Motherboard and Memory problems, UGH

slidai

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Jun 16, 2006
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Sorry if this has been posted 100 times before, but here is my issue.

I have some 4GB (2x2gb) Gskill memory. The F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ.

I have a Gigabyte P35 board but apparently i was a noob and didn't realize it was crossfire not sli. I have a Q6600 and a 8800GTX. Everything works perfectly fine and it runs great. but i want SLI for higher res gaming and what not.

So i ordered a P5N32-E Sli boad. One with the 680i northbridge. So when i got it home, i knew there was a chance that my memory wouldn't work. When i attached everything, the computer started up but never got to post, just shut down right after i saw the Asus logo on the screen.

I assume since everything else works on my other set up, that the CPU, Memory, Video Card and all that are fine. I am 99.9% sure its the memory. I have some Kingston memory from a guy at work that i am going to try when i get home...

Is there any board out there, that anyone has which supports full 16x sli and uses this memory? I like the memory so i dont want to send it back but if i need to change brands, let me know. And if so.. can anyone give some choices that will work with the P5N32-E SLI? I wanna go 8gb and yes i have xp pro 64
 

chookman

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Mar 23, 2007
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First id try resetting the CMOS on the board... either by jumper or battery removal and see if this works.

Have you got everything plugged in correctly?

Try only one stick of RAM and see if this works.

If still no, you can try booting with you friends RAM if you can get into the BIOS change the RAM voltages CAS and frequency for the Gskill save and install the gskill back in the board. The main reason these things will not boot with some ram sticks is the default bios settings maynot run the ram correctly.
 
Changing boards with different chipsets can cause problems. I suggest you put the old board back in, and either backup your files first or remove all the devices in the device manager and try a repair with xp. I always format with a board change. You can also do a bare post with all the hardrives and optical drives unplugged and see if you can get into the bios and set the memory timings manually.
 

slidai

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Jun 16, 2006
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Sorry for the late reply, I work all day on Monday.

I have built alot of computers but nothing more complex then looking to see what ram type is needed, throwing in a HDD and installing an OS. I am not an overclocker or anything so I don't know a whole hell of a alot about the Bios, resetting, setting, etc.

It seemed odd to me that the 680i chipset had alot of problems with ram... at least according to all the reviews I read. So as per my understanding from Chookman, the reason these rams don't work is becasue out of the box, the board may not be set up correctly for certain voltages? But it's not that these rams are just NOT compatable.

So let me as you all this... I was looking on Nvidia's website for motherboards with SLI and some others things and i noticed that the 780i boards are coming out soon. Would it be easier to wait for the 780i boards? Oddly enough I do have 3x8800gt cards which apparently I could use. Do you think they are going to improve the memory brands you can use with this chipset? Not that i have anything against corsair or ocz or any of them, i just liked the gskill ram I have.

Sorry for the long post.

 

slidai

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Jun 16, 2006
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I have already decided to send all the stuff back becasue i will just wait for 780i mobos and get some other memory but for shats and giggles i installed that memory to see if it worked. I got to the Bios and was lookig around at the memory settings. After about 45 seconds, the computer just shuts off and it seems to cut off quicker after i reboot. if i let it sit for a couple minutes, i get another 45 seconds out of it, but only about 15 after i restart. I spent about 15 minutes playing with it but no big deal since its going back.

I know those boards are notorious for problems out the box so who knows.