LANPARTY UT nF4-D problems

[tfcmasta97]

I just got this computer off of craigslist for a pretty good price, but it has been giving me lots of problems.

Here are the specs:

- AMD Athalon X2 3800+ (2.0 GHz)
- 1 GB Dual Channel DDR RAM
- 80 GB Hard Drive (Western Digital if I remember well)
- Nvidia XFX 7900GT 256MB PCI-Express
- DFI Lan-party nF4 (Not SLI capable)
- Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Sound Card
- LG DVD ROM
- CD Burner (Attached but doesn't work, maybe you can fix it?)
- Floppy Drive
- SLI capable power supply (can't remember exact wattage)

I installed XP on it but after installation it kept rebooting once the XP loading screen came up.

After checking the memory out[moving RAM around, running memtest86+ which came up with no errors] , I moved the 7900gt to the other PCI-e slot and reformatted/reinstalled again, the PC works fine.

But now, the RAM is working on the same channel [it's working as single channel DDR pair]

I have the dimms in slot 1 and 2, when i put them in slots 1 and 3, the BIOS shows them as dual channel but reboots before the XP boot screen even shows up. I also want to put in a 3rd stick so i have a 512x512x1024 stick setup but of course cant get to that step until I figure out this problem first. All in all though this mobo has been giving me a lot of stability issues so far, any help/ideas/solutions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Big Lar]

What brand is the ram? That board is very picky about the type of ram that it will run.

Larry

 

[tfcmasta97]

the part number according to CPU-z is OCZ400512ELGEGXT

and it shows up as single channel

the extra 1 gig stick im trying to put in is Ggigaram
1gb pc3500 [ i tried the stick alone and it worked fine]

 

[Big Lar]

I'd just run the single stick then as you lose dual channel with 3 sticks.

Larry

 

[tfcmasta97]

Right now ive moved my old computers ram in here, a 512 and 1 gig stick sitting in the first two dimms. Seems like the computer wont even begin loading the windows XP boot screen if there is a stick in either of the last 2 ram slots. Anyone know what it could be?

 

[tfcmasta97]

Well I am now posting from another computer because it wont boot [there is no video at all], with the 512 and 1 gig stick sitting in the first two dimms. It has been really unstable locking up and crashing several times since last nite [2am]

It is getting pretty frustrating, any ideas of what I can do?

 

[Quiksilver]

Stop mixing and matching the ram.

Try it with just the 1 gig stick and see if it boots.
If it does pull it back out and try the 2x 512 sticks (in the 1st and 3rd slots; to turn on dual channel(eg. the two yellow slots)) and see if it boots. If it does go into the BIOS and set the memory to the specified timings and voltage.

See here for your memory spec's:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/p...c_3200_gold_gx_xtc-eol

If it doesn't boot, clear the CMOS by using the jumper if there is not jumper pull the battery and let it sit out for like 30 minutes (to be 100% sure) then press the power button on your case a few times to discharge the capacitors. Then try again with only the minimals (eg. 1 hard drive,video card, 1 stick or ram, etc.)

- SLI capable power supply (can't remember exact wattage)

That means 100% jack diddly shit to be honest, any manufacture can pay nvidia a small percentage to gets that silly certified sticker. Give us the exact brand and model.

the extra 1 gig stick im trying to put in is Ggigaram
1gb pc3500 [ i tried the stick alone and it worked fine]

:S Wait, are you serious that is the brand? or Are you misinterpreting it?

In all honesty the problems your looking at point to:

a) Bad Memory (only after we straighten out this small clusterfuck you have going will tell )
b) Dying Hard Drive
c) Loss Data/Power connections or Bad Cables.
d) Bad PSU (need to identify first)
e) Motherboard (worst case)

 

[tfcmasta97]

Well the stick says Gigaram on the metal cooling plate....


I finally got the system booted in the dual channel configuration with the 2x512 OCZ sticks in it, but after running memtest it came up with lots of errors pretty much right away, even at underclocked speeds [with all the dram settings in the bios at auto]

Also, the extra 512 mem stick that i threw in with my gig stick [which is some cheapo 512] came up with errors in memtest too

the Gigaram 1gb stick went through memtest without any errors so Im just going to keep it in. Hopefully the system will be a lot more stable now

 

[Quiksilver]

Don't trust the motherboard to get the auto settings right, set what OCZ states the memory should be set to and then run memtest; if it still produces errors then your memory is bad. What is this extra 512MB stick? I inly glaced over the thread real quick, but I'd also set it spec's to what that manufacture claims as well.

As far as that 1gig stick goes, it must be some house brand cause I never heard of it...

Basically just set every to what the memory manufacture states and run memtest again and see if errors still persist. If they don't but your still unstable you may have more problems than you realize.

 

[F1shF4t]

Firstly when I had this board there is no way in the world that it would ever work with 3 mem sticks. Not sure if its even possible to use 3 sticks for socket 939.
Try to set the ram bellow 400mhz, my board would fail to boot with mem anywhere above 380mhz. Be wary of memory dividers, some just don't work. Also relax the memory timings to 3-3-3-8 (i think that was it for ddr, been too long since I played with it) just to initially boot.

Those DFI boards were crappy with ram support, but if you managed to find a stable spec it would work awesomely. My old board is still flying along with a x2 3800+ @2.7ghz stock vcore for like 3 years now at the same settings. Tweaked every single timing for ram in that board, got almost 30% more synthetic performance lol.