New RAM - won't boot

[Mr. Smith]

Hi guys,


Firstly; Tom - thank you for the ram you lovely man.

I've been lucky enough to be given some shiny new ram (specs here)

Mobo is quite old now Zotac H55ITX-A-E with an i3 550. Couple of SSDs and HDDs, 7950 etc.

Both sticks of ram = hangs a usb controller
One stick of ram = gets as far as checking nvram and then boot loops. With the one stick it runs at 1333 @cas9 on auto.

I've tried quite a few things - even if the mobo can only support 8gb shouldn't a single stick still boot?

Is there a way to get the ram working?

Thanks

 

[Davva2004]

Is your mobo BIOS up to date?

 

[Mr. Smith]

Is your mobo BIOS up to date?

Yes mate. Updated it December IIRC.

I put the old ram back in and everything is working fine...

 

[TheOuterOne]

Yes mate. Updated it December IIRC.

I put the old ram back in and everything is working fine...

Hm, remarkable. Is it just the OS that won't boot? If so, try running memtest on both dimms (dual and single channel).

 

[Mr. Smith]

Hm, remarkable. Is it just the OS that won't boot? If so, try running memtest on both dimms (dual and single channel).

Hi,

Unless I've misunderstood you - I can't get the machine to boot with any of the new ram, so I can't test it!

Things I tried:
- CMOS reset soft and hard (battery out etc)
- I can enter the BIOS with a single stick in, during that time I tried lowering the frequency, a touch more voltage but that would only get me as far as "checking nvram"
- Both sticks BIOS hangs at usb controller so the keyboard doesn't work
- Re-seated every component

Back using the old ram and all seems okay!

Can running ram rated higher than the mobo support cause this? Wouldn't underclocking like I tried get past this? Is the 8gb total Zotac quote really real? Surely one stick would work though?

 

[mArTyN]

Have you tried setting the timings and voltage manually in the bios ?

Sorry put this in when site was updating.

 

[upinesay]

You probably tried already but did you try each of the sticks alone? Maybe only one of the sticks is bad.

 

[TheOuterOne]

You probably tried already but did you try each of the sticks alone? Maybe only one of the sticks is bad.

- I can enter the BIOS with a single stick in, during that time I tried lowering

OT: Can't you ask a friend if you could use his pc to test the ram? Maybe that'd work..

 

[tinytomlogan]

I had only just been testing it here. Have you set it all manually?

Try it at 1600 first your CPU might not like 2133

 

[Mr. Smith]

I had only just been testing it here. Have you set it all manually?

Try it at 1600 first your CPU might not like 2133

This ancient mobo only has three options for the frequency; 800, 1066, 1333. Tried them all. I'll have another crack at it today.


Edit:Same as before. One stick craps out at checking nvram and both craps out before that. I disable memory remap with one stick and got as far as windows splash screen. I updated the bios but that was last updated (according to the site) in 2010. I think this mobo has an actual hard limit.

The solution: new platform. About time I got some sata3 and usb3 love as well as some more cores!

Looking for some used Ivybridge gear so it shouldn't cost the earth!

 

[NeverBackDown]

So your saying one stick is ok? If one stick craps out and when both are in at the same time it craps out that means one stick is working.

Try running that stick alone.

 

[Mr. Smith]

So your saying one stick is ok? If one stick craps out and when both are in at the same time it craps out that means one stick is working.

Try running that stick alone.

Sorry that was rather unclear! Either stick won't work; I just get further using one stick of ram (doesn't matter which) than both sticks together (pair)!

Edit. Zotac website doesn't list any 8gb modules in the compatibility list (download section).

 

[Terrifictez85]

Is this a 16gb set or a 8gb set?

 

[NeverBackDown]

Is this ram kit even compatible with your mobo?