Reformat reset motherboard setting, computer will only run with 2 of 4 sticks of

[ColeJames]

I am running windows 7 64 ultimate. I have ASUS p5q pro, with 4 year old intel dual core2 3ghz. i have 4x 2gig sticks of ancient OCZ PC2 8500 DDR2 (says on it 5-5-5@2.2v) My freind had all 4 gigs running on ntfs setting but it kept corrupting files and had kernal driver crashes for my nvidea EN GTX260. I reformated as FAT32 heardd it should help errors. wouldn't boot though so i removed ram from slot 2 and 4 an was then able to boot and install windows. I've gotten all up to date drives from motherboard to chip to video card, im runnning sixengine, asus smart doctor, and pc probe2, I let smartdoctor and sixengine calibrate my bios and everything works great! except that im only running 4gigs at 800mhz. when i insert my other 4 gigs everythings goes to *** also how to I get my motherboard/chip/ram running at 1066mhz? as i thought thats what i bought... FML please help lol ai tweaker is sooo confusing

 

[psaus]

PSU could be the problem, if it's too small. But more likely I suspect you might have one bad stick out of the bunch.

An easy test is to test them one at a time via booting and running some apps. This is not foolproof (e.g., a bad stick may not cause problems and appear to work fine). But from the description you're giving, if it is a bad stick, I suspect one at a time should single the bad stick during the boot process via a failed boot.
The more thorough and (safer for your OS) test would be to use Memtest for a half day+. Upon this giving an error, you know you have a bad RAM module.

Should you be nervous about corrupting your existing install of W7 for the simple test, download Ubuntu and burn to disc. Then disconnect your HDD(s) and boot from the disc. Ubuntu will let you boot a temp from the disc which will stress the RAM to a moderate extent, kind of like Windows would.
Memtest will not touch your OS, so if you go that route, no problems.

In the event RAM is confirmed to be the problem, you should still be able to RMA (I'm 99% sure OCZ does lifetime warranty).

FWIW, NTFS vs FAT32 shouldn't make much of a difference for corruption. I've used NTFS for years and never diagnosed corruption problems to that (always to other software/hardware components

 

[alvine]

I think you have confused yourself
ntfs= new technology file system
fat32= file allocation table
these two are the standards used in hard drive formatting, ntfs being the newer better one
these two fily type systems do not affect how your ram works.
when running a lot of ram sticks you have to increase the RAM voltage to make it stable.
go to bios, raise the ram voltages by a little, reformat your drive to ntfs, install windows os

 

[psaus]

I disagree with this part

when running a lot of ram sticks you have to increase the RAM voltage to make it stable.
go to bios, raise the ram voltages by a little...

Increasing voltage on RAM should only be done for overclockers and more over those who know what they're doing. Can be quite dangerous for those who don't know.

For those who are not overclocking, the standard JEDEC standards will allow for maximum installation of RAM without the need to bump V. (e.g., I've got 18GB of DDR3 @ 1.35V - std JEDEC spec for DDR3 is 1.5V)

 

[ColeJames]

yes ocz does lifetime warrenty. guess i'll try memtest but i need to find someone with a cd burner... unless there is a USB option? i have no floppy drive or burner lol

 

[ColeJames]

also had no idea what NTFS sment... sounds better though guess i'll remorfat again after i fix this ram business

 

[ColeJames]

Best answer selected by ColeJames.

 

[psaus]

NTFS is useful/necessary for large HDDs and/or files over 1GB. If you can easily reinstall your OS, go ahead and do so with NTFS.

As for Memtest, you can get a USB version, but it has to be loaded to the USB via Linux. Otherwise you'll need a burner (get a burner all ready!! ). You could buy a CD from them, but seems rather expensive. I suggest asking a friend nicely to burn one for you.
BTW, make sure your're looking on .com not .org. .Org is the older iteration of Memtest.

 

[nikorr]

Good luck!