Machine wont boot with 2gb of ram

Post by **bitWISE** » Tue May 01, 2007 5:01 pm

Currently I'm running a pair of Corsair CMX512-3200XLPT for a total of 1gb. These are 2-2-2-5 timing, PC3200 DDR sticks. Last year I tried getting another gig of Corsair and it didn't work but I assumed it was because of conflicting timings and decided to return the RAM to newegg since it wasn't exactly what I had. Well, I just got another gig of the exact memory I'm using, the only thing different is the pair number. So I have two sets of paired DDR sticks totalling 2gb.

Filled all 4 slots, wont POST. Filled first two with new ram, can POST. Put old ram in last two slots and left the new ram in the first two, wont POST. Alternated slots with all four, wont POST. Filled last two with old, wont POST. Filled last two with new, wont POST. This is the exact same thing I ran into before and assumed it was a compatibility issue.

So...you think my slots are fucked? MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI mobo.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Tue May 01, 2007 5:29 pm

there where some NF3/4's that had an issue when all slots where filled,

are your timmings still set in the bios ( from when you first got those ram sitck's) ?

what is the Volts set at?

Have you checked to see if there is a later bios to fix ram issues like this?

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Tue May 01, 2007 5:30 pm

and read this:

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/form ... ormid=2651

Post by **bitWISE** » Tue May 01, 2007 5:35 pm

AmIdYfReAk wrote:there where some NF3/4's that had an issue when all slots where filled,

are your timmings still set in the bios ( from when you first got those ram sitck's) ?

what is the Volts set at?

Have you checked to see if there is a later bios to fix ram issues like this?

Timings were never changed by me. I tried resetting BIOS to defaults which is auto RAM settings and that didn't work. Not sure what voltage is but I may try forcing it to a specific value after work.

Last I checked I had the latest BIOS.

Post by **bitWISE** » Tue May 01, 2007 5:56 pm

AmIdYfReAk wrote:and read this:

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/form ... ormid=2651

I tried doing the same thing from the manual and it wouldn't work. I'm starting to think my green slots are FUBAR. Even though they say the opposite, purple slots only works but green slots only doesn't with either set (and obviously, all four slots with matched pairs in matched colors doesnt work).

Post by **bitWISE** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:06 pm

4 Dimms at 2GB

Finally, we populated all 4 DIMM slots with 512 MB DIMS in each for a total of 2GB of system memory. With all 4 DIMM slots full, we found that the board would not post at all regardless of what memory we tried. We attempted to boot the system with matched sticks of Mushkin, Kingston, and Corsair modules, all to no avail.

I would think this is something that can be easily sorted out by MSI with a BIOS revision.

Fucking woot

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:24 am

when was that posted?

Post by **bitWISE** » Wed May 02, 2007 1:35 pm

AmIdYfReAk wrote:when was that posted?

Thats from the hardocp review. They actually went back, edited the review and stripped MSI of their award because of the amount of persistent, unresolved problems.

I let their live update software flash my bios to make sure I had the latest version and now I can't even boot windows and the dos flasher appears to crash. At first I was actually excited because the newest bios revision actually gives me a long repeating beep when my ram config wont get past post. I'm going to call tonight and hopefully I can get an RMA.

But yea, I'm accepting recommendations for the best 939 mobo.

Post by **Foo** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:22 pm

ASUS A8N-series or the newer equivalent of it.

This board has been fucking fantastic for me so far. twin gigabit, nvidia chipset, 8 sata sockets, dual raid... can't knock it. Plus its prolly cheap as fuck now, or there's an even better equivalent.

Post by **bitWISE** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:29 pm

I've heard a lot of people saying this DFI board is the champ and is an extreme overclocker (anandtech got a FSB of 512!) so I'm between that and the Asus so far.
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-NF4SDEX

Also, I found a better set of command line options and was able to successfully restore my bios back to revision 0. So, my system isn't a brick anymore but I still cant use 2gb of ram.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Wed May 02, 2007 8:05 pm

if you dig a little deaper, there was a huge following with the DFI, then people found out that it was a hit or miss with that board, Tons of RMA's later they where able to get it clocking like the rest of them..

i have heard nothing but good things about the A8N to be honest.

Post by **bitWISE** » Thu May 03, 2007 1:28 am

Ok so I tried every bios revision and only the first version boots on my machine. Tried running the memory voltage at 2.8 and still couldn't use all my ram.

Post by **Sevensins** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:10 pm

You probably need to change the "command per clock" to 2T or disable it which should set it to 2T. [edit] It may be called something different for whatever bios MSI uses. [edit2] it is called "1T/2T memory timing" in your bios.

I currently have a DFI LanParty Ultra-D that appears to be going to shit. I have swapped just about everything out of the system and it still is screwed up. The only options left are either motherboard or CPU.

I bought a ASUS A8N32 Deluxe and will be putting it in soon. Just from appearance, the board looks great though.

Post by **bitWISE** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:24 pm

I'm pretty sure I'm using 2T but I will make sure.