Re: New Memory and still install issue with ASUS P5K

Bluenose 637 wrote:
An update in a new thread here. My new system build:

Asus P5K Premium
2 gig Kingston Memory
WD 350 gb Caviar drive
Lite on SATA DVD
Antec Phantom 500W
Nvida GTS 8800
Creative Audigy 2 platnum

I returned the Crucial memory and replaced with Kingston. This was the consensus in the post below and the ASUS tech support felt that this board does not like Crucial memory.

I am still having the same issue with the kingston. The KVR800D2N5K2/2G is on the Kingston site as one of four products DDR 800 products compatable with my MB. There are only 2 on the QVL and the 1mb memory on the QVL is not on the manufacturer's site. The 1mb alternative on the QVL is not even listed on the Kingston site. The specs on the 2N5K2 / 2G are the same, however, as the 512mb alternative on the QVL. In the end, this memory should not be the issue.

One thing to note. The 12v ATX has two plugs. It is my understanding that you only need one plugged in if you are not in an SLI config. I plugged both in with just my single GTS 8800. The ASUS tech suppor did not feel that it should be an issue. Could that be an issue for me.

Any other thoughts would help. I'm clearing CMOS and will try with Vista 32 one more time. Then once with XP. Then the MB is going back.



Go into BIOS. Bump up Vdimm, above the 1.8V nominal setting.
2.0V won't hurt anything, and may improve RAM stability.
Run memtest86+ from memtest.org . (No errors are acceptable)

If still having trouble, next step is to relax the timing settings.

http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KVR800D2N5K2_2G.pdf

A rough guess, is at DDR2-800, it would be about 5-5-5-16 timing.
(tCAS, tRCD, tRP, tRAS). You can raise the number to 6-6-6 if you want,
as that would be more relaxed.

It is likely, that when set to Auto, the RAM SPD might be telling
the BIOS to use DDR2-667, so in fact the RAM might not even be
running at full speed yet.

Start with just one stick of RAM. Don't boot into Windows until
memtest86+ can complete two whole passes without any errors.

If you need further encouragement, report back.

Once you pass memtest86+, boot into Windows. Run the CPUZ program and
verify the hardware settings. CPUZ has the ability to dump the results
to a text file, and you can post that if you need to describe what
you're seeing.

There are only two weeks worth of postings on the VIP forum, so not
much to go by with respect to RAM.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=P5K+Premium%2fWiFi-AP&SLanguage=en-us

The QVL is here, for what that is worth. They should report, in this
thing, what voltage they use for Vdimm. Some high performance memories
need quite a jolt to meet specs.

http://www.asus.com.tw/999/download/products/1749/1749_10.pdf

A cheap stick of DDR2 RAM, can sometimes be used to aid the board
to POST the first time. If you haven't been able to get into the
BIOS at all, that can help. If you have been able to get into the
BIOS, then you can try the voltage and timing changes.

Having the latest BIOS will help, especially considering how
new the board is. Many boards are not stable, until at least
five BIOS have been released. That gives enough tries to get it
tweaked. Before you flash the BIOS, of course, the board
has to be stable enough to do the flashing. So you cannot really
do anything, until you have a bit of success.

The 12V plug is for the processor. Only a super-high-powered processor
would need a 2x4 plug. For the rest, a 2x2 plug is plenty. The
Core 2 Duo processors typically are listed as 65W devices, which is
just a sneeze of power (roughly 6 amps). If you had a quad of some
sort, that takes a bit more power, but still not out of reach of a
2x2 connector. You have to overclock a 130W processor, before the
2x4 is a good idea. Taking a D 805 to 4GHz, requires the 2x4
connector.

Paul
.

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