Memory compatibility problem?

[Bugsy_malone 666]

Right I am getting rather lost with building my new PC and have wasted money on parts all because of the ram I bought.

I need some help!

Basically I have 2 x asrock motherboards, both different models which are suppoded to support ddr2 PC6400 800mhz memory as standard and will go as high as the DDr 2 1066mhz stuff if you have an AMD AM2+/AM3 socket processor.
So on ebay I spotted some brand new memory earlier in the year made by kingston (value ram) PC6400 but importantly these were really slimline modules, half the height of normal ones which was great as I was building an ultra compact pc in an xbox360 case and every square cm of space counted. Eventually I got all the bits fired the pc up and pop i managed to knackered the motherboard *rolls eyes* due to a dodgy psu.

So i buy another psu and the same mobo, this time the mobo was faulty and only realised this after buying another AMD chip fearing I had toasted mine on board 1. so the second board is replaced with a slightly higher model the same size and I install all my bits, the thing wont boot.

so I buy a biostar mobo, this doesnt work either but get told that it doesnt support either of my AMD CPUs (xp6000 and XP7750) so I send it back.

I then buy another motherboard which is normal size and abandon the minipc project as it had got to expencive for the spec i was building, most of the components would work fine in a bigger pc so I got a crossfire asrock mobo.

Try booting it and nothing, at which stage im going mad thinking i cant have this many dud mobos! I managed to borrow some nanya/IBM PC4200 memory, a 512mb stick plug it into my motherboard and hey presto it works! tried the other and that works too!

so set of ram 1 is presumed incompatible (Kingston KVR800D2N6K2/4G kit) so I went hunting on the internet for some other cheap memory as I didnt want to spend masses more money, found some 2gb micron rendition DDr2 PC6400 800mhz sticks for £14.95 each which seemed just the ticket and presuming it was a bit cheaper might be more compatible like nanya memory is.

Just put the PC together and fail. the new memory doesnt work either. I installed the 512mb nanya stick and hey presto it worked again!

So I have 4 x 2gb sticks of memory that dont seem to work with my PC and I dont know why or if theres some sort of setting that needs changing in the bios?

The kingston ram is apparently CL6 timings which apparently are slowish while from what I could see the Micron rendition has CL4 timings ( i think doesnt seem to be such a widely advertised ram like kingston).

So can anyone help me? I so cannot seem to find any info leading me as to the problem

Please help

[martin-f]

try putting the details of you motherboard here and see what ram is suitable

-http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/drammemory.aspx

[Bugsy_malone 666]

you see according to that its all crucial ram modules but has the same spec as the stuff I have sat here on my desk apart from obviously the stuff I have isnt crucial.

the board I am trying to use is the ALiveXFire-eSATA2 R3.0.

Memory kit 1: Kingston KVR800D2N6K2/4G - PC2 6400 CL6 240pin Dimm

Memory set 2: Micron Rendition RM25664AA800.16FE PC2

and apparently the spec of these sets of ram are the same as crucials but just dont work and I cant see how I can have that much faulty ram!

[Bugsy_malone 666]

ok had a bit of a play and have kind of got something working.

I have 4 slots for memory on my motherboard, 2 yellow 2 orange. apparently by plugging 2 modules in the same colour you get dual channel mode (whats that again?) so running out of ideas I played with the settings and had to reset the cmos memory.

then I wiped the memory so it went back to auto and decided for the hell of it to first try pairs of memory in each slot so 2 kingstons in the yellow, 2 rendition in the orange, that just didnt work, took the kingston stuff out and put 1 rendition in the yellow slot 1 and 1 rendition in the orange slot one, hey presto it powered up but said memory working in single channel mode?

So went into the bios because I have had to start changing the settings of boot order and that to how I had it, the memory is reading as DDRII533 - 266mhz, this should be 400mhz for DD2 800?

essentially its reading the 2 modules now but I am confused as to what the rest of it means and why it still doesnt seem to be working like it should.

[Mickha]

At least you now know that it is working, the rest is to get the full potential from your system.
I have just checked your board found it's listed as being a AS Rock motherboard.
_http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ALiveXFire-eSATA2%20R3.0&s=
I would follow the colour coding, for pairing your memory, and check the manual, downloadable from the above link, for the correct BIOS settings.
I can't spot any jumper pins, in the motherboard photograph, so I assume all settings are located in the BIOS.
You might also want to contact their technical support, as they will be able to advise you of the correct layout and settings.

[Bugsy_malone 666]

well the manual is about as useful as a poke in the eye bios wise, i dont get why its only provided in chinese on the CD!

I have a 512mb stick of PC2 4200 mem that I use for test that I borrowed from an IT chap at work, this works fine, I set the PC up with this, yet this new ram windows XP wont load properly, its like the new rams faulty or something.

I can also boot it up after powering it off (using the off button as its hung) and turn it on again a few seconds later to find it wont boot like its struggling to get the ram to work.

I have never encounted such a problem with a PC before!

I would have thought the kingston ram would have worked but interesting kingston dont list their ram as being compatible with any asrock boards *rolls eyes* but im sure they say that the mobos listed are the ones they can guarentee will work.

guess I'll be phone up the place where I got the ram from monday to see about some replacement stuff!

[martin-f]

your motherboard Supports Dual Channel DDR2 1066 with AM2+ CPU, and DDR2 800/667/533
the ram you have is not 667/533

[Mickha]

I didn't realise that you were planning to use XP, this is now an old operating system and is limited.
XP Home only recognizes up to 2 GB of RAM and XP Pro only 4GB.

[Bugsy_malone 666]

I am running windows XP 64bit edition, apparently that isnt limited by the same boundaries as the 32bit version.

that aside its actually getting the memory to work thats the issue, as its 800mhz stuff in single channel mode its only showing up as 533mhz and surely at bios level it should still show up as DDRII4800 which makes me think I have duff ram.

[Mickha]

Have you contacted AS Rock to check if you need to alter the BIOS settings?
I would have thought that it should be more straight forward, as I've never had this problem with memory, the most I've had to do was change a jumper on an old motherboard, and update the BIOS.
Have you tried both sticks of memory, separately?
First the 2 sticks of Kingston in the yellow memory holders, then in the orange, and check the speed.
Then do the same with the Micron, and check the results.
It might also be worth trying a software utility, to check the speed they are running at, when using XP.