Need some help

J

Jawbrkr

n00b
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
37
Alright, I am having some issues here; I recently built a new system with this MOBO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131295

Now, with that I bought this ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227199

The first time around, one of my sticks of ram was bad... I sent it back with an RMA request to newegg. After waiting two weeks and getting the ram back again I tried it yet again... it worked at first, then I started having all sorts of problems - blue screens, random system freeze ups... I then figured that the MOBO didn't like having 4 gigs with windows XP 32 bit OS... so I took one stick out and tried that. It started working... yet after about 30 minutes of stability it started having problems again... freeze ups, blue screens and such. Now, I had some extra DDR2 800 ram as backup from my last problems with the first set of ram and put that in and all problems were instantly solved.

Now, here is my question... does anyone else have this MOBO and have problems with running 4 gigs of ram? Has anyone else who has this MOBO had any problems with OCZ Gold ram? I desperately need help here... It's hard to believe that I received bad ram two times in a row from newegg... haven't had problems like this before.

Some help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Did you check the bios to make sure your voltage/timings were set correctly? Have you ran memtest?
 
Well my BIOS Voltage settings should not have to be changed from their originals; I have not attempted to overclock the new ram at all since I received it. I will have to recheck that however and get the totals then I will post them.

Did mem test on the old ram (first bad batch) and it passed with flying colors... which is baffling because as soon as that ram was taken out the machine ran just peachy (same situation here). I have checked other things just to be sure that it was not something else (CPU, MOBO) and both have come back as negatives which leaves me with only one choice... ram (That and the fact that when the ram is replaced with my backup ram it works just fine).

The interesting thing about this MOBO, is it has two types of RAM slots, two yellow ones (supposed to be used if you overclock ram) and two regular black ones. I have tried both slots and neither slot seems to make a difference. I have also tried combination of slots (one yellow, one black, both black, both yellow etc...) and it doesn't seem to change a thing.
 
Some ram doesnt work very well at the motherboards default voltage.
If you have enough stability to get in the CMOS and change the voltage, thats what you need.

You are luckier than me, I have some ram that will only boot the machine on about 1 in 50 attempts with default voltage.
A complete pain in the ass if I reset the CMOS so I was force to buy new ram.
 
hmmm... come to think of it, I do remember having problems trying to boot the machine with both sticks of RAM inserted into the machine. It would not go past the startup BIOS message and basically just sat there... I even kept restarting the system and it wouldn't go past the post message... it did, after about the 10th time, then I tried another boot just to make sure it would work and kept having the same problem.

I then removed one stick and left one in and tried again and had the same problem... after I took the new ram out and replaced it with my backup ram everything booted normally. It is starting to sound like a voltage issue... yet I have a 650W PSU.

What do you suggest I up to voltage to?
 
Start at 2.0v, which is this ram's specification. It should automatically run at that, but that's not a given. Manually set it to be sure. If that doesn't help, push the voltage up in small increments. Hopefully before you get to 2.2v or so you'll find a voltage that keeps things stable. Do that and let us know if it works.

Also, make sure your timings are set to 5-5-5-18 (The ram's default timings).
 
Alright, after finally getting into my BIOS with the new ram inserted, I was able to change the clock speed from 5-5-5-15 to 5-5-5-18 (quick question, do I change all three configs or just the first?).

I then changed the voltage (which I believe was set at default of 1.8) to 2.0.

After those changes, it took me three tries to get to my OS... yet when I did finally get to my OS everything seemed to work fine. Its running now with a single stick of the new ram in the machine.

Could this possible be something else? That question came up when I was having trouble reaching my OS after I changed the clock settings and whatnot. Although, I was thinking... if the clock times and the voltage was not correct for the initial bootup of the RAM it could have possibly damaged it couldn't it? In that case I guess I would have to send back for another RMA.

I will let it run till tomorrow and see how it handles some games later in the afternoon.

More suggestions much appreciated, thanks.
 
You should only have to change the first config.

Your ram was undervolted, so it shouldn't be damaged. Let us know if it remains stable. Try a shutdown and restart and see if you get into windows on the first try. Something's not right if it keeps taking you three times to get into the OS.
 
Just as reference, I have the 2GB kit version of that exact same memory in my sig desktop and it works without flaws. Put both sticks in the yellow slots and make sure everything in bios is set to OCZ specification. 5-5-5-18 and 1.8v
 
rittia1962 said:
The reason I told you 2.0v is because that's the spec on the OCZ Gold ram according to Newegg. However, OCZ's site shows 1.8v like the poster before said. That ram also has EVP up to 2.1v, so if you need to run it higher than 1.8v to get it stable, that would be fine.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/produc..._6400_vista_performance_gold_4gb_dual_channel

So, try 1.8v @ 5-5-5-18 and let us know how that works.
Click to expand...

