improper cpu speed

[friesian]

I just got new ram to upgrade my computer. I previously had two
1 GB sticks. I am replacing them with 3 new 1 GB sticks.

I put in one by itself, and it worked fine. So, I put in the other 2.
No go.
I took one out, and tried it with 2. It came up in safe mode and said
the
system had hung because of an improper cpu speed. I exited and tried
again with 3 sticks. Same problem.

Why would having 3 sticks of ram change the cpu speed? Is there
a setting I can change so that it will run with all 3 sticks, or I am
stuck
with only 2 GB as my max?

 

[Paul]

I just got new ram to upgrade my computer. I previously had two
1 GB sticks. I am replacing them with 3 new 1 GB sticks.

I put in one by itself, and it worked fine. So, I put in the other 2.
No go.
I took one out, and tried it with 2. It came up in safe mode and said
the
system had hung because of an improper cpu speed. I exited and tried
again with 3 sticks. Same problem.

Why would having 3 sticks of ram change the cpu speed? Is there
a setting I can change so that it will run with all 3 sticks, or I am
stuck
with only 2 GB as my max?

First off, what is the make and model of motherboard ?

Second thing - don't boot into Windows as your first test
after changing or adding RAM. Use a tool like memtest86+
( memtest.org ) or the Microsoft memory tester:

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

I also have a Knoppix (knopper.net) and a Ubuntu (ubuntu.com)
Linux boot CD, and you can boot to a Linux desktop while using
no hard drive space. (They don't need to be installed - you can
run them from the CD.) You cannot corrupt a CD by booting with it,
while you can easily mess up a hard drive if the RAM is bad.
One mechanism for corruption, is the Windows registry can
be held in RAM, and at shutdown, get written back to the
hard drive. If the RAM is bad, the registry written back will
be corrupted.

When in Windows, if you want to check the speed being used, try CPUZ.
In some cases, the hardware can be adjusted in the BIOS. But
knowing the motherboard may make looking up the hardware
limitations a bit easier.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Paul

 

[Calab]

I just got new ram to upgrade my computer. I previously had two
1 GB sticks. I am replacing them with 3 new 1 GB sticks.

I put in one by itself, and it worked fine. So, I put in the other 2.
No go.

Depending on the mainboard and chipset, some PCs won't work with only three
pieces of memory.

Out of curiousity, what happens with 3 new sticks plus one of the old
sticks?

 

[friesian]

Depending on the mainboard and chipset, some PCs won't work with only three
pieces of memory.

Out of curiousity, what happens with 3 new sticks plus one of the old
sticks?

There are only 3 slots.

How do I determine the information for the motherboard and chipset? I
bought the computer used last summer. The RAM is brand new; I cut open
the packages today.

 

[Grinder]

There are only 3 slots.

How do I determine the information for the motherboard and chipset? I
bought the computer used last summer. The RAM is brand new; I cut open
the packages today.

It's not a good sign that you've bought RAM for a motherboard you have
not yet identified. You can identify the board at least two ways:

1) Physical Inspection. With the PC unplugged, pop open the case and
find a manufacturer and model printed on the board. Google what you
find to insure that you have, in fact, picked out a manufacturer and
model, and not just some other mystery numbers. This is probably the
most accurate.

2) System Information Utility. Pop your original RAM back in, and
install some sort of utility, like Everest Home Edition, that will try
to figure out what board you have from your BIOS id, or some other bits.

 

[friesian]

It's not a good sign that you've bought RAM for a motherboard you have
not yet identified. You can identify the board at least two ways:

Does it really matter what brand the ram is? THe old ram is pc3200,
400 mHz, 1 Gb each stick. The new RAM is the same. Just different
brand and 3 sticks?

I didn't see any reason to check compatibility when the RAM is the
same kind. And it works fine with 1 or 2 sticks. It only fails when I
put in all 3 sticks.

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P4PE REV 1.xx
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz

 

[Pen]

I didn't see any reason to check compatibility when the RAM is the
same kind. And it works fine with 1 or 2 sticks. It only fails when I
put in all 3 sticks.

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P4PE REV 1.xx
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz

Go here download the manual.

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

However, there is an excellent chance that you shouldn't have tried ti
fix this board. The manual, on page 2-10, points out that only 2 GB of
memory is supported.

 

[Paul]

Does it really matter what brand the ram is? THe old ram is pc3200,
400 mHz, 1 Gb each stick. The new RAM is the same. Just different
brand and 3 sticks?

I didn't see any reason to check compatibility when the RAM is the
same kind. And it works fine with 1 or 2 sticks. It only fails when I
put in all 3 sticks.

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P4PE REV 1.xx
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz

That board has "four bank drive", suitable for driving a
maximum of two slots, not three. That is a function of the
Intel chipset being used. The fact that a third
slot is soldered to the board, is a mistake from a
practical perspective (it is there to make the board
appear more capable than it really is).

The motherboard manual will tell you, that the board
can take:

two double sided sticks of RAM (third slot *must* be empty)

or

one double sided, plus two single sided sticks of RAM

Most people will buy double sided sticks, so that
third slot must be "used as a dust collector".

See section 2.5.2 of the downloadable manual (as Pen suggested).

The practical max memory will be 2x1GB.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Grinder]

Does it really matter what brand the ram is? THe old ram is pc3200,
400 mHz, 1 Gb each stick. The new RAM is the same. Just different
brand and 3 sticks?

I didn't see any reason to check compatibility when the RAM is the
same kind. And it works fine with 1 or 2 sticks. It only fails when I
put in all 3 sticks.

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P4PE REV 1.xx
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz

It probably does not matter what brand. Some manufacturers recommend
that you buy three sticks from the same manufacturer. Nonetheless, it's
a good idea to read your motherboard specs *before* purchasing RAM.

http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/p4pe/e1110_p4pe.pdf

As Pen has already pointed out, max RAM for the board is 2GB. That
appears to be the source of your problem. I foresee an eBay auction in
your future.

Another note gleaned from the manual: This board is sensitive to how
many sides your memory modules have. Specifically it can only have four
sides installed. So, if you have double-sided modules, you will only be
able to use two of them, and will have to leave the third slot empty.

 

[friesian]

That board has "four bank drive", suitable for driving a
maximum of two slots, not three. That is a function of the
Intel chipset being used. The fact that a third
slot is soldered to the board, is a mistake from a
practical perspective (it is there to make the board
appear more capable than it really is).

The motherboard manual will tell you, that the board
can take:

two double sided sticks of RAM (third slot *must* be empty)

or

one double sided, plus two single sided sticks of RAM

Most people will buy double sided sticks, so that
third slot must be "used as a dust collector".

See section 2.5.2 of the downloadable manual (as Pen suggested).

The practical max memory will be 2x1GB.

HTH,
Paul

Thanks! I've never heard of that. I just assumed that all slots were
usable, and that my max was 3 GB. Well, hopefully, I can sell it for
what I paid. Learn something new everyday.

 

[DaveW]

Your motherboard is having timing problems running as many as three RAM
sticks. You'll either have to try a different brand of RAM or settle for
two sticks.