Asus A8N SLI Premium Memory Problem

trainee

Junior Member
Nov 9, 2005
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OK... I've been surfin this site all day and I'm unable to find an answer. I am starting to think the answer is that these boards are just "hit and miss". My two friends and I ordered the exact same setup. Here is the breakdown:

Asus A8N SLI Premium
Athlon 64 3200+ Venice
Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2
XFX 7800GT PCIe
Antec Neo 550W Power

So we have been troubleshooting ALL THREE machines all day long. After setting them up, we are unable to get them to post. We can't get audible errors. We pulled everything from the case and ran bare bones. Power, mobo, memory, cpu, video. Still nothing. Not a thing on ALL THREE boards. We were pushing and pulling parts between all the systems all day long in order to try and figure out the defective part.

I was just about to give up when one of my buddies said... "Humor me a minute". He popped out our brand new Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 and threw in some Kingston value ram. Bam... comes right up in all its mobo glory.

Now on to the main point of this post... I didnt try replacing memory sooner because this memory is on the compatibility list. Since I had 3 sets of TWINX1024-3200C2 I was just moving them between the systems but it seems they don't work on ANY of my three Premium boards. Is there a problem with the new revision of the board and this particular memory? Or by some freakish act of nature I actually got THREE sets of bad memory all at the same time?

Thanks in advance everyone,
Always been a HUGE fan of asus and I hope it can continue.

Brian
 

wanderer27

Platinum Member
Aug 6, 2005
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I would find it pretty unlikely to have three sets of bad Memory.

What are your BIOS settings ?

Turn off all Auto Overclocking options.

Maybe leaving Memory on Auto is okay, but you may want to go in and set them manually to what they are rated at, or maybe even loosen the timings just to get things going and then tighten them back up.

Lots of things to look here.

Are all your Power cables hooked up - 24 Pin ATX, 4 Pin up by the CPU, 6 Pin in your Video card, probably even the 4 Pin EZ-Plug by the Video card.

Also in BIOS set your PCIex card to Single PCIex, otherwise it will sometimes try to default to PCI (no Video on POST).

Nothing Overclocked yet I hope.

Post some of your BIOS settings as far as CPU timings & voltages, also Memory voltages and possibly timings you're trying to use on them.

It may be tomorrow before I can get back on this, but at least you have some things to look at.

I kind of doubt you have three bad boards and/or Memory sets.

 

trainee

Junior Member
Nov 9, 2005
7
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Wow thanks for the quick reply! To address your questions...

I havent tweaked, overclocked, or anything on the boards yet. I can't even get a poet when I have the TWINX memory in. The machine just sits there with the fans running. So I am unable to get in to the BIOS to change or reset any settings to default. That being said.. we haven't made any BIOS changes since we were never able to get in. BUT since we can get in with the kingston ram, I will hop in there and get the current config for you.

All power is plugged in except the EZ plug. I can plug this in and see what happens. That being said, we tried another PCIexpress card and a standard PCI card as well just to try getting a BIOS read. We put the regular PCI card in a regular PCI slot of course... thought I would mention that before someone asked :)

I was just wanting to bring this up since so many folks have been having memory issues and we are using 3 pairs of TWINX that are on the compatibility list. Let me know if you have any ideas and I will check this config first thing tomorrow morning.

Thank you!
Brian
 

wanderer27

Platinum Member
Aug 6, 2005
2,173
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Hmmm, I would think you would at least be able to get into BIOS.

Dumb questions - the sticks aren't in backwards or anything are they ? Do the Traces on your DIMMs look okay - nothing loose/missing ?

This is DDR Memory and not DDR2 - correct ?

I'll sleep on it on check back tomorrow.

BTW - Welcome aboard :)
 

LotusNotesGuy

Senior member
Apr 13, 2002
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i already posted about this board, the deluxe version, both here and on amdmb.com here http://forums.pcper.com/forumdisplay.php?s=d35c9563555cb3da75e3154c205d50a7&f=8 in this forum.

These boards have some serious issues about being VERY picky with what memory they work with. Asus later bios revisions seem to make the problem worse even though they say the bios settings now more closely match voltage settings than earlier versions.

I rma'ed 2 deluxe version A8nSLi boards for the premium version I am running now, that will only run my ddr433 at ddr333 speed.

The technician at Asus warned me very clearly and more than once, ONLY use memory that the memory manufacturers have tested against the motherboards and appproved. He said Asus does NOT do memory testing at all.

