is it vista x64 or my mobo? won't run with 8gb

[stevebri]

Firstly, Hi group, I have a new 'puter that came with x64 vista home premium and this site is great, it made me keep the system and not just wipe it and go back to Xp pro. so thanks for that.

My specs:
Q6600
MSI P6N SLi
8600 GT 512 ddr2
2x500gb SATA's
Lightscribe DVD plus a DVD rom
RAM 2gb Adata (2x1gb) * see below

So, it came with 2GB of Adata ram, which is good ram but i wanted 8gb, so I bought 4x2gb Adata ram from Newegg.

Before installing the ram I made sure all my drivers were up to date etc.. my bios is 1 behind the current one so I'm leaving it as is because everything is really stable and I have no plans to change my cpu at the moment.

So I put 4gb in 2x2gb no problems, I then try 8 and it posts but won't boot windows. The bios shows all 8gb. So i go back to 4gb and mem tet each pair, all ok so all 8gb passed the test.

I try to run 6gb 2gb,1gb,2gb,1gb and it's not stable at all.

I run 6gb 2gb,2gb,2gb and everything is fine.

To me it seems to be a board issue, the 4th mem slot just isn't working properly, it doesn't run with either a 2gb stick in it or a 1gb stick in it.

Does this sound right to you guru's here...? The tech support guy on the site I bought the machine just said rather condescendingly that I'm using too much ram. (1,000 39mp raw images processed through Photoshop.... I need ram). He wasn't much help at all.

Does it sound like a board issue to you or am I missing something...?

Many thanks in advance to all.

S

 

[Brink]

Hi Stevebri,

LOL what great tech support they have, the specifications on your board clearly say up to 8 GB of RAM.


It could be a defect in slot 4 of your motherboard. Is this dual-channel or single-channel memory you are using, or a mix? According to your motherboard's manual it will need to be placed in the slots in a particular way if it is dual-channel.

Download a copy of your manual from here and look starting at page 2-7 to see if it may be able to help you any.

MSI -- MICRO-STAR INT'L CO., LTD.

Shawn

 

[ray_gillespie]

Well, what happens when you just have 2GB in the 4th slot? If it is unstable with that then it's DEFINITELY a problem with your board. If not, it opens up the options.

When you say unstable, what do you mean by that i.e. symptoms? You really ought to be able to use 8GB of RAM, and if you say that even 6GB doesn't work when all the slots are full then it's unlikely to be the actual quantity of RAM that's causing a problem.

I would also consider flashing your BIOS. Your motherboard is clearly unstable when filling all slots, so that's enough to warrant an updated BIOS.

 

[stevebri]

Thanks Brink,

I've been doing DDR2, that is slots 1 and 3 then slots 2 and 4 so to speak, the slots on this board are confusing colourwise as it looks like you should use the first two then the second two but on closer inspection it's the same as any other board.

Mmmmm the plot thickens...

S

 

[stevebri]

The slot... or not..

As I write this, there is 2gb ram in the 4th slot only and all is well. the system runs just from that slot... Back to the drawing board.

 

[HexManiac]

A number of chipsets will have a problem running that fourth memory slot at the speed of the other 3 slots. Sometimes you can overvolt the memory and it will work. I do NOT recommend this unless the RAM is warrantied to be set at that voltage.

I would loosen up the timings and lower the speed and see if it get's stable. If it's DDR2-800, lower the speed to 667. If you know how to set up the timings, loosen them up, maybe 5-5-5-18-2T@667. Maybe boost the voltage to 1.95 - 2V. I wouldn't go over 2V unless you really understand what your doing and why you're doing it.

RAISING THE Vddr COULD FRY YOUR MOBO AND RAM.:eek:

Do it only if you know your board and RAM. If you don't, bust out some google-fu and get to know it.

I have read that 650i and 680i chipsets can't run 4 sticks of RAM at 800. You have to reduce the speed, usually down to 667. So don't bother with the voltage.

 

[ray_gillespie]

Does your motherboard support ACPI?

 

[Brink]

Stevebri,

You say your BIOS is one version behind. You might go ahead and flash it with the latest 2.5 version to see if it helps your memory problem any.

