Gigabyte DS3 RAM Problem (all banks full)

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talon95

Limp Gawd
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Aug 13, 2006
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I've searched a bunch, but can't find anyone with this problem.

I've got a Gigabyte DS3 with F7 bios. It's been running great for several months with 2 Corsair XMS2 6400's (512's). I decided to bump up to 2 gig of RAM, so I bought 2 more of the same ram modules.

The problem is that my machine will not boot at all with all 4 sticks in the motherboard, even at default/stock speed (E6300). I've tried:

1. upgrading the bios (did have F4, now F7)
2. swapping the sticks around
3. booting from only the new sticks (this works fine, 2x512), so the new ram is ok
4. bumping ram voltage
5. loosing ram timings

I'd think it's just my board, but a friend of mine has the same problem. His will post, but is not stable, particularly when O/C'ed.

Thanks for any help/suggestions
 
Go over to Corsair's site. They do not recommend 4x512. I was in the same boat and managed to return my 4x512 Corsair XMS2 6400. I asked Corsair's RAMguy why they did not point this out on the packaging and got a stupid response. Instead, I got 2 x 1GB Adata Extreme 6400 4.4.4.12 which work fine. But for most purposes 2x512 is enough.
 
Thanks Spooky, I did go to Corsair's site, but couldn't find anything that really saidone way or the other. I was suspecting that though.

I've got one more thing to try (f8i bios). If that doesn't work, I'll try to swap mine out or get a refund. Part of the problem is that I've got a mix of v1.1 and v2.1.
 
Boot up with 2 sticks of RAM (the 1.8v) and set your RAM voltage to 2.1v

Put other sticks in

Reboot




work?
 
I know you said you loosene the timings, but did you check the command rate? If it's set to 1T try setting it to 2T. The chipset should change this automatically when it senses 4 sticks, but it may not be doing it, and locking up on boot.
 
Arcygenical, yea, I tried that. It boots up @2.1v with 2 sticks fine, which is the config I've been using for the last few months. I've tried even going to higher voltage with 2 sticks, then shutting down and putting in the other 2, but no luck.

ryan, I'll look. I saw a post about that over on another forum, but I'll have to try it when I get home tonight.
 
Well, I've tried everything imaginable I think. No luck getting all 4 sticks to work. I've got 3 working (3x512) thanks to the F8i beta bios, but 4 still won't post. :(
 
Since 3x512 works, does anyone know if I could use a mix of 512's and 1gig sticks. 2x512 plus one 1gig stick for 2 gig total???
 
talon95 said:
Since 3x512 works, does anyone know if I could use a mix of 512's and 1gig sticks. 2x512 plus one 1gig stick for 2 gig total???
Click to expand...

It should, but you won't have dual channel.
 
ryan_975 said:
It should, but you won't have dual channel.
Click to expand...

Yea, I thought of that. I did a little testing and it appears to be < 5% though. Most of what I found on the net said the same thing, except for mem benchmarks of course. Thanks.

I may order a 1 Gig stick and then RMA one or the other depending on the results.
 
Just reporting back. I finally gave up on the 4x512 and returned the 2 new sticks to Newegg. They waived the restocking fee and I bought 2 1gig sticks (Corsair 6400 C4's). No problems at all now. Up and running at 7x400 with 4-4-4-12 timings.
 
talon95 said:
Just reporting back. I finally gave up on the 4x512 and returned the 2 new sticks to Newegg. They waived the restocking fee and I bought 2 1gig sticks (Corsair 6400 C4's). No problems at all now. Up and running at 7x400 with 4-4-4-12 timings.
Click to expand...

Thought that's where you'd end up - as I did. Anyway, glad you got it sorted. Does the DS3 manual not say that you can mix different sizes and still have dual channel? Will that 2x512 work with the 2x1GB? Worth a go...
 
talon95 said:
Just reporting back. I finally gave up on the 4x512 and returned the 2 new sticks to Newegg. They waived the restocking fee and I bought 2 1gig sticks (Corsair 6400 C4's). No problems at all now. Up and running at 7x400 with 4-4-4-12 timings.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I bet if you had tried all 4 sticks at like ddr2 533 it might have worked.

Its best to have 2 sticks. 4 sticks is just asking for trouble on an overclocked system. (limits overclocks). Higher the speed & more sticks the harder it is on the northbridge.
 
chrisf6969 said:
Yeah, I bet if you had tried all 4 sticks at like ddr2 533 it might have worked.

Its best to have 2 sticks. 4 sticks is just asking for trouble on an overclocked system. (limits overclocks). Higher the speed & more sticks the harder it is on the northbridge.
Click to expand...

He did try that

The problem is that my machine will not boot at all with all 4 sticks in the motherboard, even at default/stock speed (E6300). I've tried:
Click to expand...
 
Is this a problem only with the DS3 board and Corsair RAM? What will happen when people start using Vista and want to upgrade to 4x1G of RAM? Does the DQ6 have the same RAM limitation?
 
Spooky said:
Thought that's where you'd end up - as I did. Anyway, glad you got it sorted. Does the DS3 manual not say that you can mix different sizes and still have dual channel? Will that 2x512 work with the 2x1GB? Worth a go...
Click to expand...

I tried that also. No go. It just turns on, no post, no beeps, nothing. 3 sticks works (2x1gig plus 1x512). Puts it in "flex" mode though.

Edit: and yes, each time I've always tried stock speeds along with higher timings and more voltage. That doesn't work either.
 
talon95 said:
I tried that also. No go. It just turns on, no post, no beeps, nothing. 3 sticks works (2x1gig plus 1x512). Puts it in "flex" mode though.

Edit: and yes, each time I've always tried stock speeds along with higher timings and more voltage. That doesn't work either.
Click to expand...

stock speed is ddr2 800 , did you try only 533

"2:1" at stock FSB 266 ?
 
chrisf6969 said:
stock speed is ddr2 800 , did you try only 533

"2:1" at stock FSB 266 ?
Click to expand...

Yes I did previously, and I just got done trying it with the sticks I have now. No go again. 3 sticks still work. I've got it running that way right now. Thought I'd test to see if it's significantly slower in "flex" mode. I tried it before with 3x512 and didn't see much of a difference.

I really need a memory sensitive benchmark though (other than a memory bandwidth test). Some type of real app.
 
talon95 said:
Yes I did previously, and I just got done trying it with the sticks I have now. No go again. 3 sticks still work. I've got it running that way right now. Thought I'd test to see if it's significantly slower in "flex" mode. I tried it before with 3x512 and didn't see much of a difference.

I really need a memory sensitive benchmark though (other than a memory bandwidth test). Some type of real app.
Click to expand...

Quake 4 and Quake 3 (kinda old though) are both fairly memory sensitive.
 
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