I had a bios upgrade disable my system much like your problem

3 days later stumbled on the issue with the memory by booting the system with just one stick. More than one, it would not post, or would only once without bios defaults after yanking the battery for 5 minutes on a cmos reset.

When the new motherboard from Asus did the same thing they admitted some bios changes had been made to fix some things that were causing problems apparently for others.

I like Asus but after having a simple bios update disable a system and waste 3 days of my time I am wary of them.

However, to be fair, all manufacturers have a bump in the road now and then, not just Asus and their past boardsI have purchased, of which there have been many have been decent.

I will look alot more at Abit and Gigabyte though from here on out, this bios issue disabled a great deal of expensive new gear.

The general opinion on many boards is the entire A8nSli series was beta and Asus is only now just working out some of the kinks, which would not be so bad I suppose, but they appear to be serious ones.
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
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I have used five different types of memory, none of them on the qualified list(never even looked at it) and all have run fine. I have even run 4x1gb of mixed types of ram w/out issues. Outside of Crucial, all of the memory companies use the same memory chips and usually the same pcb's for their different types of ram.

Anyways, back to the OP. With the power connected, is the green power light on the motherboard on? When you post, what bios version are you running?

If you can post with the Kingston, I would recommend going into your bios and raising your dram voltage to at least 2.7v, Asus's default dram voltage setting is set to low for a lot of ram. I would then try 1 stick of Corsair. If that doesn't post, try 1 stick of Kingston and 1 stick of Corsair.
 

Linearsoup

Member
Jun 25, 2005
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as capt caveman said once you can get into bios up the dram voltage,im using corsair and i need 2.7 to boot.
 

arcas

Platinum Member
Apr 10, 2001
2,155
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Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Asus's default dram voltage setting is set to low for a lot of ram. I would then try 1 stick of Corsair. If that doesn't post, try 1 stick of Kingston and 1 stick of Corsair.


Other than Kingston, what are some memory brands (and specific product IDs if necessary) that do work at Asus' default DRAM voltage? I don't want to get caught in a chicken-and-egg situation early next week where my RAM won't POST due to low voltage so I can't get into the BIOS to boost the RAM voltage...

 

trainee

Junior Member
Nov 9, 2005
7
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NEW INFO!

So I got ahold of a few more sticks of RAM. Crucial, Sasung, and Kingston. All three brands boot flawless in this board and ALL THREE ARE NOT ON THE COMPAT list that! UNREAL! But the one set of memory I have that IS on the compat list DOES NOT even bring the BIOS up.

That being said... I got in the bios on a working NON supported DIMM and changed the DRAM settings from AUTO to MANUAL. Popped the Corsair back in and guess what. The Corsair RAM boots right up. So I'm guessing this is the problem:

The board is not correctly autodetecting the corsair and possibly running it too fast or running it at too low of a voltage. After making the change in the BIOS from auto to manual the system turned on right away with the Corsair. I guess my next stop will be the Corsair website so I can figure out what the manual memory settings should be for these DIMMS since the AUTODETECT is not working on this board.

The kicker of this whole thing is that these dimms are listed on the compatibility list from both ASUS and Corsair. Wow thats amazing to me.

The system appears to be running now with the manual settings but I'm scared of losing my CMOS settings and the machine will return to failure. Granted this shouldn't ever happen unless im reseting the CMOS often and since I'm not an overclocker I don't see this as a problem.

Thoughts?
 

trainee

Junior Member
Nov 9, 2005
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ARCAS.... I'm totally with you on this.... I was so depressed yesterday when I got my entire setup and the thing wouldnt even give me a BIOS screen. I was extra miffed because MWAVE claimed they tested the boards with that memory before it left their facility. But I can say with certainty that they did not because I have 6 Corsair DIMMS, and 3 mobos and not a single one will POST with that memory. After getting the board up and running I was able to make that minor BIOS change, swap out the memory and it runs like a champ.

Just goes to show you... Trust no one! Troubleshoot like every piece of eqiupment could be faulty. Would have saved me an entire day of troubleshooting if I didn't rely on the compat list and someone elses claim that it was working.
 

arcas

Platinum Member
Apr 10, 2001
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Trainee, do you have the product ID # of the RAM modules that DID work at the default voltage? This machine will be my only DDR machine (I've been living in the stone age) so I won't really have the luxury of being able to drop in a different set of DIMMs if things don't POST or if I have to revert back to factory CMOS settings.

Hell, maybe I should just select a less finicky s939 mainboard.

 

trainee

Junior Member
Nov 9, 2005
7
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Yeah I've got product IDs but I don't recommend using these lol. These were junk RAM we found laying around the tech room and they are only DDR333.