Newegg is often wrong with memory specs. Always verify the manufacturer's listing, especially with OCZ memory which Newegg tends to screw up often on.
 
Run your memory at the lowest voltage that works.
ie my OCz Platinum DDR2-1000 runs great at 1.9V but is rated up to 2.1V.
 
Ok, so one stick would simply not allow the system to boot into BIOS or into the OS. I removed it and replaced it with the second stick in a different slot. This time, it let me go to BIOS on the first try, but as it went I got a message that said:
Overclocking failed; please enter setup to fix this problem.

Then it gave me two options, either set things back to default or go to setup to fix. I went to setup and everything was set how it should be; 5-5-5-18 and 1.8 volts.

I saved the settings, then exited and restarted the system - it went directly to the OS after that with no problem. I am going to do a restart to see if it keeps its one reset boot into OS or not.

Will post back when I know more.

Interesting... more input much appreciated!
 
Jawbrkr said:
Now, here is my question... does anyone else have this MOBO and have problems with running 4 gigs of ram? Has anyone else who has this MOBO had any problems with OCZ Gold ram?
Click to expand...

There has been. I am getting ready to buy the Asus P5Q-E and have done quite a bit of reading on the P5Q Mobo's. One of the biggest issue that I've read is with the memory tables in the bios and the functionality of different sticks of memory. You may want to make sure you have the latest bios for your board.

here is a link to the Asus forums for your specific board...

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=P5Q&SLanguage=en-us
 
OK... now I am ultra baffled.

I got tired of trying to boot into my OS and stuck my backup ram into the computer (the ones that was working before) and it still would not go into BIOS or the OS... it wouldn't even go to the post message.

This is seriously pissing me off. The only way I am making a post on these forums right now is by using ASUS express gate.
 
I have not done that yet, I have yet to do that and plan to. The only problem I have right now is I cannot access my OS to get that completed... I also do not have a floppy drive in this system. I will have to try and figure out a better way to do this.

More suggestions appreciated, thanks. I also made a post on the ASUS forums.
 
Jawbrkr said:
The only problem I have right now is I cannot access my OS to get that completed... I also do not have a floppy drive in this system. I will have to try and figure out a better way to do this.

More suggestions appreciated, thanks. I also made a post on the ASUS forums.
Click to expand...

According to the Asus Forums "you should never flash you bios in 32/64bit windows."

If you have a flashdrive you can follow the instruction at this link to update you bios.

Here is a quick link to your bios for the P5Q.

Double check the link just in case of an error.
 
I am going to send in for an RMA for a new MOBO. After 3.5 hours of troubleshooting and trying several different things, I have come to the conclusion that my MOBO is the culprit and not my RAM. I am unable to bypass the splash screen during the startup phase... which means I cannot access my MOBO nor my BIOS. This leads me to believe that it is indeed my MOBO giving me trouble... since I cannot get past the splash screen, updating my BIOS is out of the question.

I believe that its been the MOBO all along instead of my RAM like I had originally thought... right now I have a server computer that I use for storing files (which is what I am posting with atm) its old... and very very slow... but I guess it will have to do until I get my MOBO repaired from newegg.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, they are all much appreciated.
 
Ok, funny story.

I took my new ram to work (along with my backup ram which I got from work in the first place) to test out if it was the RAM that was indeed the problem or the MOBO. I stuck in the first stick of RAM on a test machine at work and it booted the system just fine; I then removed it and replaced it with the second stick of OCZ Gold and the system refused to boot up with that stick in it, it gave me three loud beeps on startup (which usually means a serious error has occurred) and wouldn't even go into the Post message (past splash screen). I removed that, then replaced it with one of my backup sticks that originally came from this test machine, it did the same thing, three long beeps and wouldn't boot; I replaced that with the second backup stick and it did the exact same thing. This leads me to believe that my RAM was the cause of this? I mean, my backup RAM is fried... so is one of the Gold sticks.

Here is my question however, what could have fried this RAM? I mean, I can understand one of the new sticks possibly being bad (although having that two times in a row is really quite rare...) but what about the backup RAM? It was the same speed (DDR2 800) just a different brand... yet both of my backup sticks are fried. The one good stick of OCZ I believe is still good because I have not tested that in my system at home yet (one thing I will do before ultimately sending in for a new MOBO). Could this have been my MOBO at my home machine that did this? How about this, the standard for my MOBO for RAM is DDR2 1200, not DDR2 800... could that have caused a problem? Maybe when I upped the voltage (trying to fix my problem) it fried those three sticks?

