Chase1126

I just bought some new G.Skill ram (2x1gig, 800hz, 4-4-3-5, 2.0-2.1V) that is way too good for my computer. (Stock Compaq, 533Hz, No bios overclocking or editing settings) This board is just to hold me over untill I have enough to get myself a new, good one. I made sure that I bought G.Skill because they always start up with 5-5-5-15 timeings so there is no overvoltage problems or incompatibility.

The Problem: I put both chips into my old setup and hit the power button. And the weirdest thing happend. It went into a never ending startup. (The extra hard fan blowing for when the computer just starts up, before it slows down and the computer fully turns on.) It just keeps blowing extra hard.
I have never seen anything like this. So I took one chip out and It started up fine. Then I messed around with combinations of each chip in the two sockets and no matter what it would only get past the fan blowing with 1 of the new chips in. So I threw in an old 512m 533hz chip to see if it was the mobo. It ran perfectly fine.
It only had troubles when I had the set in. So I thought it was a voltage problem. I only have a 350watt power supply. I unpluged all fans. My Video card, all but one hard drive and the CD burner. Still the same problem.

My question is: Is it the MoBos fault? I will have it replaced in about a month anyway.
Or is it the rams fault? Which is a little expensive and I would like to know right away so I can return/replace it.

Chase1126

Nobody Knows?

carsey

I seriously doubt its the RAM being faulty, you have tested both bits in a slot and they worked fine.

Did you try 1 bit of RAM in each of the different slots on the mobo??

Chase1126

Tried each alone in both slots. The ram isn't dead. I even tried 1 of the new rams in one slot with an old one in the other and it works fine.

They just don't work together. I just want to make super sure that its the board. Because when i get my Gigabyte DS3 in a month I don't want to find out its the RAM.

Since I have never had any troubles with this board and its capeable of handleing 2gigs. It just seems weird.

linderman

its a plain ole case of incompatability / the motherboard and your ram model arent gonna play nice

thats why the memory websites have memory model selectors for most motherboard models

Chase1126

I would think so too.
But why would they work perfectly fine with just 1gig of it. Why fail with 2gigs?

But I'll start checking it out.

EDIT: Just looking at the sight I was reminded I bought them in a pack.
Maybe they are ment to be run on dual channel and my mobo doesn't support dual channel. (Maybe doesn't make sence. I'm just blurting out thoughts.)

Chase1126

The G.Skill is not listed on the DS3 memory compatability sight. But I looked at some forums off of google and I found alot of people using a DS3 and G.Skill getting good overclocks and what not.

Chase1126

Because some people have used this ram with there DS3 does that mean it will work with myn?

linderman

if its the same model ram stix yes


cant go by just brand name ?????


I personally would send an email about your situtaion to ram maker


thats why I am a devout Corsair man & OCZ too they have their own memory forum with tech reps

twajetmech

I reccomend that you install the old memory, enter the bios and set the memory timings and voltages for the new memory, save and shutdown....install the new memory and see if it works. You may have to alter some other memory timing and speed functions in the memory as you may be inadvertantly attemping to overclock which can prevent you from booting up properly, You can also try simply resetting the bios (clear cmos)with the new memoey installed and see if the autodetect will work its magic....if it fails you'll have to redo all the settings in the bios.

Chase1126

Well I would go that way. But Corsair and OCZ is like 40 bucks more for 2 gigs. Which, being a kid, is a kick in the butt. And this being cheeper is 4-4-3-5 when if I buy some expensive corsair/ocz I'm getting 4-4-4-12.
But I guess good ram is good ram. Shoulden't cheep out on something so important. I'll try to check out OCZ, I don't like Corsair because there promos.
Ty.

Chase1126

Yes! I wanted to clear my Cmos but I'm a newbie and atempted it with an old junk machine first. I have to clear it to put my bios into a mode where I can edit settings. Well it didn't work out well. Its asking me to put in the windows cd. And welp, the computers old and I lost it.xD

I did consider it was an overclocking problem. But it still confuses me about why it will still work with 1 of them in. If it was an oc problem I would think the sticks would not work all together. I know the sticks have an automatic 1.8v 5-5-5-15 setting to make sure there is no voltage problems ect.
Since my psu is only 350watts I'm thinking it could be that my computer is not supplying enough for 2x 1.8 volts, though that would be unusual.

twajetmech

You should be able to enter the bios by tapping F2 or delete (check your manual) at the very first 30 sec of boot up. When running more than 2 memory modules it is not uncommon to have to bump the memory voltage up a bit....thus when you only have one memory module in all is fine....install more and there is not enough power. You have me a bit confused here....you stated at first this is a old Compaq, but we are discussing memory for a DS3 @ 1.8V, so I'm guessing this is DDR2 memory, since DDR memory is 2.5V (either way the reccomendations are the same) It would help if you could list all the components we are talking about as you see listed to the left under my system. I can't imagine a DS3 running on a 350W psu, for a system running such a mobo I would expect no less than a good 600W or better psu (depending on components and useage) Also if the old memory was 533 and the new memory is 800 and you are trying to mix them....no good. While it may be possible to mix the memories and get it to work, you'll not only loose the performance benefits of operating the mobo with the 800 memory but you may loose dual channel operation and runing @ 1T cmd rate (provided we're discussing the DS3) Also, the Compaq windows cd should not be used with the DS3 (unless the original mobo in the Compaq is a DS3, which I doubt) And, you need two matched memory modules (matched dual channel kit) to run in dual channel mode....memory is not as plug and play as it was back in pc100/133 days, especially if you want to take advantage of dual channel mode for better performance.