RAM Problems...

by **Bagginses** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 2:59 pm

Alright, I just bought a new stick of 512 MB DDR PC2100 RAM, I put it in my mother board in the first slot after I took out my 256 stick. Turned on my computer, and it registered the 512 no problem. I then turned it back off, and put my 256 in the second slot. Turned it on, it only registered the 512. Turned it off again. Put the 256 in the third slot. Still just the 512. Took out the 512, put the 256 back in the first, put 512 in the second, only registered the 256.

Suffice it to say, my motherboard is only reading whatever's in the first slot. Granted, 512 MB of RAM is still a big improvement over the 256 that I had, but I'd like to get both going and get the full 768 MB. Does anyone know what might be going on? Do I have to change something in my BIOS? I'm not very good at this technical stuff so any help is appreciated. Thanks.

-Bagginses

by **Matt174e** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 3:40 pm

Stupid question, is the 256 ram pc2100 too?

I'm a retard when it comes to computers, but i do know some stuff

by **Bagginses** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 3:42 pm

Yes, it is.

-Bagginses

by **Irish** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:00 pm

What MOBO. I think I heard once that some MOBO's need like memory or it won't recognize. Expensive proposition but buy another stick of identical RAM and place it in slot two. If that doesn't work then I would say those Dimms are bad.

Question for the mass-

Do you need to install in Dimm one or could you stick one stick in the center Dimm and test Dimm two and three with only one stick?

by **Bagginses** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:19 pm

It's a MicroStar MS-6373. Atleast that's what the brand and model number are.

-Bagginses

by **FarginMofo** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:33 pm

Baggs, I believe I have the same mobo from msi. I've had no issues with it recognizing my memory. I had one 512 in the first slot and a 256 in the 3rd slot before I upgraded to 2 512's. Why skip slot 2?

Here is a quote from a review on the internet...
"3 Dimm slots are standard fare here, but good luck using them all. First reported by gamepc.com, it's been reported that slot number 2 (the middle one) cannot be filled with a dual bank Dimm, without a performance drop. This is nVidia's SuperStability mode. You can read more about it from their article, but I decided to give it a quick test myself, using two Kingston Dimms and one Crucial, and the performance drop is real. It does work, but the performance loss will be up to you to decide if it's worth it. If you only have two Dimms, simply use slot 1 and 3."

by **Agent-Commando** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:34 pm

Try flashing the BIOS to the latest release.

by **Bagginses** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:44 pm

Fargin, I'll try to put the 256 in the third slot but I think I tried that and it still only identified the 512. Maybe I'll just call MicroStar.

Agent, how do you go about flashing the BIOS. I'm slightly illiterate when it comes to this stuff. However, I'm learning more everyday from crap like this that happens.

-Bagginses

by **FarginMofo** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:49 pm

Baggs, are you able to test the memory on another computer to see if its recognized there. Just a note: my mobo worked fine for over a year without ever having to flash the bios. Double check what you've done before you proceed with flashing the bios.

by **Bagginses** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:53 pm

Originally posted by FarginMofo
Baggs, are you able to test the memory on another computer to see if its recognized there. Just a note: my mobo worked fine for over a year without ever having to flash the bios. Double check what you've done before you proceed with flashing the bios.

Well, my roomate has a desktop so I can check it out on his but I'll have to do that later tonight as he has a large paper to write. However, I'm shying away from thinking it's a problem with the RAM because my computer identifies either of them correctly whenever I put them in the first slot. It's just leading me to believe that it's a problem with the 2nd and 3rd slots.

-Bagginses

by **FarginMofo** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:54 pm

Time for a new mobo? Mine is going a little fritzy on me too.

by **Bagginses** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:56 pm

I'm thinking I should just get a whole new computer. I thought I could get by with getting new RAM and a new video card, but it's starting to seem as if everything else is just going to drag them down. Problem is, being the poor college student that I am, $'s running a little thin.

-Bagginses

by **shockwave203** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 6:41 pm

I know the feeling :freak:

by **Bullhead** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 11:54 pm

Bagginses.....You shouldn't need to make ANY bios changes for the mem to work right, although that is a REMOTE possibilty. From looking at pics of your board, so long as both sticks aren't in the two slots that are side by side (prob. dimm 2 and 3), it should work fine. Ideally, you should have one in Dimm 1, and one in Dimm 3 for a dual-channel nforce board (like yours). ***EDIT*** I just read thru the manual for your board, and it states that the ideal setup would be the 512mb dimm in slot 1, with the 256mb dimm in slot 2.

Try this for an experiment.... put only ONE stick (either one) in Dimm3 and see if it boots up. If it does, the dimm slot is likely fine. If not, it MAY indicate the slot is bad. Some nforce boards will not boot without mem in Dimm1, so this isn't a guaranteed test.

How old is this mobo? MSI should have a one year warranty.

***EDIT*** based on what I've read from the manual, you likely have a bad mobo (bad dimm slots, or a bad mem controller). The only other possibility I can offer is the manual mentions that you cannot put dual load (dual bank) mem in either dimm2 or dimm3. I unfortunately do not know exactly what they mean, unless they are referring to memory that has chips on both sides of the stick.

If you want, download memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com) and run it with either or both sticks in the system. If it generates errors, and you AREN'T overclocking, it means the board or mem is bad. You can verify the mem by testing them (one or both) in your roommates computer if his takes the same type of mem as yours.

by **Bagginses** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:38 am

Well, I don't think the memory is bad because I can put them both in the first slot and they run fine. I'll use that memtest program and see what comes up. My motherboard is definitely older than a year, so, no warranty. I think I'll probably just end up digging out the phone number and try their tech support, but we'll see. I'll do some more fiddling first.

-Bagginses

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