Vista will not boot with 3GB of RAM in the system

[Chris Swinney]

Hi all,

I have an issue with an upgraded system using a DFI NF Ultra 11 motherboard
and 3GB of RAM. Vista simply will not boot, either from the default
installation or from the CD. If I allow Vista to boot normally (or via the
CD) it will only get to the initial black screen with the time line bar at
the bottom, yet the bar will never show and the machine will just hang. If I
boot the default installation in safe mode I get different BSOD stop messages
such as 0x1000000a.

My first instinct was that the memory was faulty, however, I ran Windows
memory diagnostic and Memtest86+ with no issue. I then booted into Windows XP
(on another partition) which registered the 3GB of memory and ran Prime95
also with no issue.

Anyone have any further thoughts or ideas of how I might further test the
memory full in XP.

Thanks

Chris

 

[Richard Urban]

I have seen this when the RAM sticks are not identical (same manufacturer,
same date, same batch code and especially - with the same timings).

If you have two sticks in there now that use a fast RAM timing, and the bios
is set to this timing, and you then put in a stick with slower timings - the
computer may give you all sorts of errors. Yet, each stick of RAM is good.

This is why it is good to always buy RAM for a manufactured computer direct
from the computer manufacturer. Get RAM for your HP from HP etc.

If you build your own computers, buy all of your RAM at the same time, from
the same supplier. This way you have a better chance of getting RAM that is
from the same manufacturing batch. If you buy two sticks of RAM today and go
back to the same supplier next week to get another "identical" stick - you
"may" be out of luck. The new stick "may" just be different enough to cause
errors.

Laugh if you must but my parts cabinet is loaded with hundreds of sticks of
used RAM from computers that had a RAM mismatch.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Dominic Payer]

Is http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929777 relevant? If so, reduce the RAM to
2GB and complete the install.

 

[Chris Swinney]

Richard,

Many thanks for this and don't worry, I know about the issues of matching
RAM. The three new modules are all identical from the same manufacturer. The
are all the same size speed and density, that is 1GB DDR 400, 64MBx16 running
at CL3. the manufacturer is Hynix.

The original RAM was two sticks of Crucial memory, this time 512MB DDR 400,
CL3 memory.

There are a totla of 3 slot on the MB, and it is capable of supporting 3GB
max.

The strange thing is that I can put module in differnt order and combination
and all will work fine (as long as I stay below the 2GB limit). I can mix and
match the two manufacture with no issue - i.e. I can run 2x512MB and 1x 1GB
so using all slots and all is OK. As soon as I try and run 3x1GB or 2x1GB +
1x512MB then vista will not load - but XP will with no issues.

Chris

 

[Chris Swinney]

Hi Dominic,

I am just about to check out the article but for what it's worth, Vista has
already been installed on this system with 1GB or memory. However, it will
not boot from the HDD (or DVD for that mater, which I'm sure will be covered
by the article) with more than 2GB of memory installed.

Still, shall report back if I find any useful info.

Chris

 

[Charlie Tame]

Richard,

Many thanks for this and don't worry, I know about the issues of matching
RAM. The three new modules are all identical from the same manufacturer. The
are all the same size speed and density, that is 1GB DDR 400, 64MBx16 running
at CL3. the manufacturer is Hynix.

The original RAM was two sticks of Crucial memory, this time 512MB DDR 400,
CL3 memory.

There are a totla of 3 slot on the MB, and it is capable of supporting 3GB
max.

The strange thing is that I can put module in differnt order and combination
and all will work fine (as long as I stay below the 2GB limit). I can mix and
match the two manufacture with no issue - i.e. I can run 2x512MB and 1x 1GB
so using all slots and all is OK. As soon as I try and run 3x1GB or 2x1GB +
1x512MB then vista will not load - but XP will with no issues.

Chris

Some older ASUS motherboards had a hardware problem similar to this and
there's never been to my knowledge been anything on the official site. I
found the info using Google and it was in some newsgroups / forums but
it seems like the posters were not connected so it was not common
knowledge. 1.5 GB okay, 2GB (Stated by Asus as the Max) reported about 5
bytes Bios update no good either.

 

[Chris Swinney]

Downloaded and installed the update, but this didn't resolve the issue.

 

[Chris Swinney]

Thanks Charlie.

I will check the DFI site but I don't think its a MB issue. The MB will take
3GB of memory quite happily and various memory testing program will run, test
all 3GB and report no error. Windows XP will load and report 3GB, and will
run Prime95 in torture test mode with no issue.


A small point but it might be worth posting at the top of the thread next
time so that responses are in reverse chronological order and can be easily
read.

Chris

 

[Chris Swinney]

Downloaded and installed the update, but still no good.

I rebooted several time but alwyas saw stop errors, however I see several
different Stop errors including the 0x0a one mentioned. All happen at the
same point.

These inlcuded 0x7e, 0xC5 and one other that I can't remember.

Chris

 

[Dominic Payer]

I think your board uses the nForce2 chipset. Driver development for this
chipset (and the nForce3) has stopped.

You could have run into a problem with the chipset drivers which will never
be fixed.

 

[HeyBub]

Hi Dominic,

I am just about to check out the article but for what it's worth,
Vista has already been installed on this system with 1GB or memory.
However, it will not boot from the HDD (or DVD for that mater, which
I'm sure will be covered by the article) with more than 2GB of
memory installed.

Not exactly true. It just won't boot with 3GB of memory. Have you tried four
GB?

 

[Chris Swinney]

HeyBub,

I my case anything over 2GB and Vista wont boot. Up to 2GB is fine. I only
have 1GB and 512MB module to play with so I can't do any smaller step than
0.5GB., so 2.5 GB dosn't work.

The motherboard I have only has 3 DIMM bank, not 4, so I can't go higher
than 3GB.

Chris

 

[Chris Swinney]

Have been in touch with DFI so I'll wait to see what they say. However, I
wonder if this is simply something wrong in Vista - similar the KB article
you posted earlier.

Chris

 

[Dominic Payer]

If its "wrong in Vista" it's the chipset drivers. If nVidia aren't updating
the nForce2 & 3 drivers it will never be fixed.

You are using unsupported hardware. It works with 2GB but not with 3GB and
you will have to accept that.

 

[Chris Swinney]

Cheers Dominic,

I did realise that nForce2/3 wasn't supported in Vista. Very strange.

Chris.