Problem with memory

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Hi

When i built my PC 2 years ago, it was the first time i had ever built a PC before and the only problem i encountered was when reading the instructions, i installed the memory (Dual 512Mb modules) into the wrong sockets on the motherboard. I thought I read in the instructions that to achieve Dual speed memory the memory modules needed to be placed in sockets 1 & 3 from the 4 available. I thought this was wrong at the time as 1&2 and both purple in colour, and 3&4 are orange, but going by what i thought was right I installed them into positions 1&3 - and began to install windows.

For the last 2 years i have been getting the message on boot up 'memory not optimised'. Originally back when i first built it i tried moving the module in position 3 into position 2 to achieve the dual speed but my PC wouldn't boot, it just beeped at me. So i moved it back and run it how it was.

Now ive just bought 2 further modules which are also dual 512mb modules which i want to put in to my pc, but again, im faced with the same problem. as soon as i move the memory from position 3 to position 2 and add the new memory i have just bought into positions 3&4 again, my pc wont boot and just beeps at me.

can anyone tell me why it will not boot up and how i can get around this, as i really dont wanna have to take it to a shop to do it.

i hope ive made myself clear on the problem and i hope someone can help me

thank you

marc
 
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Have you tried the old memory modules in slots 3 & 4? If that works, then chuck the new sticks in slot 1 & 2 and see what happens.

edit: also it would be helpful to list the mobo and memory specs...
 
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by the way, i forgot to mention i did go through the sticky post about fixing computers and established that my BIOS was beeping about the memory so i know its an issue with memory, but how come simply moving the memory module to another slot causes so many problems when booting?

How do i get it to boot when i move the memory modules

please help guys, i really cant afford to take it in to PC world to look at it

marc
 
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Explicit said:
Have you tried the old memory modules in slots 3 & 4? If that works, then chuck the new sticks in slot 1 & 2 and see what happens.

edit: also it would be helpful to list the mobo and memory specs...

Hi, thanks for your help

I hadn't tried that but I just have and again, i get the single long beeps with large gaps between them.

Ive tried every compination but it wont boot at all

Someone had told me to reset the BIOS? will this work and if so how do i do it if i cant get onto my PC.

Sorry but im really amature when it comes to PC stuff, im amazed i managed to build one on my own

cheers

marc

MEMORY

Old modules - 2 x Corsair 512Mb modules XMS3200
New modules - 2 x Corsair 512Mb modules XMS 3200

MOTHERBOARD - Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939
 
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Right, a quick google reveals that the gigabyte mobo does have some sort of issue with corsair http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53898&start=0

You could try to clear the CMOS, but I doubt that will help. To reset the cmos, you will need to refer to the mobo manual to locate the specific jumper which allows you to reset it.

I think the better solution would to be flash the mobo to the latest BIOS. http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/...ard&ProductID=1788&ProductName=GA-K8NSNXP-939

That might help, it might not...but it's worth a shot. Follow this guide if you don't know how to flash your mobo
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/HowToReflashBIOS.aspx

Let us know how it goes
 
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Hi

I did as you said, and flashed the BIOS with the latest release. It seemed to go well and so, like it said, i restarted the computer to make the affects active - which I did and it booted up fine.

So i shut it down and moved the memory module from position 3 to position 2 again and hey presto - smile on my face - it booted up, but!!!

Where it had previously told me that memory was not optimized it now said running dual mode or something like that which was the good thing, then later in the boot up process it suddenly restarted and at the same point again where it restarted before, it stopped this time and said (as best i can remember it):

windows could not be started, this coule be due to a hardware change blah blah blah, it then gave me 5 options to choose from. 3 of them were to enter windows in safe mode, one with networking and one with something else, then another option to enter windows as normal and another one to enter windows as of the last time i had been into windows successfully, or something along those likes.

I actually went through and choses all of them but nothing would put me into windows. So i turned it off and replaced the memory where they were before (positions 1&3) and restarted and was again stopped at the same point above with the 5 options. This time i chose 'enter windows as normal' and fist time it let me in and here i am now writing this message.

Any ideas? was the BIOS thing a good idea? How can i get it to enter windoes with the memory in the right position? When do i put in the 2 new memory modules I have just bought?

Cheers for your help. Pretty bummed if its a corsair/gigabyte issue as this build setup was actually recommened by the OcUK guys on the phone, but if they didn't know of the gigabyte/corsair issue i guess we all make mistakes.

Marc
 
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windows could not be started, this coule be due to a hardware change blah blah blah

so this msg was displayed after you a) flashed the bios b) installed new memory sticks? if yes then basically windows has detected the new sticks and its basically saying "these sticks are not the same as the previous ones" therefore you need to reinstall windows BUT BUT BUT before you do this you enter your original RAM sticks into the same slots you installed the new ones into and try booting up again.....

I am assuming you recieved the above error msg with the new RAM sticks...

Otherwise I would think you have to reinstall windows.....Do you have a spare hdd handy by any chance? As you could install windows onto that and then see if you get any errors....will save you the headache of reinstalling especially if the error msg does not go....

You see whenever you change i.e. CPU, MOBO, GPU and RAM I believe you need to reinstall windows so it all works well .....
 
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xirokx said:
so this msg was displayed after you a) flashed the bios b)
I am assuming you recieved the above error msg with the new RAM sticks...

