Video Issue After RAM Installation

[JoeM076]

I recently installed new and more RAM in my computer, but I think this factor is irrelevant to my problem. I am experiencing video issues where when I turn my computer and screen on, there is no picture on the screen. When installing my RAM I unplugged most of the wires in my computer for the goal of making the inside more organized, but now I don't get any image on my screen when I turn my computer on. My graphics card's fan spins when I turn my computer on, so I'm assuming that my GPU is still working...

- If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great!

Specifications:

- Nvidia XFX 8800GTX
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
- Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe Gaming Motherboard
- Corsair XMS2(4x 1GB) - DDR2 SDRAM - 800(PC2 6400)
- Windows Vista Home Premium

 

[technicalfury42]

Reseat your graphics card. Check monitor connections. Ensure video card is powered.

 

[JoeM076]

How do I reseat my video card?
- All of my monitor connections are secure and my video card seems to be powered because the fan spins.

 

[mscrx]

it is reseat - not reset. that means you pull it out and put it back in to make sure it is seated well.
can you access the bios or is there literally nothing on screen? any harddisk activity? if reseating the video card doesn't work then you may pull out all other devices (cards, memory, hdd's and optical drives) then try to start and see what happens. if it turns on and tells you there is no memory installed, put it back in and do this procedure again and again everytime with another device you pulled out before. maybe you can figure out what is the problem by "exclusion".

wish you good luck!
mscrx

 

[kirock]

I'd start with plugging back in every thing you unplug. You most likely removed the 6pin power supply connection to the video card. Exactly how many things did you disconnect and why (if you don't know what they are for)? Surely you didn't disconnect the 20-24 pin power supply connect to the mobo? There are several PSU cables and even data cables, they all need to be connected. Eaxmples are:HDD psu and data cable, Cpu needs it's own psu cable...etc etc.

 

[JoeM076]

I already have everything plugged back in, i've tried numerous times to reseat my video card too.
- To answer mscrx's question, there is nothing on the screen.
- Also, there is very little harddisk activity.

 

[kirock]

Remove the new RAM, it's probably the wrong type. The CPU communicates to the gfx crad via the RAM and if RAM is dead or not compatible a blank screen would be the result. I'm surprised your not getting beep codes on POST though.

 

[JoeM076]

Well unfortunately, the source of the problem WAS the RAM. I took the new RAM out and put in the old and my computer works as good as before. I still do not understand WHY my computer doesn't support it. I even started a thread here to ask if it was compatible with my computer and everyone said "Yes". I even tried just putting 2 of the 4 sticks in, and my computer still wouldn't show any image.

 

[mscrx]

well, didn't read your thread about the ram but sometimes it happens that even supported modules (supported by size and speed) do not work for every mobo. this is vendor specific. I went through this long time ago with a dell optiplex gx150 and bought tons of modules until I found some dell modules in ebay which worked. can you give me your mobo details again and tell me what memory modules you have? I would like to review this if it is ok with you.

cheers, mscrx

 

[JoeM076]

This is my motherboard:
- http://www.pcworld.com/product/userreviews/prtprdid,23242016/userreviews.html

This is my RAM:
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034

---Also, I just found this when I was looking at the reviews for the RAM:

"incompatible with my motherboard (Asus P5N-E SLI) on auto settings, required some digging and found the correct manual configuration on Asus' site and Corsair's site. Quite a frustrating experience for a product that is on Asus' compatibility list for this mobo"......
....."Wish I had some warning that I would need to tweak the memory timings to make the memory stable in my system. Many BSODs later it is rock solid."

 

[technicalfury42]

What confuses me is that you said you didn't see anything when you turned the computer on. These people are having issues after the computer POSTs, since they were able to manually adjust the timings. I do not believe this is the same issue.

As a matter of fact, I find it unusual to begin with that the RAM could prevent the computer from posting. Did you try reseating the ram, making sure the latches were fully secured? I have seen where improperly installed DIMMS can prevent POST, but that is unusual.

Have you tried JUST the new RAM?

What about 1-stick at a time?

