Vista install BSODs with 4GB RAM, fine with 2

B

Bret

Hello,

I'm installing windows vista Asus vista edition motherboard. I
purchased 4 GB of corsair DDR2 800 mhz RAM, the good stuff. When I try
to boot to the vista CD, it copies the files and then gives me a BSOD:
the bios in this system is not fully ACPI compliant.

Any suggestions? As I type this i have removed 2GB of RAM and I am
installing vista with the remaining 2GB in the computer, no problems
yet. I might try re-adding them after the install, and manually
setting timing and voltage in bios, I also downloaded the latest bios
upgrade.

Has anyone else seen this before?

Thanks,
Bret
 
B

Bret

Just finished the vista install and re-added the other 2 GB. i get a
blue screen shortly after post, where it should begin loading windows.
the memory diagnostic said that all sticks were good...baffled.
 
C

Charlie Tame

Bret said:
Just finished the vista install and re-added the other 2 GB. i get a
blue screen shortly after post, where it should begin loading windows.
the memory diagnostic said that all sticks were good...baffled.
Click to expand...


There was a similar issue some years ago with Asus boards that sounds
exactly like this. They were supposed to take up to 2GB but after you go
above 1.75 GB they crashed reporting something silly like 5KB of RAM :)

I mention this because for some reason there seemed only very few users
who had tried the max and all of them had gone through countless
searches etc to find info. Nothing on the Asus site, IIRC it still said
up to 2 GB in the spec.

What makes these situations worse of course is that it just "Might" work
with another make of RAM or some very minor tweak if you could just get
to do it :)
 
B

Bret

What is the error message on the BSOD?
--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User
Click to expand...


Well...

out of the box the mobo was running bios 303. after installing vista
with 2gb i put in the other 2gb and saw a BSOD flash up for a split
second (it always happened before i saw a windows loading screen). I
upgraded the bios to 603, and now the BSOD stays put, and it does it
AFTER the windows loading screen appears and loads for a minute, but
it isnt very informative. no error is displayed. just a typical blue
screen with "disable caching and shadowing" or "try changing video
adapters" with that silly hex error: STOP0x0000000blah blah blah...

ONE TIME After restarting i went into bios and reset all RAM settings
to auto. the PC booted into windows and it found all 4GB! i installed
a driver and restarted, and then got the BSOD again. This was the only
instance that i saw an error displayed: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. And
that was the only time it booted with 4 gb.

Other than the auto settings, i also tried several manual timings,
manual voltage at 2.1, manually setting and lowering the
frequency....nothing yet :-/. Memtest is next, even though windows
said nothing is wrong.

thanks for the input.

-Bret
 
G

Guest

hi jane
i have the same problem & nothing changes also after installing 929777
i get BSOD with 4gb
remove 1 gb and all is ok
also the same problem on vista 64

i use ASUS striker extreme with vista 32
and ASUS p5n32-e sli with vista 64
both with Q6600 cpu and 8800gts

i have same problem on both computers

thanks
zeev
 
C

Corry Littlefair

Well, I was all ready to reutrn my memory when after a few 'swap in and outs'
ralised the memory was fine.

Mobo : ASUS M2N32-SLI Premium Vista
Memory: 2xCorsair XMS2 (1gb) Plus another matched pair of the same....

Seems to work fine with 2GB, and even 3GB but NOT with 4GB because I get the
BSOD - which looks like 'non-ACPI compatible mobo' (ran the set up disk for
Vista again to confirm this)

Even tried the Hotfix mentioned in this thread but no luck.....

Next suggestion please (other than go back to XP!!!!)
 
R

Rick Rogers

Hi Corry,

Some motherboards require a manual setting of timings when you install large
amounts of or near capacity ram. Get the timings from the memory stick
vendor, then try setting them manually in the BIOS rather than using
automatic settings.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
 
C

Corry Littlefair

Rick

Thanks for that, tried setting manually but no avail.... then thought -
Better to check than assume and guess what - Despite my Bios utility stating
there was no update, there was.

So did the bios update and possible progress...... the 4GB is now seen as
3.5GB (but getting 5.9 on experience level for the memory!!!) Just now seem
to get intermittent BSOD (and a total lockup 5-mins ago) which indicates all
is still not well. Even the MS fix listed earlier in this thread made no
difference. You never know the upcoming SP1 patch might sort things out.

Any more suggestions are appreciated, hopefully the stability issue will not
be too much of a hinderence..........
 
C

Corry Littlefair

Thanks, that is the update I used yesterday and still no joy - already sick
of the lock ups so down to the 3GB now, with a missing slot. MS should have
said on the requirements for Vista Home Premium 32-bit that you cannot use
4GB RAM but hey.... Also so much for a 'Vista Certified' Motherboard.
 
P

Pat

sounds like I have the same problem as you Im running vista home premium and
it crashes repeatedly, when I try to load software. It came with 1 gig of
ram and I installed 2 more gigs of ram. I wont run Autocad 14, CD Estimator
2 old DOS programs my scanner and I cant fax out of it. Can it be upgraded
to XP pro?

Pat
(e-mail address removed)
 
R

Rick Rogers

Hi,

Vista 32-bit can use 4GB of ram with the use of remapping of system hardware
addresses (mmio) above that mark and through use of the /pae switch when the
chipset supports it. Niether of these are usually default configurations,
though /pae is applied on systems that support hardware dep.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
 
J

John

I'll try that. Same situation here. Same motherboard with 4 sticks of 1 Gig.
Crucial Ballistix and Vista Ultimate 64 bit. Installed with 2 Gig. and added
SP1 RC last evening. Will try other 2 Gig. this evening. 4 Gig. last time
gave me a blue screen twice then a memory dump which counted up to 100 and
rebooted. No problem after that until I replaced the HD and started all over
again. Hopefully a bios flash and SP1 RC will cure all.

John
 

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