BUT! I have a little more info on this problem with the ASUS A8N SLI Premium!

So I dropped in some junk ram so I could get BIOS. I manually set the Timings to 2-3-3-6 @ 1T and changed the DRAM voltage to 2.75v.

The compatible memory now boots! So I'm guessing my original assumption is correct. My boards are not autodetecting this memory correctly.

So the memory that I have worked with:

CORSAIR TWINX1024-3200C2 - Does not autodetect but works great after manual settings.

Kingston KTM8854/256 - Booted to BIOS with no changes needed (NO EXTENSIVE TESTING DONE FOR FLAKINESS)

Crucial CT3264Z335.8T (DDR33 256MB) - Booted to BIOS with no changes needd (NO EXTENSIVE TESTING DONE FOR FLAKINESS)

Again, I don't recommend using those DDR333 modules, I am only posting them so people know what I was doing my testing with.

Brian
 

Valour

Senior member
Apr 17, 2001
382
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Thanks for the info, Trainee. I just bought an Asus A8N SLI Premium and 2 gigs of Twinx2048cpt ram to go with it. Unfortunately, they are all still in the box because Newegg sent me the wrong power supply (sent a S12 330W instead of an S12 600W) and I'm waiting on the replacement. At least I will not have to pull my hair out if I also have this issue once I can set this thing up. Now to find some junk ram to try (only have RDRAM from my old rig).

Again, thanks for posting this info.
 

arcas

Platinum Member
Apr 10, 2001
2,155
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Thanks Brian. I'd planned to order TWINX1024-3200C2 this afternoon but seeing how it doesn't autodetect, I guess I should either find something else or try to pick up some junk RAM of my own. I could have sworn. though, that I've seen the 3200C2 stuff in other people's rig listings.

 

trainee

Junior Member
Nov 9, 2005
7
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Maybe its the BIOS revision I am running. I have yet to determine which BIOS rev I am running simply because I havent looked. lol. I was just happy to see BIOS at all. I will check BIOS rev and let you know if that is part of the problem. But I find it odd that three identical boards and RAM were all unable to autodetect. I just got done manually setting the final board and now it works as well.

Really wierd!
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
Glad things are working now. The Autodetect settings I believe only deal with the memory timings. When in Auto, the dimm voltage just defaults to like 2.4v or 2.5v when a lot of memory needs at least 2.6v to boot and at least 2.7v to be stable.

I've used OCZ Platinum PC4800, Mushkin HP 3200 / XP 4000, Crucial Ballistix and I think some Patriot stuff and they were all able to boot-up but I needed to adjust dimm voltage for all of them to remain stable. But it definitely sounds like Corsair ram has an issue with the default voltages, even though they're on the qualified list, that's weird.

I can only think that having a cheap stick of 256mb of ram for booting purposes is a nice safe-guard when buying a new mobo.

I'm not 100% sure but the newer bios may have up'd the default voltage to resolve this issue; too bad the latest boards out on the shelves don't have these newer bios on them.
 

wanderer27

Platinum Member
Aug 6, 2005
2,173
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Originally posted by: trainee
Maybe its the BIOS revision I am running. I have yet to determine which BIOS rev I am running simply because I havent looked. lol. I was just happy to see BIOS at all. I will check BIOS rev and let you know if that is part of the problem. But I find it odd that three identical boards and RAM were all unable to autodetect. I just got done manually setting the final board and now it works as well.

Really wierd!

Actually I think it's a combination of the Corsair RAM and the ASUS MB.

First, I'm not sure the SPD settings are correct on the Corsair sticks. I know my "Auto" settings were way loose, so I was fortunate and had no trouble booting. It appears your SPD settings could be too tight.

Second thing here is the ASUS MB. Now don't get me wrong, I really like this MB, it runs great, but on the two MBs I've had NVTune would not detect any SPD or Memory Brand settings for any stick I put in the first Memory slot. The other slot worked fine and reported everything for the sticks. No biggie really as I manually set all the timings anyway and things work fine.

My point is, between the SPD and possible flaky first Memory slot (if your MB is like mine), it's probably what caused your problem.

You shouldn't have to worry about loosing you BIOS settings. Just set the Memory manually and forget about the "Auto" settings for Memory.

Glad you got everything straightened out, you should be good on the other two MBs by doing the same procedure.


