Ram problem

[shax706]

First of all I'd just like to say hello to all you wonderful people, as this is my first post. After having such problems with my pc I've decided to join up and seek the help and advice of you fine people. Right onto the problem.

My system:
Asrock p4vt8+ mobo, with up to date bios
Intel Pentium 4 Prescott 3.2Ghz 800FSB
2×1gb ddr ram (generic)
Saphire Ati Radeon 9600 Pro Atlantis
(thats all i think i need to tell you, if u need more info let me know please,

To start off with i'm not a noob but i'm no expert either i know quite a bit bout the ins of pc but not a complete knowledge fountain. The system above i built myself earlier this year and it has run great so far, but i recently bought two 1gig ddr ram sticks (pc3200) as i had already on 1gig in there but wanted more (not bein greedy ) ne way the problem came when i wanted to put all three ram sticks into the pc, simply put the system would not start up, don't get me wrong it got to just before the xp loading screen but then just rebooted and this would happen over and over again unless i switched it off, I have tried fiddling around with the bios settings lowering the frequency etc of the ram but no success. atm i have the two newer ram sticks in and they work seemingly ok, there's nothing wrong with the old stick since i have tried different scenarios as in putting the old stick with one of the new ones and placing them in two of the three bays. i've used memtest86 to see if there woz ne faults and it woz all positive. i can't figure out the problem so please could you help a guy out here, it's starting to really bug me out.

thanks


shak :wave:

 

[DonNagual]

My guess would be simply that the different types of ram you are wanting to use just don't like working together...

 

[shax706]

Really? That doesn't make sense since i've tried different combinations like using the old ram with the new ones and it works, for some reason it won't take all three, it'll take two and it doesn't matter which ones they are. i can use the ol ram with either of the new ram and it works perfectly

 

[DonNagual]

You are right, that wouldn't make sense.

I just read the manual of your motherboard and found the following information.

Memory:

3 DDR DIMM slots: DDR1, DDR2, and DDR3

PC2100 (DDR266) for 3 DDR DIMM slots, max 3Gb
PC2700 (DDR333) for 2 DDR DIMM slots, Max 2Gb
PC3200 (DDR400) for 1 DDR DIMM slots, Max 1Gb

Am I reading it wrong? You can have 3Gb only if you use PC2100 ram? If you are using PC3200 ram, you can have a max of 1Gb?

I know you have 2 sticks of 1gb in there now, and it is running. I guess I am reading this info wrong...

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

According to your mobo manual, your mobo supports the following memory configurations.

Pc2100(ddr266) in 3 dimm slots max 3gig.

Pc2700(ddr333) in 2 dimm slots max 2 gig.

Pc3200(ddr400) in 1 dimm slot max 1 gig.

In other words, you can only use a maximum of 1 gig of pc3200 ram in one dimm slot.

You can get your mobo manual from HERE

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

P.s Sorry DonNagual, I posted at the same time as you lol.

 

[DonNagual]

lol Howard!

That happens to us a lot. You'd probably beat me to the post faster, but you are just so friendly and polite! Cheers.

 

[shax706]

Thats wha i assumed, a maximum of 1gb (pc3200) in one dimm slot, which is what i got i don't understand why it won't accept a third pc3200 ram.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

It means your mobo wont support more than 1gig of pc3200 ddr ram in total.

So if you wish to use pc3200 ram you can only use 1 stick in 1 dimm slot.

Regards Howard

 

[DonNagual]

Question for you Howard, would it be safe to assume that 3Gb of PC2100 would be a better option than 1Gb of PC3200 (total)?

 

[shax706]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, but how come i can put in 2gb of ram in? atm moment i hav 2gb of pc3200 in two dimm slots ryt, and in the bios it sets the frequency to ddr333 automatically, i can set it to 400 n still works, but when it comes to all three it'll set it automatically to ddr266 but still not work

 

[howard_hopkinso]

No. The reason is that shax706 is running an Intel Pentium 4 Prescott 3.2Ghz 800FSB, which means his fsb should be set to 200mhz(400mhz effective).

So, he needs to be using pc3200 ram which also uses a fsb of 200mhz.

If he used either pc2700 fsb 166mhz or, worse still pc2100 fsb 133mhz ram then he would be overclocking his ram, and could experience stability issues.

Regards Howard :grinthumb

 

[DonNagual]

I am in awe that we can have people like Howard here... and for free.

[DonNagual bows down before Howard]

 

[howard_hopkinso]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, but how come i can put in 2gb of ram in? atm moment i hav 2gb of pc3200 in two dimm slots ryt, and in the bios it sets the frequency to ddr333 automatically, i can set it to 400 n still works, but when it comes to all three it'll set it automatically to ddr266 but still not work

Your mobo automatically detects what ram you have in, and sets the fsb accordingly.

By using 2 sticks of pc3200 ram which your mobo doesn`t support, it automatically downclocks your fsb to 166mhz(333mhz effective). This way your ram, and your cpu are both underclocked.

If you then raise the fsb back to 200mhz, while your cpu will again be at the correct fsb, your ram will not, because your mobo just doesn`t support 2 sticks of pc3200.

I recommend that you only use 1gig of pc3200 in one dim slot.

Regards Howard :grinthumb

 

[shax706]

Ryt, i get you now, thank you for being so helpful, i kno i chose the ryt forum to register wiv for help, i'll kno when to look when i need help, thank you so much howard you you've been a great help and you DonNagual, :grinthumb

(i fink i myt get a new mobo later)

 

[DonNagual]

and you DonNagual, :grinthumb

Bah, I'm just the good looking side kick. :giddy:

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Bah, I'm just the good looking side kick. :giddy:

I wont disagree with that DonNagual lol.

Good looks is something I`ve never been blessed with.

Originally posted by shax706

Ryt, i get you now, thank you for being so helpful, i kno i chose the ryt forum to register wiv for help, i'll kno when to look when i need help, thank you so much howard you you've been a great help and you DonNagual,

(i fink i myt get a new mobo later)

Glad we could help mate.

Regards Howard