linderman

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...model=A7N266-E

Done_Fishin

Do you mean that there pins for a jumper but the jumper is missing? If this is the case it may have fallen out somehow .. try finding a jumper from somewhere (even a "spare" jumper from a hard drive or an unused CD/DVD drive)

GiveUsaClue

The thing is, the system won't now boot even with the original RAM installed - 2 x 256MB sticks. The motherboard manual clearly states the maximum memory up to 1GB in each of the 3 slots - total 3GB.

Linderman, thanks for the link but think that's the wrong board. This is mine http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartsp...F6C688A5CA7304
which indicates 1GB is OK.

cheers

linderman

according to the link from crucial......... your board maxes at 512mb per slot ????


as for clearing the cmos which you now need to do ...... shutdown the computer / remove the power cord from the power supply / remove the cmos battery / wait 15 minutes ( make sure you wait a full 15 minutes) / after 15 minutes hit the power button several times on the computer so make sure it uses any residual juice remaining in the capicators / then restore the battery and power cord & re-boot >>>>>> if done correctly you should need to reset the date & time in the bios ....... if the data and time is still correct, then we have failed to complete a bios reset!

after the reset / your original sticks should work again

GiveUsaClue

OK - be gentle with me, I'm a bit of a newbie at dealing with computer innards etc.

'log onto safe made' - would that be Windows safe mode? In which case, no I can't. It starts to load drivers; the screen freezes in the list of drivers; and it then literally 'clicks' and attempts to restart.

If it's not Windows safe mode, can you explain to me what to do?

cheers

wrench97

This board is not suppose to have a Jumper you shut the posts to clear,
some of the early ones had a plastic cap without shunts that you removed
to shunt the posts asus later removed it because of the confusion it created, but I don't understand why we can not get the the board to post
with the original memory back in.

linderman

did you get the bios clear to execute ?????? did you have to re-enter the data and time ?

GiveUsaClue

Linderman, are you talking about the A7N266-E board? Mine's the A7V266-E.
I cleared the CMOS yesterday (and had to reset the date/time afterwards) but it still won't boot up with the original memory in.



cheers

linderman

Wrench ....... once the board refuses to boot with the 3gig memory configuration & a system hang-up or crash happens / its normal that you would need to reset the bios or it wont boot with the old memory, much like an overclocking failure requires a bios reset

wrench97

Yes that is what I had him do yesterday then boot with the old memory.

linderman

my error on the model number ...... your board does accept ONE gig sticks


have you tried another power supply ? the added voltage needed to run three one gig sticks may have stretched your existing PSU ?

GiveUsaClue

No, I haven't tried another power supply. I don't have one apart from the one in the pc I'm using now.
I don't really fancy stripping it out of this pc to try it (another job I've never done before). Is your idea that conceivable or more a grasping at straws idea? Is there any other way to address it?

cheers

linderman

once you get this running again though you will find AMD cpu's count both sides of a memory stick as "banks"

a 256gb memory module only has one bank

a 512mb can have only one bank (single sided memory stick ) or they can be seen as having two banks

a one gig stick will defintely be seen by your cpu as using two banks ......... you board is limited to "three banks"

so / in reality your board will never be able to use 3 gigs of memory as it will be seen by your cpu as 6 banks of memory

the E6 stepping on the AMD toledo core was the first amd cpu to "fix" the way the memory was seen by the CPU and allow it to run four sticks of memory and correct the way the memory controller say your memory

quote :

Chipset: VIA Apollo KT266A
Supported DRAM Types: DDR SDRAM only
184-pin DIMM Banking: 3 (3 banks of 1)
Module Types Supported: Unbuffered only
Max Unbuffered DDR SDRAM: 3072MB
Error Detection Support: Non-ECC only
Graphics Support: AGP 4X
Max Component Density: 512Mb
USB Support: 1.x Compliant

linderman

in reality your board can use one gig stick but the second slot would need a stick that would be viewed by the cpu memory controller as having one bank

GiveUsaClue

Excuse my ignorance here, but i really am getting confused.
The original memory sticks (256MB each) appear to me to have 8 'chips' on each side - does this not make it double sided, or having two banks?

The manual has a table that states "Install memory in any combination as follows: Socket 1 (Rows 0 & 1) 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB" and repeats this for "Socket 2 (Rows 2 & 3)" and for "Socket 3 (Rows 4 & 5)". Finishing the table with "Total System Memory Max 3GB"

In any event, the actual maximum memory and whether the manual matches the board or is incorrect is no longer that important - if we can't get the thing to work at all.

cheers

Pharaohz

Yes linderman is correct. I thought I mentioned that in my post but I didnt. The sticks you are tring to use (1 gig sticks) are never going to work. Not only that but the amount of ram is to much. 512 sticks are you max and the max amount is decided by the amount of slots.

linderman

have you tried another PSU yet ? each stick consumes 10 watts the extra draw could very well have toppled a weak power supply ?

I have seen that happen many times with generic / cheaper power supplies

GiveUsaClue

3GB, as the manual says, would be nice but I'll be happy enough with 3 x 512MB. In fact, right now I'd be really happy for it to work with the original 2 x 256MB !

So -
the original memory modules have been reinstalled;
the CMOS has been cleared;
as far as I'm aware, everything that matters is "as was" - so why won't it work?
Question's simple. I wish the answer was!

GiveUsaClue

The pc I'm using is needed by someone else for a lot of work over the next day or so, so i won't be able to strip the PSU out of this one just yet.

How about disconnecting the power from everything not needed (floppy, CD & DVD, slave HDD, sound card). Would that 'release' enough power for the pc to boot up then?

linderman

try that too .......... its a 50-50 chance it may breath some signs of life >>>> its worth a shot ?