Help with DDR RAM

[Guest]

I recently purchased a 1.4 ghz ddr athlon pc, with 256MB DDR ram. So, because RAM is so cheap these days, i thought i'd whack on another 256. So i purchased the ram, made sure it was identical to the other, and installed it. However, on start up, it does the memory check, and says i have the full 512mbram, but once the windows ME screen appears, everything goes dark, and nothing works. I am at a complete loss at what to do. Any ideas?

Other info: O/S = windows ME
gfx = 64mb geforce mx
ASUS DDR mobo
SB live soundcard

 

[Guest]

There is an issue with 512mb of ram with winME, pull out a stick and goto the<A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;q253912" target="_new"> Microsoft fix page</A>

Check ram voltage is set to 2.5v too.

It could be that swapping them around may help, and you may have to fill certain dimm slots in the board anyway if installing more than one stick installed.
Check your motherboard handbook on ram installation.

Another thing you may also have an issue with the soundblaster card. Pull that out and see if anything changes.



<font color=blue>Lizards</font color=blue> hide under rocks,<font color=red>Trolls</font color=red> hide under bridges & jump out to ruin posts<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by scotty3303 on 09/13/01 08:19 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

thanks a lot, i have checked through the mobo guide, didnt reveal anything i didnt already know. One thing i did do earlier was swapping over the original card with the new one, i.e. so they were arranged differently. This made the PC beep like hell until i switched it off and swapped the cards back so that the original is on the left (slot 0). Do i need to check anything in the bios? In the bios it says i have 512mbram, which really annoys me considering the damn thing wont load windows. Thanks for your help, i certainly appreciate it.

 

[Guest]

ok it still wont work g0g0g0g0g00g0g0g helpeh

 

[Guest]

But it will/did work with just 256mb of ram right?

<font color=blue>Lizards</font color=blue> hide under rocks,<font color=red>Trolls</font color=red> hide under bridges & jump out to ruin posts

 

[Guest]

yes thats correct

 

[Guest]

Silly question for you, did you make sure you push the dimms in all the way? have to push firmly until the white clips are locked in. Check that voltage for the ram is 2.5v, not default but 2.5v.

Have you tried one stick at a time to see if one is faulty?

Try looking in bios under advanced features or something, what you are looking for is a default setting/restore for the ram, if not probablly easier to just reset system bios defaults. This will reset any ram turbo settings.

How many Dimm slots are there?

<font color=blue>Lizards</font color=blue> hide under rocks,<font color=red>Trolls</font color=red> hide under bridges & jump out to ruin posts

 

[Guest]

Yeah they are right the way in, i have tried a few times to see if it makes any difference. I have two slots for DDR ram, and 3 for SDRAM i think. Basically, i will try using the new ram instead of the old one, and see if the RAM actually works. Thanks for all your help, most appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Ok here are the settings in bios for memory.
Ph limit 8
Idle limit 8
Trc timing value 5
Trp timing value 2
Tras timing value 2
Trcd Timing value 2
Cas latency 2

.Cas latency is the one that makes the difference.

<font color=blue>Lizards</font color=blue> hide under rocks,<font color=red>Trolls</font color=red> hide under bridges & jump out to ruin posts

 

[agpport]

Those are quite aggresive settings that you might not hit with generic memory. If you want to be safe use:

Trc timing value 6
Trp timing value 3
Tras timing value 3
Trcd Timing value 3
Cas latency 2.5

command rate: 2 (if KT266 chipset)


_________________________________________
.your signature is wasting perfectly good bandwidth.

 

[Guest]

did u try putting the new one that u recieved in by itself? It could be faulty (happens).

(knows that 256 works but u might just have left the old one in )

 

[Guest]

yeah i tried it on it's own, and my machine beeped like crazy. I have sent it back and am getting a full refund due tot he fact the supplier said they get next to no returns due to faulty chips. Thanks for all your help though guys, most appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Good to have it all sorted out.

hehe all that explaining for a bad chip.

<font color=purple>Three ways to do things, your way, my way and the right way!</font color=purple>

 

[killall]

all not nt windows try to die with >= 512 megs...

if in doubt blame microsoft...