ASUS A8V - Memory Settings in BIOS?? Cannot install XP..Please Help! Gmail account for solutions/suggestions! =)

[Orbital911]

Ladies & Gentlemen,

I am at my wits end....I have the following setup:

ASUS A8V Deluxe Mobo
2 sticks of 1GB DDR400 Crucial memory
Western Digital 200GB SATA drive
Athlon 64 FX-53 (939-pin)
GeForce 6800 Ultra

I initially thought my troubles were with my SATA drive, but after plugging in an old IDE drive and attempting to install using that and getting the same results, I started leaning towards bad memory. Now that I have read several other threads on memory settings in the BIOS for this board in particular, I am thinking that is my problem. Some of the other users have posted the timings that they have used on this board to have it work correctly, but they have not posted settings for ALL of the options in the BIOS. Whenever I have tried what is posted, I have made some progress and can now get the Windows XP blue screen setup to format my drive to 100% before it hangs. Whenever I leave the memory settings at the BIOS default, it will hang as soon as I confirm the size of the partition I would like to create. So this to me is somewhat progress. I contacted ASUS, which was no help, and then contacted Crucial, who gave me the settings they recommend. Listed below are the memory settings which are listed in my BIOS and the settings Crucial recommended. The "?" indicates that I have no idea what the setting is, and neither did Crucial. Any suggestions are incredibly appreciated. I have recently read that this mobo is extremely finicky, so I am hoping someone who has gotten this board to work can help me. I have found the more I play with the memory settings, I get different results which makes me believe that my components are good, it is just the configs I am not getting right. These are the settings in my BIOS along with Crucial's recommendations beside them:

MemClock to CPU Ratio: 1:1 (200mhz)
CAS Latency: 3
TRC: 4
TRFC: ?
TRCD: ?
TWR: ?
TRWT: ?
TRAS: ?
TRP: 4
TWCL: ?
Pre-Charge Delay: 8

The ones with a "?" mark Crucial said they didnt know what they were, and to leave them at the BIOS default, but I dont know if that is correct.

I am sure I am not the only one who has seen this issue, and like I said, you would have my eternal gratitude for helping me solve this. I will even throw in a free GMail account (I have 3 to give out) for whoever can help me resolve! =)

 

[Supafreak]

howdy
I doubt any of this will help but its worth a shot. First thing id do is download a new bios from asus and run everything at default (no OCing yet). Then id make sure the CPU isnt overheating (check heatsink fan and make sure heatsink is properly attached to cpu with correct amount of thermal grease). My asus p4c800e mobo has blue slots and black slots for RAM, i once had a weird RAM problem and i switched the color slots i was using and everything worked after that. I wouldnt touch any of your settings marked with a "?". My mushkin DDR400 ram runs fine at 2-2-2, im not sure where crucial rates their memory. since you have a 1:1 ratio and unless youre OCing i think you can speed up your RAM to the 2-2-2 range. Id also try using a different SATA slot on the motherboard and making sure that proper drivers are installed for the SATA controller.

I hope I helped.

Supafreak

P.S. feel free to PM me with some gmail if youre feeling generous