Asus P5Q Pro Mobo + Memory issue

[jb75]

Hello,

I have an Asus P5Q Pro Mobo, using 4x sticks of 2gb Crucial DDR2 ram that has been giving me memory issues. PSU is 750w Cooler Master Ultimate.

In a nut shell, only one of the 4 ram slots will work at a time.

I have had to drop from 8 gigs down to 2 gigs. Any of the 4 slots will work, but if I put more than 1 stick in any combination of the slots I BSOD with memory errors or windows will boot and explorer.exe will continuously crash making the box useless.

All memory checks out ok, and I even tried putting in some cheap PNY ram to test and The box boots fine with 1 stick of that.

Is the board toast or is there something I can do such as upgrade board drivers or investigate in the bios?

PSU is 750w Cooler master ultimate.

 

[clarkjd]

Hello,

I have an Asus P5Q Pro Mobo, using 4x sticks of 2gb Crucial DDR2 ram that has been giving me memory issues. PSU is 750w Cooler Master Ultimate.

In a nut shell, only one of the 4 ram slots will work at a time.

I have had to drop from 8 gigs down to 2 gigs. Any of the 4 slots will work, but if I put more than 1 stick in any combination of the slots I BSOD with memory errors or windows will boot and explorer.exe will continuously crash making the box useless.

All memory checks out ok, and I even tried putting in some cheap PNY ram to test and The box boots fine with 1 stick of that.

Is the board toast or is there something I can do such as upgrade board drivers or investigate in the bios?

PSU is 750w Cooler master ultimate.

Did the PC ever work with the 4 sticks of RAM? or is this a new installation of RAM?

 

[Cygnus x-1]

What does bios report as ram amount when using more than one stick? Did you set the voltage and timings manually or auto? You can try a small NB voltage bump if all else fails. Sometimes when populating all slots, you need more NB juice to handle the load.

 

[jb75]

Did the PC ever work with the 4 sticks of RAM? or is this a new installation of RAM?

hi clark,

Yes, all 4 slots did work when I first built the comp. Over time I had to gradually bump down 1 stick at a time untill my current 1 stick situation.

 

[jb75]

What does bios report as ram amount when using more than one stick? Did you set the voltage and timings manually or auto? You can try a small NB voltage bump if all else fails. Sometimes when populating all slots, you need more NB juice to handle the load.

Hi cygnus,

I will have to check that and report back. All voltage is on default.

 

[jsc]

You can also try increasing the RAM voltage from default (1.8 volts) to 2.2 volts.

 

[jb75]

You can also try increasing the RAM voltage from default (1.8 volts) to 2.2 volts.

hey jsc,

Thanks for the tip. I booted up the bios and found the voltage settings. Everything is on auto by default and I can only key in the numbers and it doesn't look like I can reset it back to auto.

Just to be safe before I save changes, I thought it was worth asking about the color coding on each setting. The low end is 1.10v and displays in blue, as I raise voltage, the display changes from purple, to yellow and finally red at 1.90v which is max unless I switch a jumper on the board. Switching said jumper will let me go to 2.20v as you previously mentioned.

Since I don't normally adjust these settings I wanted to ask your opinion on this and see if it's fairly routine and safe before I save out. The red display at 1.90v gave me pause.

 

[Cygnus x-1]

1.8 is the ddr2 standard so going over that will on some boards give you that danger color. Since then manufacturers of ran have developed chips that are faster and can handle more voltage.

Before we go any further, with voltage does the manufacturer say your ram needs?

 

[jb75]

Sticker on the ram reads

800mhz, 4-4-4-12, 2.0v

looks like 2.0v it is.

 

[Cygnus x-1]

Ok, so start by setting 2.0, that is perfectly safe, it's what ur ram is rated at. Try setting timings as well, just the 4 main timings is fine.