Asus A8N-SLi Premium Memory Upgrade Problem

[Digital Puppy]

Been running the A8N-SLI Premium with 2 sticks of Kingston KRX3200K2/1G (1gig total) for a few months now. Decided to upgrade to 2 gigs by buying two more sticks of the same Kingston memory.

When I put all four sticks in, the computer doesn't post...no beeps, no nothing. When I take the new sticks and put them in by themselves, no problems. When I put either new or old sticks in either slots (A1/B1, A2, B2), the computer has no problem. It's only when I try and use all four dimms that the computer refuses to post.

Asus told me to put two sticks in and check to make sure the CAS latency settings were correct in bios (manual not auto) and then add the 3rd and the 4th stick, but this didn't help.

Wanted to see if you guys could help me figure this out while I wait for Asus's next move. Anyone have any suggestions?

[DMB2000uk]

Is your BIOS the latest version?

And does it not run with 3 sticks in?

Dan

[Digital Puppy]

Is your BIOS the latest version?

And does it not run with 3 sticks in?

Dan

Didn't try it yet with 3 sticks. I think there might be a beta BIOS version that has been released recently, but I am running the latest official BIOS.

'DP

[kenc51]

Set the command rate to 2T before adding the second two sticks....

[Digital Puppy]

Set the command rate to 2T before adding the second two sticks....

Thanks Ken, I'm not exactly sure what the setting is now, but I'll double check and make sure when I get back to town on Thursday and report back.

[Digital Puppy]

Well, I'm back in town but looking through my bios, I'm still not sure what settings I need to reset/adjust to run 4 sticks. (Haven't tried the test with 3 sticks yet per Dan's suggestion).

Kenc51, I'm not seeing a setting for "command rate"...at least I don't see what corresponds to it in my bios:



Asus Version 1009:


I'll be giving Asus a call on the issue again, but if anyone has anymore suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

[Apoptosis]

two sticks are registered and two sticks are unregistered? That might cause the motherboard to not like you...

Since running all the banks it tends to stress out the memory controller more and since this is an AMD machine with the memory controller on the CPU it's freaking out by seeing both registered memory and unbuffered on the same motherboard.

[kenc51]

Kenc51, I'm not seeing a setting for "command rate"...at least I don't see what corresponds to it in my bios:

Command rate is listed as "1T/2T timing" on your bios and it's already set to 2T ;)

Nate is onto something!!!

Disable the last option in that photo...."ECC Master Enable"
if that doesn't work, disable both the "DRAM Over 4G Remapping" options
The remapping options are only used if you have 4GB of ram, since X86 cpu's can only really use/see 3GB.....

[Apoptosis]

Disable the last option in that photo...."ECC Master Enable"

That might be the source of the problem!

[Digital Puppy]

Disable the last option in that photo...."ECC Master Enable"

Thanks guys! Looks like I have a couple of different options to try.

I'm hoping this works.

[kenc51]

also.........if that doesn't work...try setting the following

Trp = 4
Trcd = 4
Tras = 10

& adding ~.1volts more to the ram might help!

BTW...There's no need to call me "Kenc51" --> Ken will do fine ;)

[Digital Puppy]

Some clarification:

My Kingston KRX3200K2/1G ram that I have has Latency Timings of 3-3-3-8-1, "Registered PC3200 ECC CL3". So the 2T that I had in my "1T/2T Memory Timing" settings was incorrect.

Or so I thought.

After changing that in bios to 1T and disabling the 4G settings (and even ECC), 4 DIMMS still didn't work. (BTW, I tried with and without ECC being enabled).

also.........if that doesn't work...try setting the following

Trp = 4
Trcd = 4
Tras = 10

& adding ~.1volts more to the ram might help!

Ken, I haven't tried your second set of suggestions yet, but wanted to put in a call to Asus support to see what they have to say.

Thanks for the (continued) help guys....sheesh...I just shoulda got 2x1gig!

[DMB2000uk]

Did you still try booting with the 2T command rate though?

Because the memory controller is on-die with AMD chips, it can get a bit stressed having to access 4 sticks of RAM all at 1T, so it usually helps to relax this to 2T to get it to work. Rubbish I know, but something that seems to be a 'design flaw'.

Dan

[Digital Puppy]

Did you still try booting with the 2T command rate though?

Because the memory controller is on-die with AMD chips, it can get a bit stressed having to access 4 sticks of RAM all at 1T, so it usually helps to relax this to 2T to get it to work. Rubbish I know, but something that seems to be a 'design flaw'.

Dan

Yeah, the first 5-6 times I tried to add the memory, the command rate was 2T. I'm on hold with Asus right now. Hope I can get some answers...

[Digital Puppy]

Well, it took some CSR roulette, but I finally have an answer to what was "wrong". (Hopefully, it's the right answer)

The CSR I talked to this time pointed me to a specific page in the manual that showed the "qualified vendors list". Here they show specific memory configurations. The Kingston KRX series that I have is not even listed and is considered "unsupported".



Mixing and matching of "A", "B", and "C"-type DIMMs is okay, but since they have no data on the stuff I own, there is no way to tell. I'm assuming the KRX3200K2/1G that I have supports "A" or "B".

So I guess I'm going to send this stuff back to Newegg. Maybe get some other series that supports 4 modules ...

Thanks again guys, for all the help.

[DMB2000uk]

That sucks. i would have thought that in this age of computing, any memory rated at the correct speed would work with any mobo. Unless one of the companies skimped when implementing feature-sets.

Dan

[kenc51]

Asus boards are normally v-good with memory!

You should get 2x 512mb sticks instead.......
OCZ Premier 1GB (2 x 512MB) Timing: 2.5-3-3-7

$69 ($60.99 after $9.00 Mail-In Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227069

It's not for overclocking, but you get a lifetime warranty and very good support........even come with heatspreaders ;)

[Digital Puppy]

Just a quick update.....

RMA'd that Kingston HyperX I bought from Newegg. With my refund (minus restocking fee ), I bought some Cosair TwinX XMS 2x1GB. I took out my other HyperX DIMMS and now am only running the Cosair DIMMS

Currently, I have my timings at 3-3-3-8 w/ Command Rate at 1T. My 3700+ is running stable at 2400 MHz.

Trying to get stable with CAS# set to 2, but I have plenty of time for that...I'm loving my upgrade now!

[Tango]

Solved this major issue for all!!!

Flash the bios to the latest version. The bios does not recognise the later dual core processors correctly. So a quick flash of the bios sorts out all memory issues. I am now using Windows 7 64bit with a full 4gig of memory.

[InspectahACE]

Extreme thread revival
Glad it's working for ya