4x 1Gb OCZ DDR2 6400 Rev2 Platinum and Asus P5N32-E Mobo Boot Problems

[kenzie_01]

Hi guys, back with yet more problems for you to ponder over. you've been a great help so far, so fingers crossed we can get this working too.

I've had the Asus P5N32-E 680i mobo for a while now, working perfectly with 2x 1Gb sticks of OCZ DDR6400 Platinum Rev2 RAM for a good few months now, the mobo did undervolt it, but not enough to stop it booting first time, and alowing me to up the volts to the recomended 2.1V.

I've reacently got a seconds pair of the exactly the same RAM, and after inserting both sticks my pc simply fails to boot (BSOD as it were!).

I checked my bios settings and everything is still set to 2.1V's, however after the BSOD everything is reset to default. its an easy fix back to my OC'd settings and the 2.1v for the ram, but annoying that i cant get a nice 4Gb system up and running.

my guess is there isn't enough V's getting to all the RAM, but i thought i'd ask here before i go ahead and chuck more Volts through the RAM and risk blowing it!

basicly am i on the right track with the more V's theory, and if so, what would you recomend i up the V's by untill i get the system running and stable, also whats a safe limit to push up too, so i dont end up frying everything.

I have an OCZ RAM cooler, but in order to instally it i need to take out my 8800GTS and its a lot of mucking around just to plug and unplug some ram, so for the time being thats not going to be used untill i get the system back up and running.

Thanks in advance for the help, and any more info needed just ask.

Regards

Kenzie

 

[Rastalovich]

I`d be running memtest tbh. If the whole bank of 4 sticks gives me errors, I`d try 2 pairs seperately, then mix them to find which stick(s) are causing a prob.

If memtest says u`r a-ok, we`re talking drivers for something.

I`m wondering what OS u`r using with this and what memory u`r 8800 has.

 

[Ham]

What timmings are you running?

Sounds too me like your trying too run them at 2T and they an't having it.

The other thing too try is underclocking. A few boards can't run 4GB @ 800. Try 667?

 

[Bungral]

What timmings are you running?

Sounds too me like your trying too run them at 2T and they an't having it.

The other thing too try is underclocking. A few boards can't run 4GB @ 800. Try 667?

I was going to say something along these lines as well..

If you have tightened the timings of your 2gb as far as they will go being stable then when you chuck in another 2 gig chances are these timings will become unstable. Try loosening them off and starting the OC process again. Tiresome but might do the trick.

 

[Pyr0]

have you tried adding a little voltage to the NB too? (where the memory controller is )

 

[kenzie_01]

OK a few new things to try out there, thanks for the quick replys and input.

No one confirmed or denied my theory or needing more V's, can some one tell me if i'm on possibly the right lines there as another possible problem?

going to test all the sticks now, and run memtest also.

in answer to some of the questions:

I'm running Win XP Home SP2 with all the latest updates etc etc,

My 8800 is of Asus brand and 320MB, not too sure what memory manufacture they use for this card though!

RAM Timing is allmost all stock (5-5-5-15) only change i've made is change from 2T to 1T, but i'll change that back before i start my testing i think.

Underclocking is a possibility, I've currently got my E6600 sat at 3GHz not the 3.2GHz in my sig, i'll update that in a mo. i supose i could chuck the RAM down from 800 to 667 to make it a standard 1:1 ratio setup. good thinking batman!

As for NB, yes i have active cooling on it and its sitting pretty at 1.5V, could probally tune that down a bit, but i'd like to get everything running sweetly before i start tuning stuff back down etc.

Thanks again for the help, i'll be back in an hour or so with some resuults.

 

[kenzie_01]

OK, done a few test's and lots of RAM swapping.

So far, i've run MemTest on my old ram and finnished one pass with no errors. so i then tried using the two new sticks on there own to see if i could boot. result. BSOD!

so i then tried one new and one old to see if there was an error on one of the new sticks. guess what!

both sticks work perfectly with an old stick running next to it? strange!

so i then tried one stick on its own seperatly to see if that works, and again, both new sticks work ok on there own? they just dont want to work together!

i've tried putting the two new sticks in unlinked RAM DIMM's with and without my old RAM and no luck.

so i'm off to run a full pass of memtest on each stick in turn to see if i get any errors. if not. i'll try underclocking the ram to see if that has any effect.

on a side note, i realised the stock timing for this ram is not 5-5-5-15, but 4-4-4-15 and 2T, so i've set that as my base while i'm testing. speed is set to 800MHz (rated speed) and 2.1V as rated by OCZ.

back later with the mem test results and if underclocking helped at all.

 

[weihk]

on my old system, that uses 4x512 rams, i need to bump my NB volts to 1.55, otherwise it becomes very unstable.

i'll try upping NB volts, run CPU at stock speed, set ram timing to Auto, set volts to Ram requirments and see if it works.

if lucky enough, then do the OC again from ground up...

 

[kenzie_01]

Hmmm, i'm still stumped!

mem test passes all of the RAM sticks when inserted seperatly, under clocking to 667 aloued me to use the new sticks on there own in a pair, but when i thought that was then end of my troubles, and inserted the other two sticks i got a bsod again!

going to try and get both new sticks in and working at 667, and try mem test on the pair as thats what seems to be giving me troubles!

any new ideas from anyone?

 

[kenzie_01]

ok thanks weihk,

i think thats going to be next on the list if i cant get it working with my current settings. and mem test doesn't give me any errors.

 

[markkleb]

why are you running 4 gigs of memory with XP?

You need a 64bit OS.

And 1T is definitely a no-no with 4 sticks of memory.

 

[kenzie_01]

That would be my problem then! thanks for clearing it up, i didn't know.

I RMA'd the RAM in the end anyway, and it turned out to be faulty. i asked for a refund not a replacment so that's that one over and done with.

i treated my self to a nice Thermal Take Armor case in the end with a beastly 25cm side fan, which has helped my temps loads, so its all good in the end.

 

[nathan]

XP Pro can handle 4gb of RAM, not sure if XP Home handles the same. Any higher than 4gb, you'll 64bit.