I didn't post this in Linux - Hardware because it isn't really linux related.

A while ago I had problems with my USB on my motherboard, my iPod wouldn't work on some ports but would on others. I just put it down to computer funkiness and didn't think anything of it. Today I got some more RAM (who doesn't love memory? ), put it in and uh oh, computer wouldn't boot. I turn it on, the memory is recognised and everything looks good. It lists my disks and then black screen. I went into the BIOS menu and it reported the correct amount of memory but then it froze in there. Now I can only get into the BIOS menu sometimes. Other times it just black screens on me.

I took the new RAM stick out and everything worked fine. I thought maybe I got a dud stick or something but I tried a bit more experimenting and in the long run it turns out the RAM is fine, but one particular slot on my mobo (the previously uninhabited one) is screwy. Whether it's the new RAM or the old RAM in there, if anything is in that slot no booty-upy for me I tried blowing the slot out Super Nintendo cartridge-style without any luck, does this mean my motherboard is crapping out or is there another explaination? I don't know a lot about hardware so I could easily be missing something simple.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Two thoughts - either the new RAM is incompatible with your mobo (ie, the new RAM is faster than the mobo can handle) or the two sticks are different speeds (which typically can cause lockups - the faster RAM is forced to wait while the slower RAM catches up, and over time, this is not an ideal situation)

Or it could be that one of your RAM slots has been damaged.

The first questions to ask are just whether or not the RAM is the same speed, and is that speed compatible with the mobo. Good luck with it

Sorry, I'm spastic I should have covered that. The new RAM is the same speed as the old stuff and it's all compatible with my motherboard. It's PC3200 so it shouldn't be pushing the boundaries of many mobos these days.

Following up on J.W.’s comments in light of the memory being DDR400/PC3200, mixing memory in the paired memory slots of a dual channel motherboard can be dicey, even when the memory specs seem to be identical. That doesn’t mean you can’t mix memory, but it’s usually safest to install two of whatever you want to use as a pair.

Also, on some/many of the initial motherboards using DDR400, it was strongly recommended to only populate two slots with DDR400, whereas it was fine to fill all 4 slots with slower DDR memory.

Okay, it's only got 3 memory slots, not four. The board is a ASUS P4S800, it's not new but it's not one of the first DDR boards around. Being only 3 slots, I can't install any more memory in pairs, however at the moment I am running it fine with the new stick and one of the old ones so the pairing doesn't seem to be an issue.

I'll see if I can get hold of some PC2700 memory from someone to test, see if the issue is having all DDR400 memory or not.

Your motherboard has some of the restrictions on PC3200 that I was talking about.

This is from the P4S800 manual:


As usual, the 3GB number is a pipedream with PC3200.

I would never have thought of that, hardware isn't my strong point and I figured if there are 3 slots and the board supports X type RAM then I could use 3 sticks of it.

Ahh well, I might abuse it as a "good" excuse to upgrade Thanks for finding that out for me!

Or you could just replace the motherboard with one that can use your existing components.

For example, staying with the Asus SiS P4 motherboard series, the P4S800D-X has 4-DDR memory slots (true dual channel or can be used as single channel). They can be filled with up to 4 PC3200 sticks, if you abide by some pairing restrictions in dual channel mode as is explained in the manual. It also includes 2 SATA fake-raid connectors along with other goodies. Unfortunately, no onboard gigabit NIC.

NewEgg (www.newegg.com) has it for US$58.99, or about the cost of a PC3200 stick. The only other thing you need to buy is some thermal grease (very cheap) to reset the heatsink.

I have no qualms about replacing motherboards when something better becomes available. It only takes 20-30 min. to change one.

I have a better idea I'll be using my mobo + CPU to upgrade my parents computer (they can keep most of their parts) and I'll upgrade to a Athlon64 X2 something with a suitable motherboard that I'll research properly now I know most about limitations and possible a new vid card unless I get get a new board with an AGP slot, but I'm happy with the new vid card idea if I can afford it

Think the Asus A8N-SLI Premium would have a limitation like this? I can't find any good documentation on the Asus web site, a link to that would be as good as an answer

Nice motherboard. There are some minor restrictions on memory, but nothing overwhelming. 4GB total will show up as less than 4GB, but they don't say how much less.

There is something odd about the SI 3114 SATA-II layout on the board: 4 SATA fake-Raid connectors and 4 SATA non-Raid connectors. Search around for someone who has used this board and see if they had SATA-II problems.

You may have problems with the nVidia gigabit nic, but the Marvell gigabit nic should work fine.

The manual is available from their download site: http://support.asus.com/download/dow...-SLI%20Premium

I'm actually building a computer now for my dad. A nice dual opteron motherboard. Unfortunately I got memory troubles as well. Turns out my high-end motherboard can't take non-ecc ram. Its very selective.

Atleast I hope its the memory. If I completely bomb this project, I'm done for and we just end up wasting about $1300.



480w fanless psu
2 sata drives(stripe raided)
2 operteron 244s
nvdia old-school geoforce 3 64mb(still runs most games anyways. and this system won't even be used for gaming)
motherboard right here

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/produc...il.php?UID=614

Thank you for your excellent help! I swear I searched through their Download section but I obviously didn't, or something

Had a similar problem. You really could put it in Linux-Hw.

LOL

Planning on getting the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe myself, a slight step down from the premium, apparently both are great boards.