Ubuntu mate 20.04 freezes with 2x4 gb ddr2 but not with a single 4 gb plate

Support & Help Requests
1

Hi,
Did anyone had issues like this when a motherboard that supports max 8 gb ram will freeze with all dim slots filled but will work ok with only 1 filled?

Amd athlon 5000+
GA-M68M-S2P ( rev. 2.3 )
2x4 gb 800 mhz ddr2 samsung m378t2953ez3-ce6 1950 4gb 2rx8 pc2-6400u-666-12-e3
memory DIMM x64 240pin Unbuffered DIMM DDR2 SDRAM DDR2-667 ( 333MHz CL = 5, tRCD = 5, tRP = 5).

I have another example:

GIGABYTE GA-M52S-S3P rev 2.0
AMD Phenom ll x2 550 3.1 ghz
4x4gb ddr2:
Samsung M378T5263AZ3-CF7 PC2-6400U-666 4GB 2Rx8 800MHz 240-pin DIMM, Non-ECC DDR2.

On this one I can't install ubuntu but if I put a hdd with already installed ubuntu, it works fine with 16 gb.

In both cases windows xp for example runs without issues.

2

This is a BIOS issue, if BIOS can 'see' the ram, ubuntu mate does not care.

1 Like
3

I updated from 20.04 to 22.04 today the first example with 4 gb. Then added second plate of 4 gb and opened browser and it worked ( 5 min on youtube I tested), then I shut it down...

The issue was when I tried to update 20.04(not to 22.04). Then it froze. I have to wait now for a kernel update for 22.04 to try to update with both ram plates to see if it freezes again.

The rams are seen in bios and also in ubuntu.

4

20.04 is 4 years old, there could be incompatibility with your pc and gpu. Use an old kernel if the newer kernel does not work. And you should change the title of the post, this is not a memory issue but some issue with 20.04

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5

I had this issue 2 years ago and I did not post then. Today I used the pc again and the issue was still there. Updated the title.

6

This can happen sometimes if one of your two DRAM-DIMMs is faulty.
You should test extensively one by one.

Heavy writing to RAM can result, in very special circumstances, in spontaneous bitflip
(this is a property of DRAM that is used by the rowhammer attack ), this will happen much more frequent and in normal circumstances if a DRAM-DIMM is a bit flakey.

The other possibility is that the combination of this model DIMMs with this model motherboard doesn't match very well which can result in a too high noise sensitivity on the databus when all DIMM banks are loaded. This used to happen a lot with older and cheap motherboards.

Best to do now is a memorytest (you can find this in the GRUB menu at boot time)
It should have zero errors after running it for 24 hours.
If you have any errors, check each DIMM seperately.

Also check your power (if you have the possibility to do so):

  1. is the powersupply unit powerful enough?
  2. are the voltage regulators on board OK ?
  3. CHeck your capacitors especially if your motherboard is old

Lack of power can result in unstable memory behaviour.
The powerdraw of one memorybank too much is all it takes to let the system crash spontaneously on unpredicted moments.

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7

Thank you. I will retest after a while maybe I will have luck to catch a new kernel update amd if that works then the issue was on 20.04. Like I said. XP worked so it is related to ubuntu only.

8

Ubuntu 22.04 has the same behavior.

IMG_20240913_074951_864
IMG_20240913_074951_8641920×1440 76.2 KB

As you can see on the top bar the green rams are not used so much. The mouse froze and after that also the top bar graph froze.

This is happening with both ram plates mounted.

9

Sudo apt update and upgrade worked to 5.15.0-121. Then it worked also from ubuntu update GUI to te same kernel.

IMG_20240913_082735_217
IMG_20240913_082735_2171920×1440 163 KB

10

I gave up. Installed back 2x2 gb instead of 2x4.

2 Likes