 

trainee

Junior Member
Nov 9, 2005
7
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0
Just to finish up this thread... I thought I would let everyone know the final synopsis. After updating the BIOS to the latest revision, the corsir twinx seems to autodetect perfectly. So... It seems you are in a bind if you get an older bios revision with newer corsair ram. the bios has the wrong autodetect memory settings for dram voltage and timings. So you have to get in to the bios in order to change these settings manually. But you cant get in to the bios because the system wont boot with the wrong autodetect settings! But the latest bios revision autodetects perfectly.

So the fix was to boot with some other ram and set the settings manually so you can get in to the system and perform a bios flash.

Thanks for everyones help!
 

noushy

Junior Member
Nov 14, 2005
15
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Hello friends, I am glad that I stumbled across this thread. I have had experience with three A8N-SLI Deluxe boards and two premium versions. There is no doubt that the memory issues are a big problem. I seems to get a little better with the X2 series chips because of the improved memory controller but they still have a long ways to go. First off, the less dimms the better, two better than four. Second, 1gb sticks are still way too flaky with these boards. I have Kingston HyperX DDR 533 (256mb) x 4 sticks, Corsair 3200C2LL (512mb) x 4 sticks, Crucial Balllistix DDR500 (1gb) x 2 sticks, and probably 5 other brands of memory including Corsair 1gb value series and Kingston ddr400 512mb value ram. My present machine is A8N-SLI Premium, 4400+ X2, 2x1gb Crucial DDR500, BFG 7800GTX OC x 2 (sli), PC Power & Cooling SLI supply, and a Lian Li case. Also Seagate 400gb x 3 SATA 2 (nearline) hd, Plextor 716AS Optical, and some other misc. stuff. My machine ran great for about 2 months, and then it would do a series of spontaneous crashes, followed by a series of beeps, beeeeeeep, beep beep, beeeeeeep, beep beep. I removed a video card, changed bios settings including memory settings, and still having instability. Now, I used 4 x 256mb HyperX DDR533, and perfect. No crashes, no beeps, flawless. What we need to do is compile a list of memory setups that work and have been tested. I am also running bios 1009, which in fact did make things worse as far as stability. Let me know what you guys have experienced. I am waiting on an A8N32-SLI Deluxe board to tryout as well.

Noushy
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
Welcome to the forums!

Based on the fact that it ran for two months w/out any issues, unless you've made any changes to your bios settings or hardware your problem would more than likely lie in your operating system. Have you tried a reinstall or restore? I know 9 out of 10 times I have an issue, if I reinstall windows or do a restore, my problems are fixed. Usually, the installation of new drivers, software are the cause of problems.

Originally posted by: noushy
Hello friends, I am glad that I stumbled across this thread. I have had experience with three A8N-SLI Deluxe boards and two premium versions. There is no doubt that the memory issues are a big problem. I seems to get a little better with the X2 series chips because of the improved memory controller but they still have a long ways to go. First off, the less dimms the better, two better than four. Second, 1gb sticks are still way too flaky with these boards. I have Kingston HyperX DDR 533 (256mb) x 4 sticks, Corsair 3200C2LL (512mb) x 4 sticks, Crucial Balllistix DDR500 (1gb) x 2 sticks, and probably 5 other brands of memory including Corsair 1gb value series and Kingston ddr400 512mb value ram. My present machine is A8N-SLI Premium, 4400+ X2, 2x1gb Crucial DDR500, BFG 7800GTX OC x 2 (sli), PC Power & Cooling SLI supply, and a Lian Li case. Also Seagate 400gb x 3 SATA 2 (nearline) hd, Plextor 716AS Optical, and some other misc. stuff. My machine ran great for about 2 months, and then it would do a series of spontaneous crashes, followed by a series of beeps, beeeeeeep, beep beep, beeeeeeep, beep beep. I removed a video card, changed bios settings including memory settings, and still having instability. Now, I used 4 x 256mb HyperX DDR533, and perfect. No crashes, no beeps, flawless. What we need to do is compile a list of memory setups that work and have been tested. I am also running bios 1009, which in fact did make things worse as far as stability. Let me know what you guys have experienced. I am waiting on an A8N32-SLI Deluxe board to tryout as well.

Noushy

 

Nightrider87

Junior Member
Nov 14, 2005
4
0
0
Allow me to join the fray.

Im running a A8NSLI Deluxe, 1GB Corsairs Twin 1024 XMS Cas2.0 -2 -2 -5 ( i think lol )

From before i bought the setup in April, i was aware that the board wouldnt auto detect the right timings (im not infront of my machine now, but its something like 3-3-5-7 that it puts from auto detect.)

