PC problem plz help...

[Gavman]

Hi, i've just had 1.5 gig of ram installed into my PC. When i'm rendering an animation in 3DS max, the anim' cuts out after about 10 or 15 mins.
I put just one ram stick in the PC and it renders fine, as soon as i put another one or two ram sticks back in the PC the rendering refuses to work :(

Ive had the ram tested at the store and its fine, but as soon as they're together i cant render any 3D work, can anyone suggest anything i can do? thx.

[cagemarrow]

Which os are you using? Does the ram get recognized as the proper amount by the system in the bios and the os? Perhaps you need to increase your Virtual Memory settings.

I had similar problems using winnt a long time ago but was able to fix the problem by updating the bios of my motherboard as well as grabbing a few patches from microsofts site.

Hopefully some of my ramblings will point you in the right direction.

[poopinmymouth]

first thing I think of is incompatable ram. Does it work fine with either stick of ram, and only gives problems when you wanna run both? are they different clock speeds? is one ECC and one Non ECC is one a lower CAS setting than the other? meaning one is cas 2, and the bios is set to 2, and the other stick is CAS 2.5 or 3, and bios is trying to run it at CAS 2 as well. All of these could be the problem, and sounds like it might be

[Gavman]

thx for replies,
they're all cas 2.5 sticks, and they're all Twinmos ram which is extremely good quality ram, each stick appears to work fine individually in the PC, but not as a group.
the pc runs ok with all three sticks in, but occasionally it will just shutdown the pc and restart wuthout any warning.
This happens mostly while im trying to render animations in 3D studio max though, it only renders for about 10-15mins then it dies on me.

Ive been told to try just a gig in the machine with one stick in the first slot and one in the last slot, but its still refusing to render the animation with more than one stick of ram in the machine.

As for info, this is what i can tell ya, and its all brand new stuff thats been fitted purely so that i can create entire 3D game levels.

[PC spec removed]
All drivers from the websites ive installed too.

If anyones had 3DS max here for a long while then i'd be interested in knowing if there are problems with the actual
software in terms of it using large amounts of ram.
Is it 3DS max thats the problem or the PC config???

I'm personally confused and i have two sticks of ram sitting next to me which ive paid for and cant use so it seams.
I'm using 3DS max 4.2 also btw. My operating system is windows XP pro, service pack 1.

I've tried covering all aspects of the problem being shown, but ive ran out of ideas now. The place i bought it from said its an awesome machine, and don't get me wrong, the stuff ive designed with it already is awesome, and all they've suggested to me now is that i should take the ram back to them and they'll try out a different type. But the type ive paid
for is apparently extremely good ram.

I'm not brilliant with Hardware probs, but if any of u know how a pc uses both physical and virtual ram while rendering 3D graphics then i'd much appreciate any help u can offer.

[Jinxter]

I would recommend, if you don't mind the extra expense, purchasing Ontrack Fix-it Utilities. When I was working as a Technician we used to use it primarily for it's memory testing capabilities. It worked really well for us, as it helped us track the problems that were plaguing customer's systems without us having to crack the case and waste time with needless guessing.

As already stated, based on what you have already stated, I would also suspect memory incompatabillity...have you checked in your BIOS to ensure that the voltage to each memory slot is correct? Do you trust the shop where you bought it to give you a straight answer on whether or not 1 or both sticks are corrupt? Personally, I would have the ram tested somewhere other than the shop I bought them from...

Good luck on finding out your problem...

[Gavman]

Thx Jinxter, i'll see about gettin it tested again.

[Juice5942]

What is the wattage of your powersupply and is it a good model that gives clean power? Sometimes a comp will shut off like that if the computer is demanding power that the supply can not provide.