Help: Can't get pc to use 4 x 1GB RAM upgrade.

danmanchester

Hi techies,

Hoping someone here can point me in the right direction on what I'm doing wrong. As title says, trying to upgrade to 4gb ram from 2gb.

Self built pc running Vista home premium 64 bit on an ASUS A8N-SLI premium mobo/AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ cpu.

Just bought these 4 x 1GB DDR Ram from Play.com

Now I know this should just be a simple process of taking out the old dimms and putting in the new ones (I've upgraded from 1GB to 2GB in the past with no problems), I am sure the new dimms are compatible: PC3200/400mhz/DDR 184 pin - same as I have now 4 x 512mb PC3200/400/ddr.

On boot up I see as normal the Asus bios flash screen for a split second, then POST screen that hangs for a while and then it goes to the "safe boot/last known good config/start windows normally" screen. It also says here something like "a recent hardware or software change has affected etc and please insert your windows cd to repair option.

So I try Start normally and all I get is a "no signal" message on monitor and it reboots and the process just repeats.

OK I then go into the BIOS to check if it's seeing the new memory and it is:
"installed memory 4096mb/usable memory 4096" I can't see anything else in the BIOS options to change or tweak as AUTO is enabled for 4gb ram.

OK next I try booting with my Vista dvd, it begins to load drivers then crashes and blue screens with error message (can't remember the exact message but something about to prevent any damage windows has shutdown!)

Finally - after about an hour of this I just put back my old 2gb ram, switch on pc and it's back to normal!

Does anyone have any ideas please? Could I have a DOA dimm amongst the new ones or have I missed a configuration step somewhere? Like I said I thought this should just be a case of take out the old ones and replace with the new, but I can't get past the POST screen even though the BIOS "sees" 4096 installed! :mad:

Thanks in advance.

superstylin

Does sound like a dodgy stick of memory, although a previous problem I had with a duff memory stick led to my laptop not even hitting the POST screen. One I removed it and replaced it with another stick it was fine.

[Deleted User]

Nope, it's 99% not dodgy memory.

You need to update the BIOS on your motherboard. Asus are notorious at the moment for having dismal support on their boards for 4GB RAM.

The easiest and safest way to do it is with a USB Memory Stick if you have one, if not a floppy disk and if not that you can do it from within Windows but it bears more risk.

spankymonkey_2

try inserting one stick of new memory in at a time at least then you will know which particular one maybe faulty

danmanchester

anewhope wrote: »

Nope, it's 99% not dodgy memory.

You need to update the BIOS on your motherboard. Asus are notorious at the moment for having dismal support on their boards for 4GB RAM.

The easiest and safest way to do it is with a USB Memory Stick if you have one, if not a floppy disk and if not that you can do it from within Windows but it bears more risk.

I had a niggling feeling it may be something about the bios, I tried a few weeks ago to update bios and gave up in frustration!

The windows asus update won't install on 64 bit apparently, and as you mention updating bios from within windows is quite dodgy anyway.

I don't have floppy drive on this pc but did try updating bios from a memory stick and couldn't get the EZ (!) Flash in the bios to see the usb even though "removable drive" is definitely enabled in bios.

I wonder if burning a new bios to cd would work?

totalsolutions

Page 2-12 of manual, Are you using ram from the Qualified Vendors List?

Conor_3

In your BIOS, look for an entry which says "Command Time" followed by a value. If it says 1T, change it to 2T. If it's 2T, leave it alone. Also make sure that the BIOS memory speed settings are set to SPD.

johnoz

Just checking, but I guess you are using the Vista 64 bit version rather than the standard one (so Vista can use the full 4 Gb)?

[Deleted User]

If you can get into BIOS, try adjusting the VDIMM voltage from Auto (which more than likely will default to 1.8v) to 1.9v, or 1.95v.

mazz1953

Try resetting the CMOS jumper or taking out the CMOS battery for about 30 seconds and see if that helps.

danmanchester

Page 2-12 of manual, Are you using ram from the Qualified Vendors List?

Nope..but the manual is 3 years old.

In your BIOS, look for an entry which says "Command Time" followed by a value. If it says 1T, change it to 2T. If it's 2T, leave it alone. Also make sure that the BIOS memory speed settings are set to SPD.

It's at 2T and SPD

Just checking, but I guess you are using the Vista 64 bit version rather than the standard one (so Vista can use the full 4 Gb)?

Vista 64 bit,yep.

If you can get into BIOS, try adjusting the VDIMM voltage from Auto (which more than likely will default to 1.8v) to 1.9v, or 1.95v.

I'll try that next, thanks.

Try resetting the CMOS jumper or taking out the CMOS battery for about 30 seconds and see if that helps.

Already tried that.

Thanks for all your suggestions everyone, I think updating my bios (the current bios is dated 10/2005) is the key and I just can't seem to do it through usb flash or cd. The mobo manual and other forums all seem to say floppy drive is the best/easiest way to flash bios...so I'll see if I can get hold of one tomorrow and try that.

Turning pc off for the night now I've had enough!