# SPDTool Flashed memory modules will not boot



## donven (Dec 23, 2009)

Hi, all
I am very new to this so here we go I tried to use the SPDTool on 2 of my 4 ram sticks (OCZ2N1066SR1G) by copying the setting of my other 2 which annoyingly are the same on paper but with slightly different  timings for the "JEDEC #3” as shown on the CPU-Z.
So the idea was to match the timings of the 2 sets of sticks as at that time I was thinking that this is what cosies the BSOD I use to get.
It all when very smooth until I tried to  reboot  the system to find out that it will not boot at all unless I remove the flashed set of sticks.
Now I am with 2 other ways good ram sticks on my shelf that I have no idea what to do whit and if anything  can be done at all!

I will gladly answer any questions and hope for your help and advice


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## Fatal (Dec 23, 2009)

Could you put the exact models of all the sticks? I have flashed my memory a few times with out problems. Have you tested each stick 1 by 1? Oh and did you do a BIOS reset after you flashed the sticks? Could you put your systems full specs, could help if some one has the same hardware as you do.


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## donven (Dec 23, 2009)

The model is OCZ2N1066SR1G and I get this using CPU-Z
Is there any bether and more full way to collect info on the sticks and the sistem?
Please advice!


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## Fatal (Dec 23, 2009)

Take a screen shot like this make sure you put both memory stick speeds in.


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## donven (Dec 23, 2009)

how do I upload the image 

or where
is this ok http://picasaweb.google.com/vincedonven/UntitledAlbum#5418563285245392450


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## Fatal (Dec 23, 2009)

So the sticks that wont work what were they do you have the information on them? What was different about them.

Edit: Ok I see you said the JEDEC #3 was different same timings every where else? And volts were the same as well I take it.

Edit info: The way I flashed my GSkills with OCZ I put the GSkills in and copied the OCZ Spd on them. I am not sure how you flashed your sticks. I would have copied the OCZ sticks spd you wanted to flash. Then shutdown and put the two sticks you were flashing in and remove the other two sticks. Is that how you did it? I flashed my sticks back and forth between GSkill and OCZ had no issues.


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## donven (Dec 24, 2009)

I did have all 4 sticks on end I copied all 1,2,3 and 4 for a backup which I still have and then I copied the timings from stick 1 or I told I did (as those where the higher and on my opinion the betther) and then writed for modules 2 and 4. There was something like JEDEC #3 400MHz as oposing to JEDEC #3 333MHz for the module I waned to go higher.
I now see that I am actually left with the pare that I ment to flash therefore the JEDEC #3 400MHz is now deat and if I remember right this was the only diference and I waned to "fix it"!
Wish I did not


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Dec 24, 2009)

this might sound risky but it worked for me,  boot up your computer with one of the good sticks.  once booted into windows,  put one of the bad sticks in and flash it back to the working spd.

When I edited some of my sticks, I didnt do the fix checksum thing and flashed em.  thought i killed the sticks.  So i got pissed and figured I could hurt things much more and booted up with one of my good sticks,  stuck in both bad ones and flashed them both back to original spd.  rebooted the computer and bam,  everything worked great again.


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## donven (Dec 24, 2009)

ok I just did it
Tried 1st with 2 good and addet 1 bat - da PC freezed
Then shuted down and removed the bad + 1 of the good ones, booted with one good and when in windows aded one bad to the slot alocated for the 2nd good an voala it is there as i tipe this and showes in the CPU-Z as to be indetik whit the good one but I am now afraid to reboot as I am pretty shure it wont boot

OK that is done, got all timings back to normal following the advice of "ShRoOmAlIsTiC"
A 1000000 Thanks

Later I'll be posting a question on how to get the 2 a bit diferent sets of sticks to work best with each other


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Dec 24, 2009)

sweet glad you had the balls to do it.  it can get a little freaky dealing with live components


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## lee321987 (Jan 13, 2010)

***WARNING***
Hello.
I know you said, "this might sound risky", I just thought someone should put it in stronger terms:
IIRC you can BLOW YOUR WHOLE SYSTEM by hot-swapping RAM.
If the technology has changed please post.

Also, if how swapping RAM can't be safely done, could a technician save RAM with a corrupt SPD?  What hardware would he use to access the RAM?


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## donven (Jan 13, 2010)

Thanks for the warning and everything but isn’t it a forum like this for people calling themselves "enthusiasts", people that are not afraid to try something new  and learn from their mistakes!
Is it not "Overclocing" a phenomena when people will push there machines and components to the "unknown", which every book out there will tell you it is very dangerous and that you risk destroying your PC!
But then again we are all still doing it for the thrill of it.
You may call it stupid, I prefer calling it adventures!
OK no more talk, here are the facts:
- I did hot swapping  and my PC had no problem at all;
- I did that again and again as I was experimenting this time;
- I did it more the 5 times in total and every time it worked perfectly and with no problems!

Now> I am talking from experience!
Where are YOU coming from ...‽  

P.S. Regarding what you are asking at the end of your post, these are the questions the answers of which I would like to know too!
Thanks


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## Bundy (Jan 13, 2010)

Although the JEDEC 3 speed of 333 seems slower than the 400, it maybe what you need. Your mobo BIOS uses them as a basis for calculating the memory timings for every speed you run at, unless you set them yourself.

