Fail to boot, RAM issue RESOLVED

WoodenPlank · Post by **WoodenPlank** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:11 pm

Ah, the glorious FTB issue. Im posting this from my old desktop right now, and I have my gaming rig on a table nearby. it is failing to boot about 95% of the time, stopping during POST memory test. it says the memory test passed (lists OK) and locks at that moment. Taking out one stick of ram continuied the issue, swapping that for the second allowed it to boot the first time. XP is taking forever to load under 512, though. My RAM is matched 512MB sticks of PC400 DDR RAM, purchased as a pair, so this definately shouldnt be a mismatch issue. The RAM has run fine for over a year now. This problem started Saturday. It FTBed several times, but booted first time after I let the system sit a few hours.

WoodenPlank · Post by **WoodenPlank** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:38 pm

Hmm. Originally I had my RAM in slots 1&3 (This is an MSI motherboard, and is normal. I think thats actually single-channel mode on this mobo, but whatever). I removed both sticks, reversed their order, and seated them in slots 1 & 2. Has booted fine twice in a row now. Hopefully that did the trick.

LCourage · Post by **LCourage** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:21 am

dont forget if you have 800mhz front side bus you have to stack 2 400mhz memory sticks in slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 to achieve 800mhz.

I have 4 sticks of Corsair xtwin 512mb 400mhz memory sticks with heat spreaders for overclocking. Which equals over 2mb memory running over 800mhz. I highly recommend this to anyone. But remember, unfortunately, BF2 doesnt load faster with more memory. If you want BF2 to have improved graphics, etc get a better video card. I recommend the ATI x850. It's runs between $260-$270, but with it I can run battlefield with everything set to med or high with AT filtering and anti-aliasing. It looks freakin ridiculously nice and I still manage to get at least 30 fps on city maps in a large firefight. (Sorry about going off on a tangent, its late)

Post by **Mat-Moo** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:08 am

Could be a PSU problem, or a bios problem - I had somehting similar, and ended up reflashing BIOS to cure it! WHAT PSU and what hardware is it running?

Timtif · Post by **Timtif** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:26 pm

memtest86?

WoodenPlank · Post by **WoodenPlank** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:53 pm

Bush, its an Athlon 64 system. Memory controller is on the processor die. No FSB involved there.

680 watt Thermaltake power supply with three 12v rails (two mains, one backup).

Finally, BIOS has been fine for months. Swapping sticks around fixed. ive been traveling with my PC alot lately, so something probably shook loose.

Post by **madcow** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:26 pm

WoodenPlank wrote:Bush, its an Athlon 64 system. Memory controller is on the processor die. No FSB involved there.

680 watt Thermaltake power supply with three 12v rails (two mains, one backup).

Finally, BIOS has been fine for months. Swapping sticks around fixed. ive been traveling with my PC alot lately, so something probably shook loose.

Bushmaster is still correct in saying that if you want to run in dual-channel mode then you need to use either slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. Using slots 1 and 2 will just run single-channel (it is for my A64 MSI motherboard anyway).

Post by **sushi** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:45 pm

No new problem messages?? Therefore RESOLVED I assume.