BleepingComputer.com: RAM Upgrade Problem

Hi everyone, I'm having a bit of a problem which I'm hoping someone can help me with. I decided to upgrade my ram from the 2GB which came with the system to 4 GB. I looked into what RAM was compatible with my system which is DDR2 PC 4200 or 5300.

To make a long story short, after having some initial problems which I thought were related to mixing new RAM with old, I just bought four sticks of Kingston 1 GB RAM to put into the 4 DIMM slots. When I put all 4 GB's in and start the computer up, BIOS recognizes the installed RAM, but when Vista comes up, it does a quick blue screen flash and just restarts the computer. This was the same thing that happened when I mixed RAM. I just left in 2 GB of the new RAM and the computer works fine, but if I try to go any higher than that it craps out and restarts itself, I even tried to do 3 GB. I am also fairly confident that it is not a bad RAM stick as the problem has been consistent with just upgrading past 2 GB.

Just for clarification I am running the 32 bit version of Vista, the motherboard is a ASUS P5LP-LE per the HP Specs which are listed here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...43653〈=en

If anyone has any suggestions on what the problem might be I would greatly appreciate it! I hope I have been clear enough with what issues I am having.

Thanks

Hmmm...according to that link...it's PC3200, PC4200, and PC5300 RAM possibilities.

My question would be...what is your bus speed set at right now?

If the clock is set to run PC3200...the motherboard/system may be finicky about accommodating other RAM speeds.

Take a look at the chart under Chips & Modules at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM. Depending on how your BIOS is set up...what I refer to as "bus speed" or "clock speed"...is reflected under "memory clock" or "bus clock". The bus clock is 1/2 of the stated RAM speed. So...PC2 4200 runs at 400MHz, so the bus clock should be set at 200 in the BIOS. In turn, the memory clock is 1/2 of the bus clock.

But...I see what I consider an inconsistency in the chart you present for system specs. The bus is supposed to be 533, 800, or 1066MHz...but RAM supported is only PC2 3200 (400Mhz), PC2 4200 (533MHz), and PC2 5300 (667MHz). No PC2 8500 (which would be 1066MHz). Ignore that, for the time being .

If you are trying to run RAM with a given clock speed and your BIOS bus clock is set for a different speed...that could be the difference. That's what I would check.

Louis

Hi, thanks for the quick reply! I took a look in my BIOS and didn't see anything that says Clock or BUS speed, maybe I'll have to look harder.

But a further question, if the speed was an issue wouldn't the 2GB of RAM I have in my PC have problems, not just when I upgrade to 4 GB?

Are all the RAM modules...theoretically the same speed?

I had a situation last year where a motherboard would clock down to the lowest speed (which matched the BIOS clock) if faster RAM was used...but would not run at all if the faster RAM was used by itself.

Until I adjusted the bus speed down, then all the newer modules ran fine.

...and the new modules were supposed to be the stated motherboard speed, matching the default clock setting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underclocking

Sometimes...life just doesn't work out the way that one expects it to .

Louis

Yes, all the RAM modules are the same Kingston models at 5300 677Mhz and I bought them within one day of each other. Same packaging and all. I looked in my BIOS again and can't find a clock setting, so I don't know if I can adjust anything.

One thing that popped in my head and I don't know if it could cause a problem was that back a while ago I created a second partition on my HD to dual boot XP, now when I did that I had to change my SATA drive setting to IDE so that XP could read the hard drive. Could that be causing any problems with the RAM? I have since reformatted the partition and wiped XP.

Just a shot in the dark, that was the last time I really messed around in the BIOS.

Kingston USED to make really good memory.
After having tried other brands for awhile I decided to try Kingston for a updrade I was doing.
I bought 2GB of faster memory then had been in the unit.
[Went from PC4300 to PC6400, which the motherboard supported]

The kingston memory worked but not very well.
It actually slowed the unit down !

Since you have a 32 bis OS it may not work with more then 2GB due to the memory limitations of the OS .
It should start & show all the memory the OS will use but sometimes they can simply be picky .

Yeah I saw that I'll probably only get 3 GB worth of memory out of it, but at this point I just wish I could figure out how to use all this RAM I bought