Bluie

Need some help as I've just upgraded but have problems

Motherboard is an ABIT AS8 which has 4 512 Corsair cards, manual says it can have 4 gig PS3200 333/400 Mhz DDR

Bought 4 1 gig that matched the spec required.

Inserted all 4 and the machine would not boot on made an intermittent beep. Replaced one of the cards with a 512 and it booted but ran like a dog.

What have I not done?

Any help much appreciated.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Check for a BIOS upgrade for your motherboard. A lot of these upgrades are to fix memory related issues, especially when you are pushing the limits of your board.

Other thing to look at are the memory timings. The modules should tell you what timings you should use. Make sure the motherboard is using those settings.

Bluie

Thanks for the reply, I've downloaded the latest upgrade, but that has not help.

Not sure how to do the second part of your suggestion being a technophobe!!!

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

OK. Memory timings are a bit of a black art. Overclockers love messing around with these things to make your machine faster. Personally I don't mess with them as I prefer stability (cue an overclocker saying he gets both ).

Basically your memory needs delays. If the delay is not long enough then corruption occurs and the computer crashes. These delays come in the form of timings, and there are several different types. CAS, RAS, CAS to RAS, something like that.

Whoever sold you the RAM should be able to tell you who made it. They should be able to tell you the timings. Note them down, go into the BIOS and just read through all the different pages till you find one talking about CAS RAS latency etc. Then enter the four numbers you have.

As an alternative, most BIOS have a memory timing setting such as Default, Safe, Optimal, Aggressive. You would want the slowest easiest going setting to try and help you memory out. If that is stable, then you build up from there.

Failing that, you may have to return the RAM

You can have a read here if you want to know more:
SDRAM latency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

mart360

Do a google search for crucial memory.

They have a free downlaod which will check your machine, and tell you what memory you have, and also what memory you should have.


sounds like it may be that you need to run matched pairs, and thats why it wont boot

Mart

Granby

iTrader: (5)

Try the machine with just 2 of the 1gb memory cards

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Oh yes, disable dual channel mode if you are having issues still. Dual channel speeds things up a bit, but the memory must be in matched pairs.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Here is the crucial scanner:
Memory upgrades from Crucial.com - About Crucial:Media Toolbox

They are saying that a 32bit OS will only really use the first 3 or 3.5Gb of installed memory.

Bluie

Thanks for the replies, have just finished using Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com to scan the cards.
First result showed all 4 of mine as 512mb
Ran a second and third replacing with 2 of the new '1 gig' cards. In these results all four of the new cards showed as 32mb.

Have sent results off to the supplier and await a response.

What a PITA, at least I now have the latest BIOS.

Next thing to do is find a new graphics card as this one has just given BSOD!!!

Bluie

Quick query about a new graphics card.

The current one is a Galaxy Nvidia FX5500 which has failed.

Now this was plugged into the AGP socket, but the motherboard also has PCI, what card should I be looking for, ie AGP or PCI

Thanks again in advance

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Graphics cards performance by connection type

ISA<PCI<AGP<PCIe

Make sure the slot you have is PCIe, not PCI. PCI would be a backwards step compared to AGP. In fact, you would struggle to get a PCI card.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

You really are not having a good time with this. It does sound like the memory you have is just not compatible with your board. Your board's vendor should list some memory makes that are compatible with it. Some boards were really fussy a few years ago, yours may be one of them. Especially if its an Athlon 64.

Bluie

Your right about not having a good time.

The board is an ABIT P4 3.6.

I think the memory cards are duff, so still waiting a response from supplier

I've just ordered a new Geforce Nvidia 7600GT 512mb AGP, so hope that will be OK,else the whole lot is going out the window.

Cannot believe how much time I spent on this machine

hux309

If you think the memory is duff install it then run memtest.

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Bluie

Thought I'd update this, I have heard from the supplier, they have said that although the spec of the card was correct, ie

1GB DDR PC3200 DDR400 400MHz DIMM

The thing that was wrong is I have a 856 and should therefore have 64bit an not the 128bit that were supplied.

I'm not a techie person son can only assume that this is the case why my PC could not recognise the cards.

Now need to source the correct cards.