I have used OCZ RAM very similar to what you have but on an ASUS SLI board and found the 333 JEDEC 3 to be more stable for booting after a CMOS reset. I set everything manually after that for overclocking so it then no longer mattered what the SPD said. 

The annoying thing was if I locked up the PC attempting a dumb OC and had to reset the CMOS, it would be a 50/50 chance that I'd get it to start again without having to panic for 30 minutes pressing the power button. When I changed to the 333 JEDEC version, the cold boot problem went away.

I suggest you try out the "slower" SPD, it will not make any difference to your peak performance, even if you don't set them manually because the EPP profiles will still be the same. Only the slower speeds are affected.


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## lee321987 (Jan 13, 2010)

@donven
I thought I had read stories of people blowing various components by hot-plugging RAM.  I did say "IIRC".
As far as experience, I once hot-plugged a PCI-e TV tuner card, and heard a very loud arc.  I know PCI is different from RAM, but I assume neither one has a long contact for grounding before the data/power contacts connect.
I've overclocked my RAM and CPU, but never used any settings that were considered dangerous.
I don't think you are stupid.  I just thought that you (and anyone who may come across this), might like a clearer warning than this could be risky.  My apologies if this is considered bad form on an enthusiast forum.


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## phanbuey (Jan 13, 2010)

you can bust a system plugging in a headphone jack, i have fried a dell once armed with my headphones alone.

But im still wondering why your messing around trying to flash SPD sticks?  Why not just set the timings manually in the bios.


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Jan 13, 2010)

some spd's are more compatible with amd and some are more compatible with intel.  most the time the sticks bought can be identical but sold with different spd's to me more compatible.  Lets say you bought some ram for your amd rig and the spd was made for an intel rig.  there might be overclocking issues because of that.  So you find an spd of the same IC in a different brand maybe that people say work good so you flash them.  Some time you buy a cheap set and find they can run tighter timings at stock voltage,  well modify that spd and flash them.  no need to tweak them in bios.  Sometime there are timming that cant be reached threw bios so you need to set them manually in the spd.  There are lots of reason why we flash our sticks.  Its part of the fun of tweaking your rig.  

you can also rename your ram,  I could change the name of my ram to be The Shroomiest Ones. and have the serial number be what ever I want it to be.

Edit:

I just flashed mine agian for the hell of it.  Now I Got special edition ram made by ATI


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## lee321987 (Jan 13, 2010)

One more reason:  the ASUS M3N78 "Pro" motherboard
Can't adjust RAM timings.


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## phanbuey (Jan 13, 2010)

ShRoOmAlIsTiC said:


> some spd's are more compatible with amd and some are more compatible with intel.  most the time the sticks bought can be identical but sold with different spd's to me more compatible.  Lets say you bought some ram for your amd rig and the spd was made for an intel rig.  there might be overclocking issues because of that.  So you find an spd of the same IC in a different brand maybe that people say work good so you flash them.  Some time you buy a cheap set and find they can run tighter timings at stock voltage,  well modify that spd and flash them.  no need to tweak them in bios.  Sometime there are timming that cant be reached threw bios so you need to set them manually in the spd.  There are lots of reason why we flash our sticks.  Its part of the fun of tweaking your rig.
> 
> you can also rename your ram,  I could change the name of my ram to be The Shroomiest Ones. and have the serial number be what ever I want it to be.
> 
> ...




I still like the shroomiest ones better.


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## donven (Jan 14, 2010)

@phanbuey

If you read the beginning of this post I say that I had 2 supposingly identical sets of RAM which had different sets of timings.
I did flash one set hopping to make them "truly" identical as I told this is why I could not get them work at 1066mhz together  (it turned out to be my board) 
After flashing 2 out of the 4 sticks would not post so I followed the advice of a fellow member from this site and voala, my memory was back to live in 2 min's


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## donven (Jan 14, 2010)

@Bundy

Thanks Bundy
Just curious, did you have the "Asus P5N32 SLI Plus" 
because this is what I am straggling with...  

Now I am seriously thinking to buy a new MB but it is a big jungle of MB's out there so it is a bit of a dilemma!
Any ideas appreciated!
Need it to fit OCZ 4GB (2x2048MB) OCZ2P10664GK and 2x 9800GFX+ in SLI
Thanks


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Jan 14, 2010)

phanbuey said:


> I still like the shroomiest ones better.



hows this


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## lee321987 (Jan 14, 2010)

Aren't the two sticks in a kit purposefully set at very slightly different timings?

Would it be somehow possible to install a good stick with a non-working one, and have the computer use the settings on the good one for both sticks, so you can boot, and re-flash?


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Jan 14, 2010)

no its trys to read all of them on boot,  if there is something wrong with any of them then nothing


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## Bundy (Jan 14, 2010)

donven said:


> @Bundy
> 
> Thanks Bundy
> Just curious, did you have the "Asus P5N32 SLI Plus"
> because this is what I am straggling with...



yes it was. well close P5N32-E SLI


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