetrie]

Dirty slots?

[djohnston]

Dirty slots?

Yeah, if you take those sticks out of their slots, be sure to blow the slots out with air. You can clean the RAM modules' connector edges by rubbing them with a pencil eraser, or other soft eraser.

[The Chief]

Dirty slots?

Yeah, if you take those sticks out of their slots, be sure to blow the slots out with air. You can clean the RAM modules' connector edges by rubbing them with a pencil eraser, or other soft eraser.

Ruby Reds, Ruby Reds!  Good technicians always have a couple in the toolbox.

[Neo]

I tried cleaning the slots and the RAM, but No Joy on running the 4-4-4-12 timings.
I am able to run 5-5-5-12 though.

I know lower is better but which is better 5-5-5-12 or 5-2-2-18 (I can run either but have not yet tried 5-2-2-12)?

As always I welcome your thoughts.

[djohnston]

If there are any timings on the RAM stickers, I'd go with those. Only by experimenting will you know what is the most stable, and how fast you can push the timing.

[horusfalcon]

Looks like a lot of good suggestions here.  I usually keep a pink pearl and a white vinyl eraser in my toolbox at work - the vinyl won't erode gold contacts but it sure gets 'em clean.  (I use the pink pearl for heavier stuff.)  Be careful blowing out slots - the fingers in a RAM slot are delicate. Don't get too close with the nozzle, and, if you're using canned air, don't tip it so much that you get refrigerant coming out.

The demand for DDR2 is still strong enough that there are many options out there.  Tiger Direct is a good source; so is Newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007611%20600006042&IsNodeId=1&name=240-Pin%20DDR2%20SDRAM

It may be worth looking at getting something better matched to your board?  With faster RAM, the board might reach its full potential.  A good place to start is with the actual motherboard manufacturer's recommendations  (I hadn't seen a reference to those here, so the mention is sort of obligatory...) 

There's enough options out there from a wide enough variety of vendors that you should be able to find what you need, but try not to go too cheap.  Think of it as though you were putting that memory in your brain - reliability and integrity are what you want.

Good hunting, and good luck.

Later ON,
D