Old PC Upgrade problem - RAM won't play ball!

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boonrider

42 posts

Geek

#185214 14-Nov-2015 10:03

Hi all,

I'm building up a PC to use as a mame box using a friend's old parts.

It started as a Asus P5B Deluxe with an E6600 and 2GB RAM. I purchased an additional 2GB RAM and a E8400 CPU cheaply.

The RAM arrived first, I upgraded this and the E6600 + 4GB RAM ran fine. I had to turn on 'memory remapping' in BIOS (or something like that) to get the PC to see 4GB RAM (not 3).

So the E8400 arrived, I installed it and I couldn't boot into windows (various BSOD). I reinstalled the E6600 and it booted fine.

Eventually I removed two of the RAM sticks, back down to 2GB (Corsair), reinstalled the E8400 and it appears to boot fine (I haven't tested it extensively)

The RAM sticks are: 2x Corsair 1GB XMS2-6400 2x Samsung 1GB 1Rx8 PC2-6400U

So these worked fine with the E6600 but not the E8400. I see there is a bump in FSB bus speed to 1333 with the new processor. I have updated the BIOS to the latest release which definitely supports to the E8400.

So, my goal is to be able to use all the hardware I have and I haven't managed to get there.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I need to do to make this work? Do I need to limit RAM speed?

macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1427910 14-Nov-2015 10:11

6400u and 6400 are different ram sticks... as well as from different brands. Get a 4x2gb 6400U kit off eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-4X2GB-PC6400-DDR2-800Mhz-PC2-6400U-DImm-240pin-Desktop-Memory-For-Intel-CPU-/351456180149?hash=item51d46bb7b5:g:C0YAAOSwMmBVp1bs

tdgeek

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#1427911 14-Nov-2015 10:13

Try relocating the sticks so the pairs are reversed C-C-S-S to S-S-C-C

Bump down the bus

Is it ok with just the Samsungs?

macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1427912 14-Nov-2015 10:18

Also, make sure the two corsair are in one colour ram slots (yellow) and the Samsung in the other colour (black) or vis versa, those ram slot colours denote matching channels where both yellow slots need same brand stick, same with each black slot.

So it would look Like

CRUCIAL
SAMSUNG
CRUCIAL
SAMSUNG

boonrider

42 posts

Geek

#1427930 14-Nov-2015 11:16

Thank you so much for your replies.

OK, so i've run a few trials:

2x Crucial (in yellow slots) = OK

2x Samsung (in yellow slots) = OK.....but then not OK. It appears it gives an unreliable boot. Sometime bios gives no memory beeps, other times it detects it fine and boots into windows.

I ran more tests (with combinations), but given the unreliable boot with just the samsung sticks, I don't think they really matter.

So where does that leave me - Are there any options or is it possible that those RAM sticks just aren't compatible with the motherboard?

tdgeek

29740 posts

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#1427931 14-Nov-2015 11:22

boonrider: Thank you so much for your replies.

OK, so i've run a few trials:

2x Crucial (in yellow slots) = OK

2x Samsung (in yellow slots) = OK.....but then not OK. It appears it gives an unreliable boot. Sometime bios gives no memory beeps, other times it detects it fine and boots into windows.

I ran more tests (with combinations), but given the unreliable boot with just the samsung sticks, I don't think they really matter.

So where does that leave me - Are there any options or is it possible that those RAM sticks just aren't compatible with the motherboard?

The Samsung sticks, or one of them could be faulty, or the timings in the BIOS are too tight. You could note the settings, reset the BIOS to setup defaults with just the Samsung sticks in to see what happens.

tdgeek

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#1427933 14-Nov-2015 11:22

But as was said earlier, get new RAM, its cheap, new, warranted.