Lion crashes after upgrading 12GB ram (from 8GB)

[hananias]

My machine has been running perfectly, for about a year. But ever since I added a 4GB stick, total = 12GB (3 x 4GB).

It just freezes! No beach ball, no kernel panic... all the sudden every things stops. I can't move the mouse, nothing... completely frozen. So I have to force shutoff (holding power button) and power on again.

This crash happens after the machine has ran for a while (say 3-5 hrs). But sometimes freezes sooner than that! It crashed when I had only 1, 2 apps running. I'm not making it work so hard....

I tried to lower speed in ram, that helped a little, but still crashed!
So I reset bios settings to hackintosh compatible.

My setup is in the description.
But here it is anyways:

-GA-P67A-UD3 (F4) bios settings at default hackintosh settings
-i5-2500 (not "k")
-12 GB ddr3 ram (formally running 8GB perfect, no crashes)
-ge 9600GT
-620w PSU
-sata drives: 1x 64GB SSD (boot disk) HDD: 1x160GB (pictures) 1x 250Gb (movies) 1x 1Tb (time machine)

I don't think I'm under power... can anyone recommend bios settings needed to run 12GB fine.

Thanks in advance.

 

[thelostswede]

1. Update to the latest BIOS
2. Check that you're using the same type of memory, i.e. same speed, same timings.
3. If it's not the same type of memory, make sure you set the timings to that of the lowest common denominator.
4. If the above doesn't work, then it seems like your new DIMMs might be faulty.

 

[RTK]

For your board, you really should install memory in pairs (either two or four memory modules). This way you will benefit from the Dual Channel architecture. With only three modules, all of them will likely operate in single channel mode.

As thelostswede has said, you need to check your memory timings. If you set them all to operate with the lowest timings, then they may work.

 

[hananias]

Thanks guys for your advice!
When you say "update bios", do you mean the bios firmware (F4 to F5 in my motherboard)?
Or do you mean update the bios with DSDT.aml file?
As recently posted by tonymacx, I updated the DSDT file to my F4 bios firmware. But that didn't help.
All 3 memory sticks are from the same maker, and actually bought from the same place.
(very reliable, my MacBooks 8GB [2x4gb] are still running great after 3yrs) So I don't think is the ram itself, because when I remove one stick of ram. The computer runs perfect, no crashes. But I do need the extra 4gb, since I give that to my virtual machines in Parallels (I can clearly see the difference in performance when 12Gb > 8GB).
Probably, like mentioned before a combination of 2 things.
1) UPDATE to F5 bios
2) install memory in pairs (2 or 4 sticks at a time).

So, I will update the bios today. Then I will see how it goes... if the problem persists, then I'll lower the timings (but is 12Gb with low timing better than, 8Gb faster timing???)
My last result will be to buy another stick of ram. If I buy another stick, can I just use a cheap 2gb stick, or does it have to be 4gb??

Sorry for so many questions

- I should update bios firmware to F5, right?
- If I buy another memory stick, does it have to be the same amount of 4gb? or would 1, 2 gb be fine on the fourth slot?

Thanks for your help.

 

[RTK]

All 3 memory sticks are from the same maker, and actually bought from the same place.

Understood, but do they all have the same profile for timings?

- If I buy another memory stick, does it have to be the same amount of 4gb? or would 1, 2 gb be fine on the fourth slot?

For the best benefit with Dual Channel, the memory should be installed in identical pairs. If you install a 2gb with a 4 gb I think they may step down to operate as single channel. You may also continue to get your current crashes with mismatched sizes.

You may also want to check your manual to make sure you have your memory installed in the right slots. I think you should have your initial pair in the blue slots and the new one in the a white slot. Colors can probably be reversed as well, but put your original pair in the same color slots. Check the manual.

Good luck.

 

[hananias]

I'm trying to update bios from f4 to f5... keep getting "invalid bios image" error.
I tried put my settings on default, then update... no good

Now I'm running with memory still at 1333, but running in "standard" mode (don't know what it means, but its not running in default "turbo mode")

We will see how that goes. I'll report if it crashes.

If that doesn't work, I'll try the other suggestion to slow the timing to 1066ghz.

If any one knows better alternative, or a way to fix my motherboard to update properly please leave a comment.

 

[RTK]

If that doesn't work, I'll try the other suggestion to slow the timing to 1066ghz.

This is only one part of the equation. You need to check your memory timings (CL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS). Go into your BIOS to see what the Channel A and Channel B timings are.

 

[hananias]

that's my problem, my limit of knowledge with timings and what not.
I don't know much about those things.
Can somebody give me a very general and stable settings???

For example: how much can I push with 620w Bull-Max PSU & i5-2500 & 9600GT 512MB & 12GB 1333 ram?? Or what ram settings and voltage,etc, can I do to improve stability in my system?

I'm a beginner when it comes to that stuff, I'm more of a software kind of guy, not hardware.
Thanks in advanced!

 

[thelostswede]

Ok, first of all, if you're getting wrong BIOS image, then you're trying to install the wrong BIOS, so make sure you really have the motherboard you think you have. The one you've listed has F6 as the latest stable BIOS http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... =3698#bios

Three sticks of RAM should still work, but it's not ideal as pointed out.
Can you check the spec of the modules you have? There should be a sticker on them that should give you full details.
It might be that you're running them on too low Voltage, as some modules are 1.65V, although on the CPU you have you really do not want to go over 1.6V as over time it can cause damage to the memory controller as it's been designed for 1.5V which would be the default setting. 1.5V might've been enough with only two sticks of RAM, but not three.

As for setting up the BIOS, have a look here http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/html/bio ... 7a-ud3.php
Scroll down to the 11th screenshot and you'll see the advanced memory settings. It might not be identical in your BIOS, but it should be similar enough.
Disable XMP, set the memory frequency to whatever your memory is rated at (1333, 1600MHz etc), Performance Enhance should be able to be on Turbo, set the Voltage to 1.58V or close to 1.6V depending on the options, don't change the VTT Voltage.
Then go into Channel A timing settings (shown in full on screenshot 12), set the CAS, tRCD, tRP to 9 and the tRAS to 24, do the same for Channel B and you should be set to go. The important thing is to set the timings for both the channels to the same. You don't have to worry about the advanced settings, just leave them at default.
It's possible that your memory has faster or slower timings, so you really need to check the stickers on the memory modules, as cheaper RAM would have latencies of 10 instead of 9, so you'd have to adjust accordingly, although considering you have 1333MHz memory according to what you wrote, I think the timings should be 9.

Hope this helps.

 

[hananias]

Thanks for the explanation and the link!

I did as you said, basically everything is back to default. The default settings were 9-9-9-24. Only thing I changed was the voltage, increased from 1.5v to 1.58v (i did notice the numbers were purple color on the "1.68v", guessing that is the limit).
I did notice that the screen on the ram timings had "IO Latency" @ {2}
Mine is default to {1} Is there a problem with that. Should I put the ram settings in "expert" and change it to {2}.

We'll see how it goes for now on default with a little extra .08 voltage.

I'll probably just end up buying another ram stick (waste, I know I don't need it). But that is one thing I love about OSX, if it has the ram... it will use it!
I'm testing the machine now, running parallels desktop in the back (ubuntu 3GB ram & windows 7 4GB ram opened). Also iTunes, Mail, Safari, working on a video in iMovie '11.
Hope it holds up while I also start watching a movie now ; )

I don't usually run this many programs at once, just testing it now.

Thanks for the advice!