I really really want to be certain that I absolutely have to send in for a new MOBO before I do... because when I do that I not only lose all my C drive information, I also am without a main machine for at least a week... I am betting on more than a week because I would have to send in for a manufacturers warranty on the MOBO (because I have passed the 30 days for the newegg replacement service).

This is so frustrating >|
 
If you get the same exact mobo, you shouldn't have to reinstall windows. Speaking of which, when you got your new mobo, did you do a re-install of windows?

Also, is there a way you can get some ram that you KNOW is 100% working and try that in your mobo?
 
I have one stick of the OCZ that is 100% working right now, it booted my work test machine just peachy. I will try it in my computer when I get home to see if it boots it up or not.

Of course I reinstalled windows... I had to, new MOBO from the old.

Any input on whether or not it would be because of the 800 RAM instead of the 1200 RAM that is standard for the MOBO?
 
No, absolutely no reason DDR2 800 shouldn't work in that mobo. My ram is DDR2 800 and works just fine whether I oc it or not. Some of the recent bios updates have added memory compatability, so if you can get into your bios, try to update it and see if that works.
 
I am going to try some more diagnostic processes tonight to make damned sure that it is indeed the MOBO causing issues. If I put this working stick of OCZ in and it doesn't boot past the splash screen, I guess that tells me that it is indeed my MOBO that is causing issues.
 
WOW!

Ok, heres the story.

Today at work, around 3:30 I decided to finally shut my test computer down and start running tests on my ram I took from my house; I brought along the OCZ gold and also the backup ram I was using that I originally took from work. I first stuck in the backup ram to see if it would work, I stuck it in the master RAM slot and it booted the machine just fine, twice; I then took that out and replaced it with one of the OCZ gold sticks, this stick failed to boot the system twice; I removed it, then replaced it with the other OCZ stick that I had, this booted the system twice with no problems. This surprised me... as I now had proof that I received bad RAM from newegg not ONCE but TWICE.

I came home, abruptly stuck the backup ram into my machine and it booted just peachy, two full times with no problems; I then replaced the backup ram with my one good stick of OCZ and it booted the system twice, no problems. When I did the test on my home machine, I had everything unplugged except for the essentials, that is, my keyboard/mouse, power cable, and video.

So now here I sit, machine is running smoothly with the backup RAM and I am now doing a SECOND RMA with newegg.

I am considering dropping the OCZ gold ram and going with something else - corsair has been the ram that I have stuck with ever since I started building and I am thinking of going back with them and possibly going to 1200 instead of 800.

Suggestions? Thoughts?

P.S. *edit*
I believe I found the culprit; my secondary monitor, an Elu Touchscreen, was causing my computer to blue screen on bootup. As soon as I unplugged the monitor, my system booted just fine! Its hard to believe... I don't know why the monitor would be causing the issues - perhaps the extra monitor was too much for my 650W PSU? That combined with the stick of bad RAM... well yea... what a fun two days its been!
 
That specific Corsair ram isn't on the Asus QVL (Qualified Vendors List) for that mobo. However, they should work fine and should oc to the 890MHz you'll need to get 4GHz out of your e8400. I linked you to that G.skill beecause it is on the QVL and I have it and it works great. Was just trying to lead you down the 100% safe route because it sounds like you're having bad luck with ram haha.

But, as I said, it's pretty likely that the Corsair ram you linked will work just fine.
 
Well, after reading a bit more on the RAM you suggested I believe I will go with that, so far no bad reviews from what I can read.

I might still be having small issues; last night while trying to play some TF2, about midgame when there was a ton of activity, I started having frame rate droppage; I was hovering around 120 frames the first half of my play time, then all of the sudden when I looked at a busy area (place with a lot of players and weapon activity etc...) my frames dropped to almost dead 0, the only way I could get my frames back to 120 was by looking away from the action at a wall or the ground. This leads me to believe its another RAM issue; I figured that one of my backup RAM sticks was having troubles or something along those lines, funny thing is though, after about 30 sec of this it seemed to clear up and it worked fine until the end of the match. I figure, that either the ram was too hot? Maybe one of the sticks failed and I was only detecting 1 gig for a short time? Maybe it is indeed my MOBO RAM slots that are having issues instead of the ram (could be killing the RAM?).