With only the 2 old memory modules, in the none Dual speed setup (like its been for the last 2 years) I flashed the BIOS - all went ok

I then shut down and moved one of the old memory modules from position 3 to position 2 to make them dual speed - i then rebooted and got to the message I wrote above.

I haven't tried the new memory yet at all.

So if I make sure the 2 old modules are in positions 1&2 and add the new modules to positions 3&4 and get to the message screen listed in my previous post, you think that I just need to re-install windows?

To do that what do I do, i cant quite remember. Do i go into the bios and make sure the PC boots from CD when it starts, then put my windows CD into the drive and restart and follow the instructions?

everything was backed up before i started messing with it so im good to go really, if u guys think its the right thing to do

cheers

marc
 
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I haven't tried the new memory yet at all.

as I said I was thinking along the lines that you had..........you see usually u see the "could not restart windows due to hardware change" when windows detects new hardware however that not does apply in this case therefore I cannot say 100% that windows is to blame....

Perhaps as you are now running in dual mode which should have been the case since day 1 you are now getting this error msg...

Why dont you put a post up in the memory section and see what the memory experts think???

As a last resort you could try reinstalling windows.. yes you are right....go into bios, choose "1st boot device" as "cd rom" and then pop the windows cd into the drive....thereafter choose f8, delete the current version of windows on the hdd and then reinstall it....

lets us know how you get on........goodluck....
 
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marcanthony said:
So i shut it down and moved the memory module from position 3 to position 2 again and hey presto - smile on my face - it booted up, but!!!

Great!! :D

marcanthony said:
windows could not be started, this coule be due to a hardware change blah blah blah, it then gave me 5 options to choose from. 3 of them were to enter windows in safe mode, one with networking and one with something else, then another option to enter windows as normal and another one to enter windows as of the last time i had been into windows successfully, or something along those likes.

Doh! Looks like the hardware aspect is all fine now but windows has decided to screw up (happened to me once when I flashed my mobo BIOS). I just did a repair of windows and it all work fine again, didn't loose any documents or settings. Better still, just do a fresh install if you can.

But before you do any of the above, put all four modules in and see what happens. Obivously with socket 939 it will drop to 2T command rate (don't worry about that bit for now). As long as the PC posts and gets to the windows stage, then you can be quite confident that the new bios fixed the old issue. Now just repair windows.
 
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Guys

I have booted the PC up with all 4 memory modules in and it gets to the same point with the same message.

I went into the bios and changed the 1st boot drive to 'cd rom' and put my windows cd in there and rebooted. But now, what happens is that it says on screen during bootup that its booting from CD rom and it kicks me into windows, i type my logon id and go into windows like normal, but it wont do this when i boot from the HDD

wht the hell, how come i cant re-install windows, why does it just boot up normally from the cd and not with the hdd.

marc
 
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yes, windows XP

on startup it says press 'del' to go into BIOS or 'f9' for express recovery. I tried 'f9' just to see what it does but it said later in the boot up that hpa or something not detected and just booted up from the disk as normal
 
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marcanthony said:
yes, windows XP

on startup it says press 'del' to go into BIOS or 'f9' for express recovery. I tried 'f9' just to see what it does but it said later in the boot up that hpa or something not detected and just booted up from the disk as normal

Don't press F9, just let it boot up from the CD. You should see a message "Press any key to boot from CD"
 
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yes i saw that, i pressed a key and nothing happened for about 5 minutes so i turned the PC off, i then moved the windows cd to my other CD drive (cos I have 2) and it boots through to windows

I thought maybe my 2nd CD drive is the one refered to in the BIOS and it got stuck when the cd was in my 1st cd drive
 
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marcanthony said:
i then moved the windows cd to my other CD drive (cos I have 2) and it boots through to windows

And when you take the CD out of that drive it won't boot at all? Just trying to get the facts clear.
 
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that was the case, but ive just tried it again and it boots fine now into windows with no CD in and all 4 momory modules in place

but i tried again where it says press any key to boot from cd rom and again it just gets stuck. The curson still flashes when i press a key and it reads from the disk cos i can hers it spinning, but it wont go into setup
 
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marcanthony said:
that was the case, but ive just tried it again and it boots fine now into windows with no CD in and all 4 momory modules in place

That's computers for you! Strange.

marcanthony said:
but i tried again where it says press any key to boot from cd rom and again it just gets stuck. The curson still flashes when i press a key and it reads from the disk cos i can hers it spinning, but it wont go into setup

Even though your PC is now working, you still want to install Windows? Ok, few questions for you. When it tries to boot from the CD, does the CD drive led flash? Is the CD scratched? Have you got another copy that you could try? Which of your 2 drives did you use to install windows last time?
 
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Yes i still want to do a re-install of windows

The LED on the drive comes on, the cd does have a large scratch on it which is worrying.

i can borrow a friends XP disk and try that. First time i installed windows was with my main cd rom which was the only one i had at the time. thats the one i am using this time

u recon its the disk being scratched? its a pretty bad scratch about 1 inch long

However in windows, if i go into my cd drive and auto run it it opens a window which has a button to install windows. can i do an install from there?
 
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marcanthony said:
u recon its the disk being scratched? its a pretty bad scratch about 1 inch long

Yes, it might. The only way to eliminate it as a possible cause is to try your friend's CD (but use your own serial number of course)

marcanthony said:
However in windows, if i go into my cd drive and auto run it it opens a window which has a button to install windows. can i do an install from there?

AFAIK, you can only use that "upgrade" from an older version of windows, not to do a fresh install.
 
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