ECS Nforce 3 Memory woes**Updated**

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DarkTXKnight

Senior member
Oct 3, 2001
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I wanted to add another 512 to my current system. It is an ECS Nforce 3 board with sempron 3100 OCed. I had 2 X 512 MB Corsair valueram to run at 1 GHZ. I took one out and put in a 1 GB corsair XMS chip ( all pc3200) and when the mahcine boots it only sees the 512. So then I switched sides on the ram chips and now the mahcine only sees the 1GB, which means the mahcine is only reading from the second memory slot when this gig ram is installed. What could I be doing wrong here? do you actually have to install the same capacity ram in both slots? theyare both pc3200 - HELP!!!
Thanks in advance.

**UPDATE**
OK, after leaving both chips in I happened to run CPU-Z tonight and lo and behold IT is very aware of the 2 memory chips and their capacitites. I am really stumped as the BIOS at post nor Windows appears to see the 1.5 GB of ram, so how does CPU-z do this and how do I get the rest of my system to acknowledge that it is installed. I really would like some input as this last bit has confused me.

Thanks In advance,
 
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Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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Sounds like there's an issue with the bank arrangement of the module. The manual for the board may mention any limitations with that. It should run in single-channel mode although you lose performance that way. Do you really need the extra 512MB?

I got confused long ago by the whole banks/sides issue, because manufacturers don't have a consistent way of listing how their memory is arranged and some just don't list it at all. It tends to become an issue with the higher capacity modules.
 
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DarkTXKnight

Senior member
Oct 3, 2001
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actually I never cared if it was dual channel or single channel, I just wanted the extra memory. The board manual has no mention of limitations and lists this memory module as one that is supported and even notes the speeds that it should run in various configurations. From the looks of it it should have worked. I dont beleive there is a bios update for this board. This is the same MB that everyone was getting a few months back with the sempron 3100 special at fry's .
 
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deadken

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2004
3,199
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All S754s are Single Channel as Peter pointed out... So no worries there (hey I run 3 single channel rigs and don't miss Dual Channel much at all).

Perhaps your 512mb sticks are single sided and your 1GB sticks are Dual Sided? I have seen guides in motherboard manuals stating that memory sticks could only be inserted in certain configurations when using DS sticks.

BTW: I have an s754 Albatron motherboard that has a 2GB max. memory capacity, but it won't run my 2x1GB OCZ memory either. Like you I have tried using (1) 1gb stick and (1) 512mb stick and I got nowhere. I am sending mine back next week (I can still RMA it).

I will be watching this thread in hopes of seeing someone answer the problem (I have 2 of those Fry's Combos, but only 1 is using the ECS motherboard right now).
 
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Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
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The sidedness of the DIMMs is completely irrelevant to whether DIMMs work together or not. Completely. Yes, even though numerous advisories say otherwise.

What IS important is that as DIMM and chip count rises, you cannot maintain the same speed and timings. Set the board's BIOS to autodetect RAM clock and timings from SPD, so it adjusts these parameters according to the population.
 
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DarkTXKnight

Senior member
Oct 3, 2001
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thanks ill try that... I know that is left the timings set to whatever they were for the two 512 modules
I'll see if spd makes a difference
 
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DarkTXKnight

Senior member
Oct 3, 2001
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I tried it and it did not work - it still only recognized the 1 GB chip

right now Im stumped. has anyone else done this on that ecs sempron combo??? I wouldnt have thought this to be a big deal.
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
He updated the OP.

Originally posted by: DarkTXKnight
**UPDATE**
OK, after leaving both chips in I happened to run CPU-Z tonight and lo and behold IT is very aware of the 2 memory chips and their capacitites. I am really stumped as the BIOS at post nor Windows appears to see the 1.5 GB of ram, so how does CPU-z do this and how do I get the rest of my system to acknowledge that it is installed. I really would like some input as this last bit has confused me.
Click to expand...

 
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Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
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Duh.

DarkTXKnight, in the future, please don't mess up the timeline of your threads, thanks.

CPU-Z reads the SPD (the detection data) from the DIMMs - it does NOT read the detection result. So what you now know is that the DIMMs are physically present and their SPD readable, but your board's BIOS for some reason doesn't like them.

Now what are the SPD data anyhow? Any obvious difference to the other DIMMs that are being accepted by the board's BIOS?
 
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