Motherboard won't take my ram chips?

[siffolille]

Hello.

I am putting together my own computer. I have done this many times before, and I never had any problem doing this.

But this time, my computer wont boot. It starts, every component spin, but no image on the monitor what so ever.

I read about someone else having the same problem as me, but that guy found out that his ram chips were not good enough for his mobo (MHz).

So now I wonder, my mobo is GA-870A-UD3 and the specs of my ram chips is 1600MHz - 4 gb - (2x2gb" 8-8-8-24 - 1.65v - ver 7.1


May this be the cause?????


Thanks

 

[1965ohio]

Do you have a PC speaker connected to the motherboard? When the fans spin up, does this speaker beep? Usually if the memory has a problem, there will be a sequence of beeps you can hear. Also, have you tested your video card on another system to verify that it is working? Also, are you using a new power supply? You will need to use all 8 pins for the CPU, and all 24 pins for the mainboard to fully power up.

 

[1965ohio]

The beeps and PC speaking I am talking about is on your motherboard, not external speakers. Can you test the RAM or CPU in another system? That can easily rule out which one is the problem. What kind of board, CPU, memory, and power supply is it exactly?

When I say PC speaker, I mean this:

 

[kinth]

obvious question. but is the ram the right type for your mobo? ie. ddr/ddr2/ddr3 or if your kicking it retro sdr . if so try running with just one chip and try it in all the slots, then if that doesn't work try it with the other chip. if you get one to work then one of your chips is naffed if you get one to work in one slot and not the other then your mobo is naffed.

 

[1965ohio]

While checking the RAM, make sure you don't put both sticks in the same bank. One stick in the bank closest to the CPU, then the next one in the 3rd bank. (If you got 4 RAM slots that is)

 

[1965ohio]

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=motherboard+pc+speaker&cp=16&qe=bW90aGVyYm9hcmQgcGMgcw&qesig=fOEgxCHiBRzHyeDkOxetUg&pkc=AFgZ2tlI3sssl4CTa5DHwqU47ydnGbBwZxwHIp5tf3Yzsa5HB0wkpSEgNAsBw7icDY00-JiaTPmLpGUN7u6jncmSjKyo-JU18A&newwindow=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1218&bih=742

PC Speaker... my link got copied wrong.

 

[1965ohio]

Mixing different memory types and timings can fudge things up. Try it with just one stick, or 2 sticks of the same kind first. Don't mix and match the Kingston and Corsair together yet.

 

[1965ohio]

Which slot is your video card in? The one closest to the CPU or the one in the middle?

 

[kinth]

im using the xms3 ram aswell. no problems with mine. just try every stick individually. can't think of any way to tell if its your cpu. run it with bare minimum parts. ie no disk drive. no harddrive(if your problem is booting it doesn't matter if you can load windows or not yet.) no gpu. just 1 stick of ram and cpu. if it boots add each thing individually till it doesn't.

if it won't run with just 1 ram and cpu then your problem is either that stick of ram the cpu, the mobo or the psu

i havea sneaky suspicion it could be your gpu though.

 

[1965ohio]

On the motherboard in the place where you connected the wires for the HD LED, the PWR switch, and the RESET switch. There is a 4 pin plug, sometimes with only 2 pins far apart. That is where to plug the speaker. If you plug it in, and it beeps when you turn it on, we can might be able to narrow the problem down more.

And when using one stick of memory, put it in the slot closest to the CPU also. And if you haven't already done it, unmount the CPU, pull it out and check the pins for any dirt or dust. Then put it back firmly, then pull the level down, remount the fan. This is just to insure nothing is obstructing the pins and the heatsink is secured well.

 

[1965ohio]

If you have the speaker plugged in, the CPU, video card and 1 RAM stick plugged into the first slot... you hit the power button... the fans spin and there is no beep from the speaker? No need to plug in the hard drives for this test.

If there is something wrong with the CPU or memory, then the speaker should let out a series of short beeps. If it does not, the memory and CPU are fine. The next thing to look at is perhaps you have a bad PCIe slot and the video card is not working properly on this board. If you test the video card in another system and it works, then this can only lead me back to a bad PCIe slot. All CPU and RAM issues should have beep codes.

Also, if you have the CPU, RAM, and Video card plugged in, and hit the power button, if the fans are spinning up, wait 30 seconds and see if you hear a single beep. If you hear a single beep, then the board and CPU have fully posted and are working, that would also lead back to a bad PCIe slot.

 

[1965ohio]

In this case, I may wait for suggestions from a few other posters. Without a single post beep meaning OK or a series of beeps meaning it's a RAM or CPU issue, I am at a loss to figure it out. The only other suggestion I have is to try another power supply, in the case this new one is defective at delivering the right voltages to the board. If that is the case, the fans could also spin up, but it will also not boot just like now. Just make sure you are using all 8 pins for CPU power and all 24 pins for the motherboard's power. If you got another Power Supply with the 8 pin CPU and 24 pin mainboard plug, give it a quick test.

If all that fails, you probably got a bad board. Since you don't have a way to test the CPU and RAM in another setup, it is very difficult to say what the problem truly is. If you bought the board locally, I would take it in and ask them to test it for you with your setup. If you bought it from NewEgg or something, and the CPU/board/and RAM are under the return time frame, send it back and make them replace it.

Sorry I don't have anything else to light the way at this time. I'll let the community try a little while now. Good luck with it!

 

[1965ohio]

We may all be overlooking something right now. Just step back, get a cup of coffee or something... take a break. Check for more suggestions in a few hours or wait until tomorrow. Starting with a fresh outlook and a calm head can help us all think of more things to try. That is my number 1 rule when building computers... if you get frustrated or can't figure it out in 2 hours... step back and take a break. The first build I ever did had similar problems as you did, and I got frustrated and wanted to break everything... LOL

Since then I just take a lot of breaks and ask around when I'm stuck too long. But in the end, after you think about it for a long time and it is a no go, you will be more calm when contacting the place you got the board. Hopefully they will let you exchange another board to find out. And if you bought it locally, just keep pressing them to test it for you or tell them you want a refund. That usually gets the wheels moving.