I'm having an ASUS A8N SLi Motherboard, which has 4 slots for DDR400 memory. I'm having 3 sticks of DDR400 (1GB x 3 = 3GB) but I'm not able to use all three slots at one time. I can only use two slots (2GB) and if I plug the third one, the system will not boot and stops with several Beep sounds. I have verified that all three sticks works fine.
Do we have a restriction on the slots like, either use 1, 2 or 4? Do we have any BIOS fix available for this issue?
Slots 1 and 3= Channel 1. Slots 2 and 4 = Channel 2. It's a dual channel memory board. You can not populate 3 slots. Populate 1 slot 2 slots or 4 slots, but not 3. In the manual.
Oh sorry, one more question. So, now I'm having 3GB (1GB in each slot), will leave the last slot free. May I fill the 4th slot with 256 or 512MB with the same speed? Or will it accept only 1GB because of dual channel?
It is better to use the same matched pairs for dual channel. You can try what you mentioned, but the system may or may not run in dual channel and may or may not run at the fastest RAM speed. Personally, I would use identical pairs if possible. Check dual channel as well as speed and timings with this tool. Download and install.
