madcat033

Okay, last October I bought a new computer. Here are the specs:


-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
-Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
-(Quad-Core FSB1333) Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
-2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
-600 Watts Power Supplies (CoolerMaster Unit 600 Watts eXtreme Power - SLI Supports)
-Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio 24-BIT PCI Sound Card
-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB 16X PCI Express [+109] (XFX Extreme Edition Powered by NVIDIA)


So, when I first bought the computer, I used to have some problems with my monitor. Sometimes, when I would turn on my computer, the monitor would say "No Signal" and go in standby mode, even though my computer booted up normally. I would hold down the power button to shut off the tower, and boot it up again, and it would work fine. For this reason, I didn't think this was a hardware problem. It used to happen pretty frequently, but it pretty much stopped after a month or so (maybe I updated drivers or something, not really sure).

But anyways, I just installed some RAM this morning. I added 2 more 1 gig sticks of PC6400 ram. Same as the kind I already have. But then I go to turn on my computer, and the computer boots up fine, but I get no signal on my monitor. Turn it off, turn it back on, same thing. Try unplugging the DVI, plugging it into the other DVI port, turn it on, same thing. Put the DVI back into the original port, still no signal.

***?

belfasteddie

Check the new ram is EXACTLY the same specs. Suggest you remove the new ram, go into the Bios and set the Ram settings manually. Then insert the new ram. I had the same prob Asus brd but Amd.

madcat033

Okay, so last night when I got home I tried inserting the RAM again. It turns out I hadn't fully inserted my new RAM sticks. Are they supposed to be really hard to stick in there? I have to push pretty hard to get them to go in, it takes a while for each one. So I eventually got them in and fully clicked in by those clips. My computer turned on, recognized the 4 gigs, and everything was great.

My computer was on for a couple hours as I was doing web browsing, and leaving it idle for a while. But as soon as I tried to play a computer game, it crashed about 5 minutes in. And then, it crashed on startup! It restarted AGAIN, and gives me the error that windows did not start correctly and if you installed new hardware it could be a problem, etc. etc. My computer booted up, crashed again, and crashed again on startup. So I shut it off.

This morning, I took out all 4 of the RAM sticks, and swapped places with my old and new RAM. So my old RAM was slots 1 and 3, and I put it in slots 2 and 4, and put my new RAM in slots 1 and 3. I tried to boot it up, and it wouldn't even start. I just got a LOOOOONG beep. Like never ending. My monitor got no signal, so I held the power button to shut off the computer, and now I'm at work again. Ahhh what should I do?

belfasteddie

Pull all the ram then insert one stick. Reboot. Then go into the bios and see what ram is showing. If the specs are correct insert the second and so on. Don't be fooled into thinking the AUTO select is correct. My brd was OK with 667 Ram but not with 800. I had to manually set the settings for the 800.

madcat033

Well, I took out all the RAM and put in ONLY my new RAM into slots 1 and 3. It worked fine, I played computer games, they worked fine, and I even ran Memtest and it got to 160% with no errors. I took out those RAM, and put only my old RAM into slots 2 and 4. It worked fine again, I ran memtest and it got to 130% without errors. Could there be compatibility issues perhaps? These are my brands:

Old RAM: Buffalo Select 1GB DDR2 800 (PC2-6400) Desktop Memory D2U800C-1G/BR, 240-Pin, Non-ECC, Unbuffered, RoHS Compliant.
New RAM: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4, 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

My mobo is an Asus P5N-E SLI.

Any thoughts?

By the way, thanks a lot for your help man! You rock.

dai

buy another 2 corsair and sell off your old ram
do both sets of ram have the same voltage range

belfasteddie

The Buffalo voltage is 1.8 +.1v and the Corsair is 2.1. So that's probably where your getting trouble.
Go with what Dai reccomends and match the ram.

madcat033

Hmm, is it possible for me to make the Buffalo run at 2.1 volts, or the Corsair run at 1.8 volts?

madcat033

Hmm, is it possible for me to make the Buffalo run at 2.1 volts, or the Corsair run at 1.8 volts? And will both voltages work with my motherboard? I've heard mobos have preferred RAM voltages but I can't seem to find what my mobo's RAM voltage is.

madcat033

I did a bit more research, turns out my Corsair has a Cas latency of 4 and the Buffalo has a Cas latency of 5. Are these dealbreakers? Will it be impossible for me to make these RAMs work together? Haha...