PC won't boot with 4GB RAM

Z

zesto

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
310
Reaction score
0
Location
JHB
Hi,

I have an Asus p5n32-e sli plus with 2 x 1GB Geil 6400 800mhz RAM, everything was fine until i added another 2 x 1GB of exactly the same RAM so now i have 4GB of RAM. The pc wont boot with 4GB though, it doesn't make it past the initial bios loading screen and sometimes when i try and boot its just a blank screen! I have updated my bios to the most recent version 0602 and all my settings are standard (AUTO).

It is able to boot ok with 3 slots full ie: 3GB RAM but not with 4GB, but this board should support 8GB. Any ideas on what i can do to get it to work with 4GB?

Any advice is appreciated :confused:
 
Yeah send 2GB to me and it should be fine:D

Honestly dont know why it should not boot with the exact same ram if your board supports it.

PS: PM me for shipping details.
 
get memtest gold - or something that u can check the NEW memory chips one by one...sounds either like a bad chip or a defective slot.

do loop the tests tho..have seen memory passing the initial run ..but when looping it shows.


my 2c
 
That board has bad Vdimm droop so up voltage a little or change reference voltage +30mv and set 2.0V also latest bios is not 0602 but 1002.
 
ShockG what is your opinion of the Asus Striker Extreme? My friend has had 3 warranty replacements as the board crashes in the BIOS, the longest it has been able to run is 5 minutes. He underclocked, overclocked, changed the voltages, removed the BIOS battery, updated the BIOS etc. It still just did not want to work.
 
Hi parkinson,

Have you taken a look at the VIP Asus Forum.
If this link doesn't get you to the right forum then start with VIP Asus.
I have picked up some good overclocking tips there for my son's computer.
He has the model just before yours - P5N32 E SLI which I think has the faster chip, but the Northbridge runs pretty damn hot, although never given a hassle yet. My son's computer runs at 3.38GHz 24/7 with 2x1Gb OCZ Ram. Never tried it with 4 sticks yet, so I cannot say the issue you are having is common. The only thing I do remember is when I set up the PC I read the VIP Asus Forum and there were a number of people with Ram issues.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
BTTB.
 
If you can get your hands on a 2x2GB kit and try that it might work. Some motherboards start moaning if you try to fill all the slots.
 
My Gigabyte board had a similar issue with 4 sticks of Samsung DDR - even with the Memory Hole option enabled in the bios settings - it just would not boot with all 4.
I replaced them with two matched pairs of Kingston HyperX 1GB modules and did a full XP re-install and seems to have worked. I'm still running XP SP2 so it won't show the full 4GB available, but it's definitely there... XP boots fine now and is MUCH quicker...
 
^^Also to the OP, unless you're using a 64 bit OS, you'll only be able to see 3-3.5GB of RAM. To use the full 4GB you need to change to XP64 or Vista x64.
 
just put 1 gig stick in each slots to make sure al the ram and all the slots are working

from there take it back to where you bought

i doubt a board would not like all 4 slots to be filled, if it says it can do it it should be able to do it :), if all slots cannot cope with 4 sticks then demand your money back

only vista x64 can see 4 gig, i thought any windows vista 32 or 64 could see the full compliment
 
edc I'm unimpressed by the striker board, and I'd personally give it a miss.
If you can wait about 3weeks from now the DFI Lanparty 680LT SLI board should be around and that is a much better board and allot cheaper.
 
You could download a 64bit Linux live CD to test the 64bit theory.The server hosting the file is local bandwidth and it is month end.

http://za.releases.ubuntu.com/7.04/ubuntu-7.04-desktop-amd64.iso

A live CD will boot and install itself to the RAM only, it won't write anything to your disk drives or change your boot manager. You will go to applications, accessories, terminal and type free -m to see your total ram and usage in megabytes.

System, administration and system monitor will also show you your total memory and usage under the resources tab.

You write the CD the same way you make a XP CD. Though a copied bootable Linux CD is legal, since it is free and not under copyright the same way XP is.
 
Last edited:
What kind of performance boost will there be when you go >2GB RAM? Like, will you really notice 3GB or 4GB compared to 2?
 
Currently I am running Firefox with at least 40 tabs open, music videos as the background, music videos playing in the top right corner and the Beryl interface which is more demanding than Aero, Azureus and a vmware XP machine. I use +- 600mb. 428mb is free.

I have not seen 2G+ make any difference.
 
edc said:
Currently I am running Firefox with at least 40 tabs open, music videos as the background, music videos playing in the top right corner and the Beryl interface which is more demanding than Aero, Azureus and a vmware XP machine. I use +- 600mb. 428mb is free.

I have not seen 2G+ make any difference.
Click to expand...

That is what I thought.
 
ShockG said:
That board has bad Vdimm droop so up voltage a little or change reference voltage +30mv and set 2.0V also latest bios is not 0602 but 1002.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the advice guys.
I tested the ram and the slots and they fine.

The latest bios version for the P5N32-E SLI PLUS on the Asus site is 0602, the 1002 version is for the P5N32-E SLI, can i use this bios as well?

I changed the settings above and with all 4GB it actually makes it past the bios boot screen but freezes on the xp boot screen and on initial solaris loading screen, if i select solaris

I have 2 SATA drives one with XP 32bit and the other with Solaris 10 64bit i am using GRUB as the boot menu.

I have tried the Asus forum but no answers there and i dont have a serial number on the box so cant register and post a thread on the forum.
Im thinking of just contacting Aria where i bought the board from and letting them know..
 
edc said:
Currently I am running Firefox with at least 40 tabs open, music videos as the background, music videos playing in the top right corner and the Beryl interface which is more demanding than Aero, Azureus and a vmware XP machine. I use +- 600mb. 428mb is free.

I have not seen 2G+ make any difference.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you don't need more or even exactly 2GB just for running Windows. Gaming would be the question...

Apparently 3GB does give a boost, but I think atm 2GB is fine, other hardware will probably be better to spend your money on before you splash out on 3 or 4GB.
 
With vista extra memory should give a performance boost, even though your apps might not need it all, but SuperFetch can make quite good use of it...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X