New system, Corsair Ram problem

[mdhavi18]

i just build a new system with an Asus P5WD2-E Premium motherboard and pentium EE 955 cpu. i purchased 4 sticks of Corsair DDR2-800 Ram. My computer absolutely refuses to boot into windows for more then a minute (if it even makes it that far) when i have two or more sticks installed. when running just one stick, its fine, no problems at all. I've tried every different bios option and adjustment i can think of, and i just can't get it to work. Anyone have any idea on what the problem is, because i'm stumped. :?:

 

[sturm]

have you tried running each stick by itself to see if one stick is bad?

 

[mdhavi18]

Well... yes. i tried that after making the initial post last night. Each stick by itself is mostly stable. but i noticed with each, it would be running fine, but reboot itself once or twice for no reason at all. Maybe there is something wrong with my memory controller? i really don't know. i find it hard to beleive that all 4 sticks of RAM are flawed.

 

[Vascular]

Try two sticks using the same colored slots. Try reseting the cmos with the jumper, just follow the directions in the manual.
Are you using any advanced bios settings for the ram? If so return them to auto. Also there is a memory test program called memtest86, which is run without windows to test the memory.
Are you running anything else such as Raid, SLI? Overclocking?

 

[mdhavi18]

Try two sticks using the same colored slots. Try reseting the cmos with the jumper, just follow the directions in the manual.
Are you using any advanced bios settings for the ram? If so return them to auto. Also there is a memory test program called memtest86, which is run without windows to test the memory.
Are you running anything else such as Raid, SLI? Overclocking?

I read on a forum on the Asus website that the MB was really finicky about Ram timings and that they needed to be set manually. I had them set to auto detect from SPD, but when i disabled that, i found that the auto timings were different then timings stated from corsair, so i manually entered those timings, and as of right now i have two stickings running ok (crosses fingers). When i get home (from class) i'm going to install the other two sticks and run some memory tests and hope all is well. Thanks for the responses, i'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[Vascular]

Sometimes though sneeky memory maker give the timings of the slower speed memory. So even though your ram is capable of running the low cas, just not at the max speed listed. Irritating I know.

 

[mdhavi18]

The Corsair website reports the latency
settings they used during their QC tests
of each DIMM type.

Our experience with the P5WD2 Premium
strongly suggests overriding SPD and
configuring the timings manually in the BIOS.

When you install 4 sticks instead of 2,
you are putting additional stress on the
Northbridge, which houses the memory
controller.

This calls for relaxing the latencies a notch,
or two.

Reviewers like the folks at AnandTech.com
also recommend increasing the memory voltage
and Memory Controller Hub ("MCH") chipset
voltage in the BIOS. Look for their recent
reviews of the i975X chipset.

The Corsair testing parameters should provide
you with the maximum DRAM voltage allowable
for the DIMMs you purchased, to keep them
within factory warranty.


I hope this helps.


Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library
http://www.supremelaw.org/

Well, apparently, it running fine for a while was just a fluke. I tried using the 4 sticks, and that was a no go, even with the increased voltages. Then i tried reinstalling windows because i was getting a bunch of windows error messages. Now i can't even get windows reinstalled because of mostly page faults in non paged areas. right now i'm only running 2 sticks, 5-5-5-12, 1.95V, MCH at 1.5V. i also tried the ram at 2.1V and the MCH at 1.55V, and changing the speed from DDR2800 to DDR2667, but that didn't help either. Now i'm not even sure what the problem is... the ram or maybe its the motherboard.