RAM problems

TheModDoctor · Post by **TheModDoctor** » 30 Jul 2008, 19:05

Hi, I bought myself a nice pair of Mushkin HP2-8500 2x1gb sticks. My board only supports DDR2-800, so my new RAM only run at 800mhz.
Now my old RAM, SuperTalent PC-5300 2x 512mb sticks, used to run smoothly on 800mhz, but when I put both the 1GB set and 2GB set in, my PC won't start up, as in not even POST.
I thought that maybe it had something to do with the RAM timings in my BIOS, so I manually configured the timings to 5-5-5-2-18 and 800mhz. My old RAM used to run these timing flawlessly, and the same for my new RAM. But still with these settings my rig won't POST. My friend suggested that I put the 2GB set in one channel, and the 1GB set in the other, but it didn't help.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks.

mrplaya911 · Post by **mrplaya911** » 30 Jul 2008, 21:17

maybe the ram sticks are not compatible.

ADV4NCED · Post by **ADV4NCED** » 30 Jul 2008, 21:26

Its running dual channel?

...You cant dual channel incompatible/different ram

Twiggs · Post by **Twiggs** » 31 Jul 2008, 11:36

just test and see if the new ram works stand alone as in not withthe 2x 512mb if it dont work could be the ram that screwed, is the ram 1066 or 800 (gonna presume 1066).

TheModDoctor · Post by **TheModDoctor** » 31 Jul 2008, 15:58

@twiggs, Yes the new 2GB Ram works alone, thats what I'm using right now. And they are 1066mhz.

I ran them in both these configurations:

And it would be funny if I can't run them together, because I've seen other weird RAM combo's as well.

Twiggs · Post by **Twiggs** » 31 Jul 2008, 16:04

wait your duals run funny what board you got?

TheModDoctor · Post by **TheModDoctor** » 31 Jul 2008, 16:10

Twiggs wrote:what board you got?

A piece of crap... The MSI K9N NEO-F

ADV4NCED · Post by **ADV4NCED** » 31 Jul 2008, 18:05

You running the latest Bios ?

It could just be that your board refuses to work with those two sets of different ram

If you really wanna know if the ram can work together, try it in another mobo

Edit: Also you'd be running dual channel if a module is in each green dimm slot or each orange slot. If you put a stick in the Orange & green slot, its single channel.

TheModDoctor · Post by **TheModDoctor** » 31 Jul 2008, 18:19

ADV4NCED wrote:You running the latest Bios ?

It could just be that your board refuses to work with those two sets of different ram

If you really wanna know if the ram can work together, try it in another mobo

Edit: Also you'd be running dual channel if a module is in each green dimm slot or each orange slot. If you put a stick in the Orange & green slot, its single channel.

Yes, it is kind of the latest bios. The latest official BIOS was released about september last year I think, but I have a newer, but Beta bios I received from MSI on request.

When I can, I'll try another board.

The thing with my board is, it is a very weird board. I know that normally the 2 green slots are in dual channel, but not with my screwy board. Right now, I'm running my 2gb in both orange slots, which is in Single channel according to my BIOS when I boot my PC. When I put 1 stick in green and the other in orange, my BIOS tell me it's in Dual channel. I know this sounds wrong, but that's what I'm told by my BIOS

I'll maybe contact MSI about this, and ask if it's my board, bios or incompatible RAM.

Charger14 · Post by **Charger14** » 31 Jul 2008, 19:40

I know my old mobo was the same. Your green slot is Channel A and the orange Channel B so to get dual channel its one slot in green and other chip in orange. I had the K8n Neo2 platinum, you fill the ram banks in the order you see to get dual channel.

The MSI boards are finnicky when it comes to your ordering, I know you tried but the 2 gigs in one channel then the other two in the other, try swapping the two sets around. Although I wouldn't get excited about it working because my old board refused to work with different sized ram chips

I also know that with AMD older AMD processors if you fill all the RAm banks your ram would get underclocked ( Something to do with a bug in the memory controller) but I'm really not sure if it's been fixed in the AM2 chips.

Twiggs · Post by **Twiggs** » 31 Jul 2008, 21:45

Well charger beat me to it, asked him about and he said what you see above.