 

[mscrx]

---Also, I just found this when I was looking at the reviews for the RAM:

"incompatible with my motherboard (Asus P5N-E SLI) on auto settings, required some digging and found the correct manual configuration on Asus' site and Corsair's site.

For me that is your problem, incompatibility. as I already mentioned there are mobo's that do not work with some memory modules. can you make sure you don't run on auto settings in the bios. if you set the memory bus speed to a normal value and then try the memory modules again? I am not sure how to help you anymore. if I were you I would give the memory back to the seller and get me some other.

mscrx

 

[JoeM076]

Is there any RAM that you could suggest that would give me good performance for games?

 

[mscrx]

I would try asking asus support for their recommendation. my personal opinion is that kingston is pretty reliable but I am more in laptops.... so not 100% sure.

mscrx

 

[kirock]

This is from the mobo website you posted:

Only negative was researching what memory to get... the manual only showed DDR2 @667/533, some online material shows DDR2 @800/667/533; I've had ZERO issues with my Corsair TWIN2X2048-5400CR, DDR2-675

You bought the DDR2-800, so I think that's your problem. You probably need to roll back to 667. RMA those new ones back to Newegg and replace them with DDR2-667. (hopefully Newegg will give you an equal exchange for them)

Cheers.

 

[mscrx]

from what I read in the mobo specs it supports ddr2-800 (pc2-6400)
bus 133mhz - 400mhz and fsb up to 1033mhz

thinking about all that was posted here...

you said it works with the two old dimm @675mhz and with one dimm @800mhz.
as far as I remember you did not say you changed the bus speed manually!?
did you run the memory in auto mode when you had only one dimm installed or did you set it to 400/800mhz in the bios and then tried to put in the second one?
if not then please try this again. put in one of the new dimms, go to the bios and set the bus speed from auto to 400/800mhz. then save the settings and switch the computer off. put in the second new dimm and start the computer again.

I hope I didn't mix up something now...

wish you good luch, again!
mscrx

 

[JoeM076]

Sorry about the delay..

Well I tried 2 of the 1GB RAM modules in the corresponding yellow RAM slots and the computer works fine. It actually works SLIGHTLY better than my previous RAM, but what I want is to be able to put the rest of the RAM in, to have a total of 4GB's of RAM. This is where the problem is, because everytime I put 4 in the computer shows no image. I bought 4 RAM modules and I REALLY want to be able to use them, especially when they're SUPPOSED to be compatible with my computer.

 

[JoeM076]

Ok well now for some reason, my computer works fine when 3 RAM modules are in the computer. Hmm..


***UPDATE:

- Well I ran a few benchmarks with 3GB's of RAM and 2GB's of RAM, and my computer is MUCH slower. Also, for some reason the Windows Vista Windows Experience Index closes down when I run it to see what my score is. If anyone knows why adding this RAM would cause these problems, that would be greatly appreciated!



2nd UPDATE******

- Ok, well for my third test I ran the same benchmark with my old RAM and it performed exactly the same, BAD. I don't know why it performed poorly and I also do not know why I get the same performance even when I have 3GB's of better RAM. Any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated!



*****3rd UPDATE:

- Ok so now I tried putting 4GB's of the new RAM into my computer and for some reason NOW it works. The computer boots up fine and everything seems fine. The Windows Experience Index program even runs fine. The problem is that I am getting VERY poor framerates from the benchmark I am running(3DMark06), and I do not know why. I shouldn't get poor framerates from my PC, considering the spec's of it. Again, if anyone has any suggestions or solutions for this problem, it will be greatly appreciated!


****4th UPDATE

- I now noticed that my computer is very unstable when I have 4GB's of the new RAM in. A blue error screen appears and then my computer restarts. So I took the 2 GB's out and now I'm running on two GB's.

 

[kirock]

Which ones? The DDR2-800 or the 667?
Check in your BIOS that your fsb is still set to 200MHz. Also you might try adding a little extra vdimm (ram voltage). Just up it by the smallest increment allowed and save reboot and run a few programs to see if it's more stable.