Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > Gigabyte > Can the 7N400-L really support 3G RAM?

Can the 7N400-L really support 3G RAM?

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Gigabyte - Can the 7N400-L really support 3G RAM?

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penedo   04-28-2006 at 02:35:59 AM

Hello,

I have a Gigabyte 7N400 motherboard (maybe -L but certainly non of the PRO types).

Its manual says that it can support up to 512Mb DIMMS (if I read it right) and its limit is 3 Gb.

It has 4 memory slots.

I bought and tried to install 3 DIMM's of 1Gb each but failed. (only then I re-read the manual to find the 512Mb limit).

If it can't support DIMM's of 1Gb - what's the maximum amount of RAM I can install on it and in what configuration?

The manual is available online from Gigabyte's site at:
http://au.giga-byte.com/Download/D [...] pro2_e.pdf

Thanks.

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luvmich   04-28-2006 at 03:48:18 AM
- 0 +

First the motherboard only lets you use 5 sides worth of memory. Chance are that two of your 1GB dimms will work just fine (4 sides). If they don't work then the motherboard doesn't like that brand of memory. If you wan't to get to 3 GB then you would have to buy at least one single sided (SS) 1GB dimm. The dimms you got right now are probably double sided (DS) (512MB per side) so if you install all of them then you would be using 6 sides. It will probably be easier to get a SS 512MB dimm and just have 2.5GB total.

It should also work if you use 333Mhz or 266Mhz memory and you can use all 4 slots upto 3GB. With 400Mhz memory can only use three slots and one of the dimms has to be SS.

So if you put in one dimm and set it to 333mhz then add the rest, it should work. Don't let the memory timmings be set by SPD.

Reply to luvmich
penedo   04-28-2006 at 04:24:41 AM
- 0 +

Thanks very much for the explenation.

That's a point I didn't understand from the manual.

The new memories are indeed dual sided.

The MoBo refused to accept the memory even with one or two sticks in it. I'll take your assumptions that the MoBo just doesn't like that brand of memory.

I now re-read the manual in light of your explenation and see in the table in page 19
that the board should have accepted the configurations I tried (with 1 stick alone and
all 3 - even DS). It should have probalby refused the 2 modules configuration I tried,
though.

I'm willing to change my requirement to 2/2.5Gb but can you point out what should I look for when replacing to another type of memory? As far as I can read this memory should have worked at least with 1 or 2 Gb.

Reply to penedo
luvmich   04-28-2006 at 01:13:11 PM
- 0 +

You should be able to get 2 gigs of unbuffered PC3200 (400Mhz) at newegg.com, kingston.com, or crucial.com...... At kingston and crucial they list the memory types that are compatible with your motherboard. Kingston explains it better, crucial tells you to look it up in the manual. I guess the real question now is what type of memory do you have?

Reply to luvmich
penedo   04-28-2006 at 01:43:55 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

You should be able to get 2 gigs of unbuffered PC3200 (400Mhz) at newegg.com, kingston.com, or crucial.com...... At kingston and crucial they list the memory types that are compatible with your motherboard. Kingston explains it better, crucial tells you to look it up in the manual. I guess the real question now is what type of memory do you have?


According to the eBay product page from which I bought it, it has everything I need: it's unbuffered, PC3200, DDR400, Dual-Sided, 2.5v, 184 pin, 3.2Gb/sec, 128x64, non-ECC and non-Parity.
Also a friend who took a look at my MoBo's manual noticed that it reports that it supports 1Gb (page 5).
The memory I bought is a no-name
So far I don't see a reason that this memory wouldn't fit my motherboard.
The only marking I see on it is a sticker saying "NCP NC00900" and "DDR 1GB PC3200" and "NCP" on each chip.

Reply to penedo
luvmich   04-28-2006 at 03:05:14 PM
- 0 +

Isn't there a dip switch that will set the FSB to 100 so you can atleast see if the dimms work at 100Mhz

Kingston memory page


This page says your memory should work?

Reply to luvmich
penedo   04-29-2006 at 12:30:58 AM
- 0 +

Quote :

Isn't there a dip switch that will set the FSB to 100 so you can atleast see if the dimms work at 100Mhz

Kingston memory page


This page says your memory should work?


I switched the CLK_SW to "off" (default is "on" meaning "auto" ). I'm not clear from the manual wether it sets the speed to 100MHz or 200MHz but at least it takes the auto-detect out of the equation.
All memories failed again.
BTW - the beep pattern when the computer is powered up with this memory is 1-sec on, 3-sec off.

Reply to penedo
luvmich   04-29-2006 at 07:07:58 AM
- 0 +

I'm all out of guesses. The only thing I know for sure now is your board doesn't like that brand of memory:(

Error codes for Award bios

-1 long, 2 short ------ Indicates a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information

-Any other beep(s) ----- RAM problem.

Kinda short and sweet compared to other bios error codes:)

Reply to luvmich
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