Problem having four sticks of memory.

[Baskervore]

Hi everyone.

Before I start, I'm going to give a complete breakdown of my entire computer system.

Power Supply: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W
Motherboard: LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR (BIOS is upgraded to the most recent)
Processor: Athlon 64 4600 X2 socket 939
Memory: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
Video Card: eVGA 7800GT 256MB and BFG 7800GT 256MB
Monitors: 22" widescreen and 19" fullscreen (viewsonics)
DVD ROM: NEC IDE Model ND-3520A BG
Hard drives: ATA: 200GB maxtor x2, 500GB seagate
SATA: WD 200GB, WD 400GB, Seagate 320GB
PCI ethernet card
and a floppy drive


The reason for the PCI card is that both (yes both) of the onboard ethernet ports on my motherboard died out on me. Nothing I could do would revive them.

This week I tried putting two more gigs of memory in there. It was also OCZ 2 x 1GB 184-pin DDR 400 (PC 3200). Slightly different model I think, but the vital specs are the same.

When trying just the two old sticks, it works. When trying just the two new sticks, it works. So we know that all of the sticks work. And we know that all of the slots work. But when I put all four sticks in for a total of 4GB, it doesn't work. I actually can't get to the bios, and no startup sequence occurs at all.

Any ideas anyone?

ty,
Baskervore

If there is something else you want to know, then just go ahead and ask, I feel like I'm forgetting something.

EDIT: oh yeah, I also tried removing a video card and all but one of the hard drives (to see if it was a power supply problem), and that didn't help, so my PSU is ok.

[shadowpr]

First, see if it will boot up with two sticks in different slots. Check all the slots to make sure they work.

If that works, then with only two sticks installed, go into bios, and manually adjust the speed and timings and voltages. Also set the speed to one notch lower then what it's rated for.

See if that helps.

[Baskervore]

If that works, then with only two sticks installed, go into bios, and manually adjust the speed and timings and voltages. Also set the speed to one notch lower then what it's rated for.

Uhhh...what do I adjust the timings and voltages to? I don't know anything about doing that type of thing. : /

Also, yeah I did try different combinations and found that each of the slots work, and each of the sticks work.

[shadowpr]

You can find timings and voltage for the ram on the box they came in, or use the model number to gp to their website and look it up.

I would probably try setting the speed lower first.

[Baskervore]

Before I had tried your advice, my dad sent me a link to another forum where a guy with a similar situation had a similar problem. He found that he had to disable "command per clock " in the bio in order to get his computer to start up. I went and disabled command per clock, and then put the other two sticks in, and woohoo, my computer now starts up like normal.

Here's a link to the thread: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=239059

The bad thing is that the computer only thinks that it has 2GB of memory, when there is obviously 4GB installed. This is still a bios/motherboard problem, because when I go into the bios it says that I have 2GB. (and consequently XP thinks the same) The guy in the post referenced above also had this exact same problem.

The exception is that I ran CPU-Z and in the memory tab it says that I have 4GB of memory. When I go to the SPD tab, it says 1024MBytes @PC3200 for each slot. All of the slots are the same except that two of them have a CAS# Latency of 2.0, and the other two have a CAS# Latency of 2.5.

So....any suggestions? I don't know anything about CAS latency, but seeing as it's the only thing that is different between the two sets of memory, maybe it is confusing the motherboard.

If this might be the case, should I change the CAS latency in the BIOS? If yes, what do I change it to? Should I change it from "auto" to "2.0", or maybe "auto" to "2.5"?

[LeftyAce]

I had this exact same problem a year or so ago. It's a bug/flaw in the Athlon 64 system. In order to run 4 sticks of ram, you have to put them on a divider (Set their speed to be lower than the default)....Mine's just one step lower than normal (188 vs 200). Don't play with command per clock or voltages or anything. Just stick the ram on a divider. There will either be no performance hit, or it will be un noticable.

[Baskervore]

Thanks for your input Lefty.

I tried that (changing command per clock back to it's original setting of auto, and then changing the speed to one notch lower), but I got the same results as in my original post (the computer would not even get to the bios).

Then I tried other speed settings, and nothing worked.

Do you have links to more information on that theory? Or maybe another idea.

[shadowpr]

Not sure if I missed it, but did you set the voltage correctly?

[Baskervore]

I didn't do anything to the voltage. I just left it as it had been for the past two years or so (since I built this computer at least).

Is there some reason why I would need to change the voltage if I put 4 memory sticks in instead of only 2?

Anyway, the two part numbers are:

OCZ4001024ELPE

and

OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K

searching via google for their product page on ocz's website, I come up with the following two links:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_el_ddr_pc_3200_platinum

and

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_el_ddr_pc_3200_dual_channel_platinum

On both of those sites, I see the following:

V1.x = 2.6 Volts
V2.x =2.8 Volts

So...does that mean the voltage should be set to 2.6 volts, or 2.8 volts?

[shadowpr]

I think that means you can set the voltage any where from 2.6 to 2.8.

[LeftyAce]

Sorry, no more info on that theory....glc suggested it to me at the time, and it worked like a charm.

More voltage would make sense; if the motherboard's having trouble driving all those sticks, a bit more juice would help. And l agree with shadowpr; it means you can set the voltage up to 2.8.

[Baskervore]

Ok, well I went into the bios to change the voltage. It was set at 2.6v. But for some reason it was reading at 2.64v.

I changed it to 2.7v, and thus the voltage started reading at 2.74v. It didn't help though; my computer still thought that I only have 2GB. I then turned on the setting to increase the voltage by .03 volts. So It started reading at 2.77v, but it still thought I had only 2GB.

and yes, I tried all combinations of all the voltages between 2.64v and 2.77v with Command Per Clock either on or off.

Any other suggestions? I'm fresh out.

[Alfie]

If your OS is XP,it will only recognize about 3 gigs of memory,if the 2 sets of memory have a cas rating of 2 & 2.5,you'll have to set the cas rating at 2.5 for all the sticks and set the timings for the slower of the 2 sticks for all the sticks.

[Baskervore]

Thanks for the input, but I already tried setting the cas to 2.5, and isn't an OS problem because the BIOS is not recognizing 4GB, never mind windows.

[glc]

I would conclude that the 2 pairs are not playing nice with each other. Not that unusual.

[Baskervore]

There's an idea.

That does mean bad things for me though, if it's true. It means that one pair is no good to me. What I *could* do is trade a pair with a friend, and see if *his* memory pair plays nice with my original one. It does kinda sound like that might be the problem; either that or the motherboard is just being cantankerous.

[glc]

Why don't you contact OCZ? They may have a solution for you.