IRQL Error installing extra 2GIG Ram in Win XP

[Rafalski]

Hey guys,
This problem is driving me crazy....... I was running 2 Gigs of Crucial Ballistix Ram on my Asus P5N-E SLI and everything was ok, decided to add additional 2Gigs as the prices are so low. I bought the exact same memory, my motherboard supports up to 8 Gig total so still not a problem. When I added the chips to the board I got the blue screen with the following error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, towards bottom STOP 0x0000000A (........).
I have tested all the chips and they work fine, I have tried the new and old chips alone and everything goes smooth. As soon as I add them all together I get this error.
I have read some forums and found an answer for this for Vista, update from Microsoft, but nothing on XP. I know some say to increase the Voltage..... but in my Bios I do not see any option to increase that. Only thing I can see is Latency which I tried changing to 4x from 5x but that did not help either. According to Crucial the memory is compatible. There are some other settings for the RAM in bios but they are completely unfamiliar to me and from reading forums I have not seen anyone even mention them.

 

[Rafalski]

Anyone at all can help here ?

I have figured out where to change memory voltages in Bios..... tried Memory Voltage at 2.1 and 2.2 but both just froze my PC , cant even get into Bios untill I take out the 2 Gigs. When you get into the voltages there are 4 different ones..... anyone can tell me which ones I should change ?
Vcore
Memory
NB Core
Vcore offset

I changed the Memory and rest was left at Auto.
Also Memory SLI is disables, would that make any difference here ??

When all are Auto I can actually get to account logon screen, sometimes if flips out then and sometimes when I click on my name to logon to Win XP

 

[Rafalski]

I see everyone is so helpful around here

 

[NightlySputnik]

I'd really like to help dude, but I just can't tell you exactly what to do.

Try to google something like XP + IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL + 4GB with more or less term and see what comes up.

That's the best I can do for you buddy.

 

[Rafalski]

Thanks Nightly, I tried that already, I am slowly doing research on how to change all these settings and I will give it a shot again tonight to play around with them. I also updated Bios last night, and have not tried to add the memory yet since then, perhaps that might help. Update stated fixing some memory compatibility problems (not really the same issue) but who knows

 

[WazzaUK]

this might help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929338/en-us

 

[Rafalski]

Another thing, I just installed CPU-Z and it shows my memory running 4-4-4-12...... in bios its setup as (auto) and at 400Mhz...... but in Bios I specifically remember it saying 800MHz (which is the speed of memory specifications)...... so what gives?

 

[WazzaUK]

800MHz effective... 400Mhz * 2 (hence the DDR2)

 

[Rafalski]

Thanks Wazzu..... After I updated the Bios yesterday I installed both updates from the link you provided. I actually was able to logon and get into windows fine. After I start IE, sometimes right after opening or when I tried to search, I got IE error must close..... and asking to send or not info to Microsoft. I tried a few times and finally got the blue screen again, was too fast to notice if its the same one.
I went to bios and changed from auto to 4-4-4-12 and to 2.2V. At that poing computer just hangs on boot screen.
any other ideas guys ?

 

[WazzaUK]

hmmm... id leave your memory on SPD (auto - for now), leave voltages alone too - mess with the memory speeds when ya got a stable OS - install a fresh copy of windows... (maybe to a diff drive/partition)

 

[Rafalski]

I will try that, but what do you mean by memory speed ? not sure I know what option you are talking about..... if you mean the 800Mhz, I dont think i saw an option to play with it in the Bios..... perhaps you can tell me what to look for ?
Also why would I install XP to a different partiotion ? wouldnt be ok to leave it the way it is once I get stable OS like you say ?

 

[Rafalski]

oh..... once I remove the extra 2 Gig it seems windows works fine no matter what I change in Bios.

 

[bobbknight]

Asus P5N-E SLI go to page 2-24 of your users manual it explains how to change the memory voltage.

Your error is often times a driver issue, get the most current drivers for your system.

Memtest your memory.

 

[Rafalski]

Thanks Bob, I already fogured out the voltage issue, however it seems that when I play with voltages my PC stops booting all together. After I installed the updates Wazuu told me about, it booted fine with Auto settings, even got into windows, but after little work in IE , the IE would error out. Then got the blue screen again...... I went to change voltages and PC started freezing on bootup again. I am thinking of Wazzzu's idea of re-installing Windows but considering it freezes on boot I am thinking this has nothing to do with Windows after all :/ but I just might be ignorant on this subject so all ideas would be helpful

 

[Rafalski]

Hey Wazzu do you mean Memory speed MHz? the one I said runs at 400Mhz instead of 800 ? I have those options grayed out.... the manual says to set AI options to Manual to configure that, but even if I do, they are still all grayed out and I am unable to change anything :/

 

[Rafalski]

Finally fixed the problem, was nothing to do with BIOS settings I updated my BIOS to version 6.8 I believe..... the upgrade above that 7.3 was listed as DOS version so I did not bother with it..... however out of options I tried installing it, and as soon as i did RAM started working perfectly in Auto mode There is one more upgrade but still Beta version so I wont be installing it for now, but it's listed as for all OS.