KN8 Ultra - Memory not working in dual channel

kpm2k

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2006
10
0
18,510
I have the following system:

ABit KN8 Ultra Mainboard
AMD Opteron 146
OCZ Premium DDR Kit (2x512MB) CL2.5-3-3-7
Ultra 500W Power Supply
Radeon X800GTO2 PCI-E Video Card

The machine will boot with 1 chip installed (either one), I can put the ram into DIMM Slots 1 and 3, boots up with 1024mb installed and it boots up fine also but single channel, 64bit and 333MHz

With 1 piece of ram in slot1, it runs at DDR400. I have set the bios at DDR400 manually and can get the ram running at DDR400.

If I put the ram into slots 1 and 2 (both blue in color) or slots 3 and 4 (as per the manual) the machine beeps and wont post.

I have upgraded the bios to the latest one, cleared the cmos, and reseated the memory numerous times.

About to run the microsoft memory tester.

Anyone have any ideas?
 

nobly

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2005
854
0
18,980
Well first off, thanks for reading the manual before asking! Alot of people don't even do that!

Ummm, I checked out the manual and do you have a single rank RAM and a double rank RAM? If you do, it won't work in dual-channel. Since its a kit, I doubt that would be the case... Single rank = memory chips on 1 side of the RAM, double rank = memory chips on both sides of the RAM.
 

kpm2k

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2006
10
0
18,510
Definately double rank ram. Wondering if the board just doesnt suppor tthe ram in dual channel mode, gonna try getting it replaced with Corsair or crucial or something and see what happens.

Interesting, however ABIT support said that KN8 Ultra mainboard does not support the Opteron.

Upon looking at their website, doenst look like any abit boards support Opteron CPU's (based on the "supported cpu" link for all their mainboards)
 

nobly

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2005
854
0
18,980
I was curious about you using an Opteron in that board. Unfortunately I'm not very familiar w/ Opteron's so I can't help you there.

I know some boards are very very picky about what RAM you can put into them. Hopefully that's the case and not anything else. I don't have OCZ myself, but I heard they're good. Can the BIOS be setup to figure out the RAM speed automatically? Try not setting it to DDR400 manually and see what happens.
Come to think about it, you never mentioned what speed your RAM is. Are you overclocking some 333's or something? or are they 400's?
 

ProHandyman

Distinguished
Jan 2, 2006
122
0
18,680
I have ocz and it works great.......it must be the opty.......

After skimming Abit's website, BIOS descriptions, and forums... it definitely looks like the Opty is your problem! The "K" boards are DC'd, and of older design... along with the fact that Abit only "certifies" that board with the A64 X2's...

Another problem may be your memory settings! Boot with one stick... set your memory voltage at at least 2.7v, and your timings... save and reboot. shutdown, insert your second module in the proper dual channel slot, and try rebooting! That has been known to fix many a "boutique memory" problem with Abit boards.
 

kpm2k

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2006
10
0
18,510
Thanks for the info guys, I gave it another try today and i was able to get the machine to boot with 1024MB RAM (in the Dual Channel slots) but the PC freezes as soon as it shows ram. No num locks, etc.

What I changed, was there is some setting in the bios to force 64bit mode, i just turned it off.

I also tried altering the timings slightly, like changing from 7 to 8 and 3 to 4 and mix and matching and cant get the thing to boot. The PC locks or reboots a couple times a day. Debating about changing the ram or the mainboard...
 

jackieboy

Distinguished
Jan 8, 2006
219
0
18,690
asus a8ne or dfi ultra infinity..........both are inexpensive and will definately perform as you wish......with the opty......the dfi will have better oc abilities
 

kpm2k

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2006
10
0
18,510
Thanks Jackie.

I replaced the mainboard today and still unable to get the thing to run in Dual Channel with the OCZ Premier and now it locks up often. Guess back to the drawing board and try new ram...
 

jackieboy

Distinguished
Jan 8, 2006
219
0
18,690
wow........you do have an unusual problem.........Not sure which ones you bought but 2.6v.....is what the board defauts to .......I would reflash the bios again and clear the cmos then try again......Let me know......I'm curious.......if not I wonder if you got unlucky and have bad memory and are you sure that the opty is ok....the memory controller is built into the processor....sometimes I hate computers.......easy to fix if you have other parts to just slap in and try.....I have tons of extra parts to throw in and test....
 

b-cubed

Distinguished
Mar 23, 2006
2
0
18,510
I'm running into the same problem with:

KN8 Ultra
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2 2GB Kit DDR400 XMS3200
Asus GeForce 6600 / 256MB DDR / PCI Express / SLI / DVI / TV-Out / Video Card

Have the same problem - won't POST, just a single long beep which repeats every 1~2 seconds.

Stole 2 256MB DDR400 Micron DIMMs from another machine and it booted right up. Tried the Corsair in my other machine and it seemed to boot up just fine. Sorry - don't have the exact specs on the Micron sticks as they are at home and I'm at work.

This problem goes beyond the opty, will try booting with a single DIMM and setting voltage to 2.7.

The following may be of interest, from Corsair support:

http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44659

If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it, this is only the third system I've built so I'm pretty much a newbie.