More suggestions welcome on this problem as well as my secondary monitor problem (I believe that relates to my video card however). quote from earlier:
Jawbrkr said:
I believe I found the culprit; my secondary monitor, an Elu Touchscreen, was causing my computer to blue screen on bootup. As soon as I unplugged the monitor, my system booted just fine! Its hard to believe... I don't know why the monitor would be causing the issues - perhaps the extra monitor was too much for my 650W PSU? That combined with the stick of bad RAM...
Click to expand...
 
one example of this situation is my system... I have Mushkin DDR2-1066 rated at EPP of 2.1-2.2V (and JSPEC of 1.8V @ 800MHz) yet the EP35-DS3R board tries to boot it at 1.8V and 800MHz which runs fine (an occasional hiccup in the OS). As soon as I set it to 2.0V and 1066MHz and the proper timings, never had a problem since.
 
Ok, heres some more:
Last night, I decided to shut my computer down and re-arrange some of my PSU connectors (thinking I had too much stuff on one cable), I decided this after believing that I was having some PSU problems with my computer (still getting blue screens on RAM that was tested as good RAM, also having bootup power problems). I shut it down, and started re-arranging; I now have two fans and two cd drives (one dvd, one writable) on one cable, on the other cable I have two more fans and my two HD's; this solved the blue screens and for some reason, it also allowed me to reconnect my secondary monitor and use it with no problems (no blue screen on startup). I still believe however that my PSU is failing or is beginning to fail - what is a good way to find out? Any good ways to test this?

Last night while trying to play some more TF2, I had the same problem as mentioned above... mid-game it started to lag in a very busy area (my CPU at that time was running about 50C, which I don't know why). I am starting to think that my PSU is to the point where it cannot power my fans at full speed? When I bought this system I was able to idle my CPU at around 30C (still can, at idle) when under full load from a game it would shoot to around 40-45C; something has made it decide to run up to 50C which is approaching dangerous stages. Is it at all possible that my PSU is not running my case fans at full bore?

One other problem I had, was when I turned my computer back on last night (did this twice just to re-check it) my power would flash on for about half a sec, then the computer would go dark, it would then wait about 3 sec then restart itself and it would run fine after that (another sign that my PSU is failing?).

More help much appreciated!
 
I had the new ram you suggested overnighted to me - its in now and seems to be running fine.

However, I still have that startup problem, where I push the power button and have my machine go on for about half a sec then off for 3 sec then on and run smooth... I am still baffled as to why this happened.

I found the connector you were talking about with the rubber thing blocking 4 ports, I took that out and plugged in the 8 pin connector to the MOBO.
 
To see if your PSU cant handle the load, reduce the load and see if it helps.
 
Hey, you know what? I have that same thing happen to me. If I hit the reset button on my computer, it totally shuts down for about three seconds then comes back on and everything is fine. Also, sometimes when I power the whole system down and come back later to turn it on, it'll turn on for a second like yours, then turn off for a few seconds, then come back on and it's fine.

I don't know why it does that, but everything seems fine, so I don't worry about it. Maybe it's just a quirk with these mobos.
 
Jawbrkr said:
However, I still have that startup problem, where I push the power button and have my machine go on for about half a sec then off for 3 sec then on and run smooth... I am still baffled as to why this happened.
Click to expand...

rittia1962 said:
Hey, you know what? I have that same thing happen to me. If I hit the reset button on my computer, it totally shuts down for about three seconds then comes back on and everything is fine. Also, sometimes when I power the whole system down and come back later to turn it on, it'll turn on for a second like yours, then turn off for a few seconds, then come back on and it's fine.
Click to expand...

You guys have what is called a "double boot" issue. It's not harmful to the PC at all but it is annoying. The double boot issue is a quirk of Intel chipsets. It's usually fixed by a BIOs update. If not, no worries. No harm done to the PC when the double boot occurs.
 
Ok, well that makes me feel better; I was thinking it was a PSU problem. I have a flash boot disk ready for a bios update, I just have to stick it in and get the update after I determine I need it that is.
 
However, still does not explain why my CPU wants to run at 50C when under load.. in a game...
 
Jawbrkr said:
However, still does not explain why my CPU wants to run at 50C when under load.. in a game...
Click to expand...

And that's bad why? 50C is a good load temp. 65C and above under load is when you should start getting worried. It is not possible that your PSU could not be running the fans at their full speed. Fan speed is controlled by the motherboard if they're connected to it.

Though as to why you saw an increase in load temps:
- The HSF could be a bit loose
- The ambient temperature is a bit higher
- The CPU fan may be running at a lower speed due to a BIOS setting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top