Corsair DDR2 Ram with Asus P5N-E Sli issues

Hi everyone.
I just got my new Ram from newegg, here's the exact link to the model:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184
I have the Asus P5N-E Sli motherboard (http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=473&model=1474&modelmenu=1), as my motherboard. I have tried putting in the new ram, but I also left 1 of my old ram modules in (i had 2 gb, 2x1gb modules) so in total I had 5 GB. Just wanted to see if vista would read it. Well it did, except it wouldnt boot normally past the logon screen. When I logon, it would either restart right away, give me a blue screen for 0.1 seconds and then restart, logon for a few seconds (I had 2 users, usually the 2nd one could stay on for like 20 seconds) and then give me a blue screen and shut off, etc. Safe mode actually worked once, but then it didn't anymore. So then I tried putting in the rest of ram, 6 gb. once again it read it, but about the same issues, just in different order/combinations. My PC was behaving totally stupid with booting now.
Then, I tried removing the old 2 GB and thought it would make sense since I've heard that 32 bits aren't supposed to be able to use more than 4GB (yet it read it and said it was usable). But again the same issue. Then, I tried putting in my old ram in, so I was back to 2 GB. It could boot, but instead it messed up my user (but left my other user untouched) and I had the user could not be loaded temporary user is used issue. I fixed that eventually by recreating my user and restoring everything, but my question is, how can I get the poor ram to work without messing up my machine. I bought it without looking much at the compatibilities, since my friend gave me the link to it and he knew the motherboard I had but apparently he didn't look at them either. I checked later yesterday, and the ram was DDR2 800, which my motherboard supports. But on my motherboard page it doesn't say much more about the ram, and what concerns me is it's PC2-6400 stat. PC2? 6400? I'm not sure whether my motherboard likes those. So I obviously run to windowsbbbs for help as I always do, and here I am. There's my life story.
Any help would be appreciated. I'll give any info or whatever I can to help you try to solve the problem. Thanks guys!

 

I read your post because I'm currently looking to upgrade my ram. I think I followed it but it was pretty unclear. Are you trying to run 4 5 or 6gb of ram??

Anyway I'm no expert in this field but I thought I'd share my experience...

I have an ASUS P5N-e SLI which currently has 2gb of Kingston DDR2 800mhz. I wanted to boost it to 4gb so I simply bought two more of the same chips (Same brand, same product number). Easy right?... Wrong.

It would run 3gb, but therefore wasn't dual channel anymore. When the 4th chip was in place it wouldnt boot. It kept getting to different stages, and throwing up different (corrupted) MoBo splash screens. (I'm on XP btw).

I spoke to the guy who custom built my machine for me, he told me that he's had trouble with this motherboard not happily supporting all 4 slots being filled without increasing the voltage. (I tried but without any luck - i don't have a clue about all that really).

Anyway - it's utterly pointless putting any more than 4gb of ram in on a 32bit system. Only around 3.2gb will be utilised by the OS and the rest will be reserved for the ram on your graphics card.

So I think (though can't guarantee - this is what I'm trying to find out for myself at the moment) that it would be best to use a maximum of 2 x 2gb chips.

And PC2 6400 is accepted by the motherboard. Hope i've been of some assistance to you.

If somebody could add to, clarify or dispute my claims then please do!! Oh and while I'm here... does anyone know if the P5N-e SLI supports OCZ SLI ram??

Thanks.

LJ

 

Hi ljfields and welcome to the BBS,

You have offered a lot of first-hand information, but if you have a question you should start your own thread.

For both of you I suggest you visit the RAM manufacturer's website. There they will have a "comparator" where you can look up your motherboard and check that you are using the correct model of RAM.

Asus had a reputation for being fussy with RAM, maybe those days are still around. The first computer I built was an Asus A7V-133C, it would only take RAM modules in a certain arrangement, otherwise it would throw BSODs in Windows. Check each RAM module in each one of the slots.

A few others here know more about BIOS settings for the memory than I do, if they happen to see this and might have something to offer. Increasing the voltage is a method of underclocking the memory. You could look up a method of overclocking the memory and use the reverse settings (underclock it).

I have memory diagnostics in my signature if you think a module may be faulty. Run the tests overnight if you can.

I have not heard of a BIOS upgrade helping in this situation, but you might want to consider it.

Some motherboard manufacturers have a list of compatible RAM, but Asus don't. See what information you can find at the RAM manufacturer's website and they might be responsive if you sent them a question through their Support.

Matt

 

Hi,

Thanks, I'll remember to start a new thread next time. I've found the answer to my query in the end anyway. The P5N-e SLI does not support SLI ram. It is built on the nVidia 650i chipset and SLI ram was not supported until the release of 680i chipset.

Sorry but I cant offer LiTos any more help at this time.

LJ

 

Thats ok, thanks for confirming that my motherboard supports my RAM though, that's good to know.
Mattman - I'm a bit confused about your post but I'll take my time to read over it a few times now...
Ok the closest thing I could find to my ram in the compatibility list with my motherboard on corsair's website is TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX while the ram I bought is TWIN2X4096-6400C5 so the only difference is the DHX at the end. Although, the specs are the same on both... but I went to new egg and found this by searching for the one with the DHX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145176&Tpk=TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX
According to this... I... bought the wrong ram...? Can someone confirm this for me please? I might have to sell&rebuy...

 

From what i've just read DHX is dual-path heat exchange - Corsair's method of heat dissipation. So I would assume the the actual circuitry will be exactly the same.

This article introduces and explains DHX a bit further - have a look

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/CORSAIR-XMS2-DOMINATOR,1326.html

 

Well that doesn't help me much. The thing is, on their website they don't mention the model without the DHX, so that kind of got me confused. The specs are the same yet it's not listed in the compatibility list. So can anyone confirm it for me for sure that it's not compatible or otherwise?

 

I traded with my friend (who helped me today) the ram - he gave me his 3 gb and i gave him my corsairs. they work fine on his computer but on my computer his ram doesnt work at all.
all of the chips are 1 gb, so i got 5 of them now. one of those chips is exactly the same as my current 2. the other 2 are also identical to each other. apparantly, these two types of chips dont work together. okay, that makes sense. but what doesnt make sense is that cpu-z doesnt identify my rams as dual channel, it says single though i have 2 chips in right now. Anyways, whats weird is that when I put the 3 identical chips together, they dont work. 2 of them, in the first 2 slots work though. i didnt test putting 2 in the 3rd and 4th slot or only one in one of them. although, i think we put in the other 2 identical chips in the 1st and 3rd slots and it worked...or not, i cant be sure but we did that i think. all the ram sticks work individually...
anyways, this is a little messed up. is it the bios? the slots? the motherboard? should i run memtest86 on it? What kind of tests should i perform next?
Can someone try to answer those questions or at least give me some background info. I tried doing some research on the motherboard and how it deals with ram but i didnt find much useful info.