At my wits end, I'm seriously stumped and could use help

[Vis]

For whatever reason, whenever I add more than one stick of 256 DDR ram to my Epox 8kha, the system becomes massively unstable (Windows XP). I've tried this with more than a few stick of ram, and the get the same problem. The weird thing is that the error message isn't always the same. One time it will start the boot up process and halt with a message saying it cannot find a system32 file, the next time it's a driver under the ntfs dir. The really horrible thing is the even my Linux partition is affected. I can boot into SuSE 8.0 and it will work for a while before just plain freezing and dropping dead.

Sometimes neither of the above happens and the whole thing just blue screens and gives me a message about my BIOS not being ASPI compliant and that I need a new bios. I've tried upgrading the BIOS but because I don't have a floppy drive (Never saw the need so of COURSE I need it now) I can only run it from a MSDOS prompt. When I try to flash I get a message saying the flash program won't work with NT/2000 OS.

In short, I'm totally at my wits end here. I've got ram I just can't use and have no idea as to why. Please, I?m begging anyone with any ideas for some help with this, I'm thinking my only solution is to throw out the mother board and start over.

1.2 Gig AMD
Epox 8kha Motherboard
1 stick 256 Generic Ram (Working)
2 sticks 256 Generic Ram (Won?t work)

I?ve tried more than one stick of extra ram just to make sure it wasn?t a damaged stick, I still get the same problem.

 

[CubicZirconia]

Will the one stick work in any of the 3 slots alone? If it only works in one, your ram slots could be bad.

 

[reddog6969]

theres your problem, their generic =)

 

[BD231]

The problems you desciribe sound like they are caused by either a bad stick of ram, and or a bad ram slot. If your sure that all the memory your using works then you have a bad board.

theres your problem, their generic =)

That could be a problem as well, check all three ram sticks by themselfs to make sure.

 

[TheWart]

there have been people who say that slot number two on the 8KHA+ screws up ram. i have this board and can not say i've had that exact problem, but i DID have two sticks of crucial DDR fail on me two months ago...

 

[McCarthy]

As I read this, any single piece of the ram will work, just that when you add two more more that you have problems, right?

In other words, those two you list as not working, when they're single they do or do not work?

Do you have the memory overclocked at all? If so first thing is to go back to spec speed. Try backing off your memory timings to see if 2 or more will work then (after trying Cubic's suggestion to make sure the ram slots are ok on the board).

Got any other ram you can try with the board? It could be the board that's bad, but it's also just as likely the board isn't bad, but just doesn't like generic ram. I get kinda frustrated with people saying buy whatever ram's cheapest because it often leads to moments like this.

If you don't have other parts you can try, take it to a local shop and have them stick two sticks of the best ram they have in there to see if the board's ok. Then dig out your receipt and return whatever's bad, the board or the ram.

--Mc

 

[Vis]

Believe me when I say that whatever lesson there is to be learned about buying generic RAM, I've learned it here. I only bought generic because I couldent find anywhere else that sold name brand ram in Austin.

And yes, all three sticks work when they are placed solo into slot 1. It's when I add more to slot 2 or 3 that things start to get strange. The more responses I read the more I'm convinced its the slots that are bad.

 

[Maggotry]

It damn sure pays to use good RAM. I have that board in one of my pc's. If I use anything other than default memory timings, I get all sorts of random errors. If I use the default timings, the system is rock solid stable. I have OCZ memory in the system..........which goes back to the first sentence.

 

[Vis]

Well, i've played with the 3 different sticks or ram and the various slots and come up with the following:

Of the original two 256 sticks, one is dead. Very, very dead. As in machine doesnt boot when used dead.

The other two sticks work when placed in ANY of the 3 available slots as long as they are solo, that is no other stick in the other two slots.

One of the working stick was bought at the same times as the one that failed and appears to be exactly the same, so it having problems wouldent surprise me. The newer stick is of a differnt make.

Conclusion:

1.Cheap ram sucks.
2. The two sticks will not work together, and I point my finger at the older twin of the one that failed.
3.Solution: Try another generic stick or find the money to plunk down on 512 megs of crucial.

Thanks for you help guys, I was so frustrated that I couldent logic this one through even though it was probably obvious from the get-go.

Now to find some cheap crucial...

 

[serialb]

So, your generic ram is so "generic" that it doesn't even have any kind of warrenty? If you have, you can probably just RMA / return them.