Things I hate.

[jsbowden]

So, I have these two DIMMs that have gone to that great computer in the sky. Again. When I upgraded my machine last summer, I ordered a pair of Crucial Ballistix 1GB PC2 DDR2 800 DIMMs. They were inexpensive, performed extremely well, and don't generate much heat. A few months later, I ordered a second pair. That pair, despite being the same part number, was slightly different. They were single sided instead of dual sided like their predecessors. Okay, whatever, they're matched, they still use the same voltages and timings, and they worked. Initially. They died back in June, so I RMA'd them and their replacements showed up two weeks later. Fast forward to last week. The replacements failed, at the approximate same age as the ones they replaced. So, once again I find myself doing the RMA dance. Micron gives a lifetime warranty on these, so they'll replace them for free, but having to replace half my RAM every two months is gonna get old fast. Except, now it's even MORE fun:

Hello Jamie,

Thank you for your response back. We no longer carry the Ballistix that run at 2.2V, only the 2.0V. If you would like we can adjust your RMA to all four modules that you have so that the voltages match.

So apparently, they EOL'd the RAM in question, likely due to the fact that the single sided version sucks shit through a swizzle straw and was failing like clockwork for everyone who bought them (I know, I've been looking around at all kinds of online fora...everyone agrees...the dual sided DIMMs are stable and reliable, the single sided aren't worth the sand they were fabricated from).

The fun part here is that now I have this voltage and timing mismatch, which Crucial will happily replace all four DIMMs over, but how the hell am I supposed to use a machine WITH NO MEMORY IN IT while I wait for the replacements? And if the newer DIMMs are as unreliable as what they're replacing? I really don't want to have to pull my machine apart every few months to yank out the memory while I wait around for replacement hardware to show up. Oh, and let's not forget, it isn't exactly cheap to send the fucking memory back to them in the first place.

I am not in a happy place right now. Corsair make perfectly good memory too, and Egghead will ship it far faster than Micron will ship my RMA.

Comments

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

I bought (for two separate computers) two 2x1 GB kits of Ballistix ddr2 667 cas3 memory, all doublesided @ (IIRC) 2.1V. The one in my PC started throwing errors, so I had it replaced under warranty. By then the 667 was no longer available, so I got 800 Cas4 of the same. That replacement has now started throwing memtest errors, as well.

I figured it was the heat in my case (an inadequately casefanned Lian Li PC-60) so I ordered an Antec P182 plus an OCZ ReaperX 800 @ 3-3-4 2x2 GB kit, mainly for the much better cooling that one features.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_pc2_6400_reaperx_hpc_enhanced_bandwidth_4gb

I'll still RMA the Ballistix and even have a place for it to go to, but this sort of shit gets annoying fast. Note, my dad's PC (where the RMA replacement will go) had Corsair 2x512, one of those failed as well. I'm just the memory destruction bunny lately, so it may not be Crucial's fault. Reasonable ESD precautions, so that can't really be it.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

You have the same case I do. Except for the color. The final run of 180s are the 182s without the model update and color change. It's a damn nice case, and I'm glad I bought it.

I still haven't called them back yet. The fuckers are going to cross ship the replacement RAM. I'm not dealing with 2 weeks of downtime because they're a bunch of fuck ups.