In the early days it seem to have run alright when i manually set it to the RAM's specificationo f 2-2-2-5,

Lately after the latest BIOS 1.015 or something i have problems..... At this point i will also note that my 6800 GT DEFENITELY has issues going on... so my problems may infact be purely caused by graphics card.

Anyway, usually during longer periods of operation, my screen goes black.,.. 10 seconds later watever tune im happening to listen to will also stop. At this point the machine goes into some sort of 'deadzone' whereby its sitting there fans spinning but doesnt do anyhting. Either a power down and back up or a restart gets me back on track, at which point 100% of the time i recieve a (VGA FAiled POST) or some such in the really painful motherboard voice. Another restart, and i am greeted with an equally painful NO KEYBOARD DETECTED (which is a lie. I cant hit delete to enter bios, but i can still log in to windows etc) ( also should be noted that when i first got setup, it was usuall for graphics card to fail post several times before succesfully booting, however this somehow ironed itself out [after BIOS updates or Driver updates, im not sure which])

I havent monitored it closely enough, as i cant force the error, and it only happens every few days, but i THINK that when i set the RAM to its correct timings is when the problem occurs... However this may be wrong as i usually then go and set it back to auto.

I guess i've read enough to see that it's an Asus board problem, and asking my supplier to have a new board sent to me from manufacturer probably won't help.
I'm a nubcake overclocker, so i haven't really touched anything in there apart from the Ram timings.... i didnt play with the voltage either which i will do when i get home.
Can anyone recommend me an app that will allow me to test the RAM thoroughly to see if there is a problem in the modules themselves etc.

Thanks (sorry if this hijacked the thread... i think its sort of same topic?)

Tyson
 

wanderer27

Platinum Member
Aug 6, 2005
2,173
15
81
Originally posted by: Nightrider87
Allow me to join the fray.

Im running a A8NSLI Deluxe, 1GB Corsairs Twin 1024 XMS Cas2.0 -2 -2 -5 ( i think lol )

From before i bought the setup in April, i was aware that the board wouldnt auto detect the right timings (im not infront of my machine now, but its something like 3-3-5-7 that it puts from auto detect.)

In the early days it seem to have run alright when i manually set it to the RAM's specificationo f 2-2-2-5,

Lately after the latest BIOS 1.015 or something i have problems..... At this point i will also note that my 6800 GT DEFENITELY has issues going on... so my problems may infact be purely caused by graphics card.

Anyway, usually during longer periods of operation, my screen goes black.,.. 10 seconds later watever tune im happening to listen to will also stop. At this point the machine goes into some sort of 'deadzone' whereby its sitting there fans spinning but doesnt do anyhting. Either a power down and back up or a restart gets me back on track, at which point 100% of the time i recieve a (VGA FAiled POST) or some such in the really painful motherboard voice. Another restart, and i am greeted with an equally painful NO KEYBOARD DETECTED (which is a lie. I cant hit delete to enter bios, but i can still log in to windows etc) ( also should be noted that when i first got setup, it was usuall for graphics card to fail post several times before succesfully booting, however this somehow ironed itself out [after BIOS updates or Driver updates, im not sure which])

I havent monitored it closely enough, as i cant force the error, and it only happens every few days, but i THINK that when i set the RAM to its correct timings is when the problem occurs... However this may be wrong as i usually then go and set it back to auto.

I guess i've read enough to see that it's an Asus board problem, and asking my supplier to have a new board sent to me from manufacturer probably won't help.
I'm a nubcake overclocker, so i haven't really touched anything in there apart from the Ram timings.... i didnt play with the voltage either which i will do when i get home.
Can anyone recommend me an app that will allow me to test the RAM thoroughly to see if there is a problem in the modules themselves etc.

Thanks (sorry if this hijacked the thread... i think its sort of same topic?)

Tyson

Almost sounds like a Resource (IRQ) conflict.

Do you happen to have a Sound Card plugged into your first PCI slot ? That slot shares an IRQ with the PCI-ex - at least it does on my MB and I think yours is probably similar. Older SB's are really bad for this type problem.

If you do have a Sound Card there, you may want to try moving it to another slot.


 

Nightrider87

Junior Member
Nov 14, 2005
4
0
0
CORSAIR XMS 1GB TWINX-3200XL DDR, Xtra-Low latency (2-2-2-5)

Manufacturer Corsair Micro
Model TWINX1024-3200XL

Thats the RAM i got.

Thanks
 

Nightrider87

Junior Member
Nov 14, 2005
4
0
0
Nah no soundcard whatsoever. The onboard sound is doing its job (although fairly crappily), until i can justify an x-fi.
I'll keep that in mind though when i put soundcard in.
Thanks