help w/ddr2 ram setup P5AD2 Delux

[Bill V.]

ok please bear with me I'm no expert. I bought this board and (2) DDR2 4200
512 sticks of ram. When the ram is installed in the yellow and black slots
of channel "A" everything is fine. OK here's the problem, in order to get
the benefits of dual DDR2 ram I'm gathering by the install book, that 1
stick of ram is to be put in channel "A" and "B" slots. (yellow or black
slots, but the same in each channel) When I do this the machine claims I'm
overclocking the CPU and wont boot. I'm not sure why changing the ram slots
would overclock the CPU, but by removing channel "B" ram all is ok? Any
help on this would be appreciated in getting this setup correctly

TIA Bill

 

[Paul]

ok please bear with me I'm no expert. I bought this board and (2) DDR2 4200
512 sticks of ram. When the ram is installed in the yellow and black slots
of channel "A" everything is fine. OK here's the problem, in order to get
the benefits of dual DDR2 ram I'm gathering by the install book, that 1
stick of ram is to be put in channel "A" and "B" slots. (yellow or black
slots, but the same in each channel) When I do this the machine claims I'm
overclocking the CPU and wont boot. I'm not sure why changing the ram slots
would overclock the CPU, but by removing channel "B" ram all is ok? Any
help on this would be appreciated in getting this setup correctly

TIA Bill

Things you can try:

1) The memory has a voltage adjustment in the BIOS. 1.8V is the
normal voltage for this new memory type. Use a higher setting
in the BIOS, and perhaps that will be enough to make the memory
stable.

2) What happens if you stick just one stick on the B channel, or
both sticks on the B channel ? Does it still crash ? Perhaps
the B channel is defective on the Northbridge.

3) Get a copy of memtest86 from memtest.org . There is a version
to make a bootable CD and a version to make a bootable floppy.
The floppy version contains a floppy formatter, and when the
program is executed, it will format a boot floppy for you.
The boot floppy does not contain a file system, and cannot be
read in Windows. Go into the BIOS and make sure the floppy is
first in the boot order, then use the memtest prepared boot
floppy, to boot the system. The memory should be error free in
an overnight test. If errors are present, either the memory is
bad, or some part of the motherboard is bad (Northbridge or
Vdimm power conversion).

Start by testing one or both sticks, using the "A" channel.
If they pass the "A" channel test, then perhaps they are not
defective, and the problem is the motherboard. If the memory
fails, even when the memory is run at default speed, and is
fed some extra voltage, return them to your vendor.

The error message could have been "system failed due to overclock",
but what the error message really means is "I know the computer
crashed during your last session, because my BIOS did not initialize
properly, and I'm assuming it was because you overclocked me.."
Anything that causes the computer to crash out prematurely, will
cause that message to be delivered on the next reboot.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Bill V.]

OK Paul thanks for your reply. I'm beginning to think its the m/b, cause
both sticks of ram work in the "A" channel. I will try just putting a stick
in the "B" channel and see what happens. Would be rather disappointing if it
is the m/b, considering how much this board costs. :-(