MSI -- MICRO-STAR INT'L CO., LTD.

Shawn

 

[stevebri]

I think the bios is the way to go... ram timings etc and voltages mmm whilst I totally understand it and get it. I'm not for testing such things and frying my machine, I do earn my living from this 'puter.
Yes the mobo supports ACPI and it's set to enabled, wake up is set to S1 not S3.

Wouldn't it be better running 6gb ram at 800 rather than 8gb at 667...?

Should a board/chipset thats says 8gb of ram actually RUN 8gb of ram...?

Maybe... is there a lawyer in the house...?

S

 

[HexManiac]

Reduce the speed to 667 (333). That should work and it will not damage it. Even if you overclock the crap out of it, it will not damage the RAm or mobo.

 

[HexManiac]

Wouldn't it be better running 6gb ram at 800 rather than 8gb at 667...?

My machine runs better with 8GB at 800 rather than 4GB at 1066. Although my WEI went down, I can open more virtual machines for software testing than I could before. And the virtual machines are much faster when you can allocate more RAM to run with.

If you need the 8GB, programs that use it will run better, as will almost any Vista machine. If all you do is play games, stick with 4GB.

 

[stevebri]

Mmm what is putting me off doing the bios is the whole 'I don't have a floppy' thing.

If I set it to boot from a usb device in the bios can I extract the latest bios and put it on a flash drive (right at the root) and simply plug it in and go from there...?

S

 

[HexManiac]

Don't worry about the BIOS unless reducing the memory speed does not work.

 

[stevebri]

Thanks Hex, i use Photoshop and Lightroom a lot, with BIG 16 bit image files developed from raw images taken on 22-39mp camera's in true 16 bit mode (65,000 shades per colour).

I don't play games (hence the 8600gt) maybe an old formula 1 grand prix game so all this Halo stuff is beyond me...

 

[HexManiac]

Thanks Hex, i use Photoshop and Lightroom a lot, with BIG 16 bit image files developed from raw images taken on 22-39mp camera's in true 16 bit mode (65,000 shades per colour).

I don't play games (hence the 8600gt) maybe an old formula 1 grand prix game so all this Halo stuff is beyond me...

8GB will do you good, then. Like you, I do some of my work on my machine as well. But when I do game, the game levels do load quicker...

 

[stevebri]

So I just flashed the bios via a very nifty flash via USB tool on the MSI forums, very painless too.

I'll try the ram now...

Hex, The reason I'm doing it this way is because I feel that if the board says it takes 8gb @800 fsb it should do, rather than me twiddling with a work around, having said that i may end up coming back to you with humble pie if it all crashes...

S

 

[HexManiac]

No need for any humble pie. I was just trying to verify you had good RAM before you go through the process of flashing your BIOS.

Much of what I've read on the 680i was the fact that when using 4 sticks of RAM, you had to reduce the speed to 667. A BIOS update may fix that. Many people are upset that they don't get to run 4 sticks at 800. That was one of the reasons I waited for the 780i, which is just a slight refresh of the 680i.

And thankfully, that isn't an issue on the 780i. I'm running OCZ SLi 4x2GB 5-4-4-15-2T@800.

 

[stevebri]

Guys and gals...

I found out I was two bios versions back 2.3 as opposed to 2.5 so, after the bios flash, we are truly, truly flying. I put the 4th 2gb stick in and it booted into Vista x64 like a dream.

Tomorrow I'll get it to thump through a few heavy Photoshop tasks to see if it falls over.

Thanks again for all your help.

S

 

[Brink]

Your welcome Stevebri. I'm glad to hear that everything is working fine now.

Shawn

 

[stevebri]

Thanks Shawn,

Just 'made' the 'puter process 685 high res RAW files in Adobe Lightroom, turning them into websize jpegs for a client. To put it in perspective this would have taken most of a day on my old P4 3.01ghz with 4gb ram under XP pro, I would have left it running all night.

This set up has finished the job in under 35 minutes...!

One happy Brit living in NYC.. cheers fella's.

S