4GB DDR2-1066 Installed... Win7x64 Not Booting

[EXCellR8]

I have four identical 1GB sticks of G.Skill PC2-8500 memory, and I cannot seem to get Windows 7 to boot with all of them installed. I am using a ASUS Rampage Formula board in which I have successfully used 4GB of PC2-6400 memory in the past. I've done a BIOS update to the latest version and still Windows will not boot. I know the RAM sticks are good and I can use any of them in a 2 to 3GB configuration, and load Windows fine, but once 4GB installed it will hang at the loading screen and throw a quick BSOD (much to quick to read any info) and then just restart.

This is a 64-bit OS so I have no idea why this isn't working, but it's obviously a Windows side issue. The hardware is good and no BIOS settings affect the hang or crash. Safe Mode does not work with 4GB installed either and I cannot seem to set any maximum memory settings using MSCONFIG. Windows also states that only 2.00GB is usable which isn't right either.

Can anybody tell me why this isn't working; have I overlooked something simple?

 

[Coup27]

For starters boot Windows with 2GB or 3GB installed. Right click My Computer and click properties, then advanced system settings, then advanced, then startup and recovery settings, then untick automatically restart.

Shut down, install all the RAM and boot. This time when it BSOD's you'll be able to write down the error information and it should point us in the right direction.

 

[Coup27]

I would also try a reset to defaults in BIOS and/or load optimized values with all 4 sticks installed, just to try and see if there is a stray BIOS setting.

 

[EXCellR8]

^I've cleared CMOS a few times (especially after BIOS update) and only set CPU and memory voltages along with the proper HDD boot order. Windows still fails to boot and the BSOD is still present. This only happens when all four 1GB sticks are installed. So weird...

Going to disable auto restart now and see what I get on that blue screen.

 

[Coup27]

Saying you are setting CPU and RAM voltages suggests you are overclocking. For the purposes of fault finding can you not use load the BIOS defaults, set the boot order and then see if it loads?

 

[EXCellR8]

I've set the CPU and memory voltages to stock instead of auto. I do overclock this machine but I have tried the default settings a few times and installed the 4GB but it just doesn't work. Put 2GB in and it runs fine no matter what settings I use... this board is designed for tweaking so it usually doesn't put up much of a fuss when I play around with the BIOS.

Anyway, I got the info from the blue screen... it just reads:

PFN_LIST_CORRUPT (STOP: 0x0000004E)

bad memory?

 

[Coup27]

Looks like it might be time to mentest the RAM. Never needed to do that myself so I don't know how best to advise you on that. Ideally you want to be able to boot some memory testing tool with all 4 sticks installed and test it in that configuration. Hopefully memtest supports that?

 

[EXCellR8]

Yea it should; I've used Memtest a lot in the past so I guess I can give it some passes with all four sticks. It's not 100% reliable but I've diagnosed a lot of bad sticks before. If all else fails I'll just go back to using my PC2-6400 sticks, because this doesn't seem to be worth the effort...

Thanks for the help!

 

[Coup27]

No problem. If you do memtest let me know how you get on. The effort is always worth if it you find the problem

 

[bbhaag]

If you think it's a memory problem try giving this a go.
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
It's worked well for me in the past.
Burn the memory test on a cd/dvd then reboot and let it load.

Have you tried enabling the memory remap feature in the bios? I recently worked on my father in laws Asus 775 board that is from '06 and for some reason it wouldn't recognize the full 4gig until I enabled it.
Before that it kept bsod.

 

[EXCellR8]

It doesn't seem to matter if the memory remap feature is enabled or not, 4GB installed always prompts a crash. I've also tried changing the command rate and DRAM ratio but so far nothing has changed. I did notice that the board, on occasion, with only recognize or check 3072MB (3GB) of RAM instead of 4096MB with all four sticks installed. This is the main reason I updated the BIOS because the amount was not correct. Still not working though, and it probably is just a bad stick.

I have yet to run memtest so perhaps i'll try WMD first.

 

[hhhd1]

some ddr2 motherboards had trouble with running the 4 memory slots populated and running at the higest speed at the same time.

try to underclock the ram and see if that helps

 

[EXCellR8]

I can run all four sticks @ PC2-6400 speeds (DDR2-800) and the system will POST but the same thing happens, no boot and the same blue screen. I can also leave every single setting to auto or put in the timings manually (SPD is 5-5-5-15 @ 2.0v - 2.1v) and this doesn't help either. I think these sticks are just not going to cooperate.

 

[EXCellR8]

Well, both sets of RAM passed Memtest with 10 passes each, so it looks like they're okay--and would at least allow Windows to boot. They still don't work when it's loaded up to 4GB so I guess these sticks are out, way too much trouble. Back running just 2GB which of course works fine.

I'm thinking maybe the two sets are different revisions or something and that could be why they aren't working when installed together. Doesn't really explain why 3GB would work but I don't know. Just broken I guess...

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Try DDR-667; That's as fast as my board will go with all four slots populated.

 

[nenforcer]

What motherboard / chipset is this and what is the alleged maximum amount of memory supported by the motherboard?


Also, have you tried shifting 3 sticks around to determine if its just a single bad dimm slot?