Thanks
 

jackieboy

Distinguished
Jan 8, 2006
219
0
18,690
My guess would be that Abit went down on quality with the kn8 series boards. I've seen way too many people having the same problems. Shame
 

pat

Expert
I have the following system:

ABit KN8 Ultra Mainboard
AMD Opteron 146
OCZ Premium DDR Kit (2x512MB) CL2.5-3-3-7
Ultra 500W Power Supply
Radeon X800GTO2 PCI-E Video Card

The machine will boot with 1 chip installed (either one), I can put the ram into DIMM Slots 1 and 3, boots up with 1024mb installed and it boots up fine also but single channel, 64bit and 333MHz

With 1 piece of ram in slot1, it runs at DDR400. I have set the bios at DDR400 manually and can get the ram running at DDR400.

If I put the ram into slots 1 and 2 (both blue in color) or slots 3 and 4 (as per the manual) the machine beeps and wont post.

I have upgraded the bios to the latest one, cleared the cmos, and reseated the memory numerous times.

About to run the microsoft memory tester.

Anyone have any ideas?

Use one stick, go in BIOS, bump memory voltage at 2.7v(no, it won't hurt)

save the BIOS, and let the system restart. once done, power it off, install the second memory stick and start it up. It may work.

But don't power the system off immediatly after saving the BIOS.. you may end up with problems..change, save, leave it start by itself, then power down.
 

AMP

Distinguished
Jul 14, 2005
13
0
18,510
Ok, im worried now cause I have a new build coming in today and I have a similar type of ram, here.
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 2-3-2-5

Im all worried now!! :cry:
 

b-cubed

Distinguished
Mar 23, 2006
2
0
18,510
My problem turned out to be a bad DIMM from Corsair, after waiting 3 weeks to receive the replacement I lost out on a $50 rebate.

Booooooo Corsair!
 

yyrkoon

Distinguished
May 8, 2006
387
0
18,780
Well, the OP stated he had the memory in dimm1 and 2, and if your motherboard is like mine (yes i realize my board is socket A), you'll need to populate dimm3, and 1 for dual DDR to work properly (it should state that in the manual, and if it doesnt there should be a few posts about it on ABITs forums). ANyhow give it a looksie
 

ezeht

Distinguished
Oct 13, 2006
9
0
18,510
Hi :D

I do not have the kn8 ultra but I plan to upgrade [budget gamer] from my p4 2.8c abit ai7 and ic7g to a kn8 ultra between now and new years. I pre shop and read on everything even down load owners manuals-

The kn8 ultra manual plain says for dual channel you populate either dimms 1~2 or 3~4 same color or all 4 dimms with same type memory etc. other photos i see of other 939 boards is the same- its not like on my p4 board you populate dimms 1~3 or 2~4 for dual channel. id guess thats part of the prob.

As of now I would like the abit kn8 ultra $74.99- evga 7900gto $250- FX55 sande oem $189.00 I would be happy with [budget?] a64 3700+ sande ada3700cfbox e6 stepping $96. I think I can carry over other hardware I have sig below + i have a swiftech mcx159r chipset cooler I think will work on this board. I reed some mobos have probs with older 1.5g sata drives and I know some are very picky over memory. My xp120 will carry over- ill use stock cooler and silver5 on p4.

Im disabled and have a limited budget I have to save change and maybe not eat- later i would like some nice t1 cl2 pc3500 ram and a nice lcd monitor either viewsonic or samsung 4~8ms etc.- but for now and if this mobo will let me I will carry over my satas1.5g and my ocz pc3200 el plats rev.2. I think i may have more probs with the drives im not sure so I hope to add to my budget 2x -->

seagate sata3g.x80g $49.99 each-->

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148107

This will be a game machine only for the most part well some surfing. So the smaller drives should be faster than my 200gigers and they are sata3g. I have never messed with or set up raid.I will try raid0 on this new system. I have 1 prob ive not figured out from reeding. Both my abit p4's I can set to enhanced mode with no raid I have a opt drive 1 each on ide 1~2 - sata 1 is my os boot drive sata 2 is storage.

Again this will be just for gaming and surfing I do not need 2 opt drives and if i can get raid to working right. Id like to use either 1 of my seagate ultra 100 ide 200gig drives or my wd80 on ide 1 for back ups and or storage and a opt drive on ide 2- If I have probs with raid Id guess Id need a alike enhanced mode to use my satas like ide drives [no raid] on my p4 mobos.

I do not have both my p4's running [ai7 is back up mobo] I use my IC7g with the 2.8c Ill use it for ripping or edit of sound or video type stuff maybe keep my sound card on the p4 it can be a juke box too- later maybe a gaming server. I do not want sli- dual core or xp64- many programs or games have probs with them all and i have no plans for vista they can keep it.

maybe 3 years from now all the bugs will be worked out of vista-and programs GAMES and hardware will catch up to dx10 etc. and prices will be lower for sure. the ultra can take 8gigs of ram and has the com port i need for my belkin ups.I can live with out the fire wire- i was looking at asus a8n sli premium-deluxe and 32 but every other post i reed on them the break with in 1day to 4months- other than n/b fan- i have never had any probs with my Abit boards. the kn8 is nice to but I reed the ultra and sli over clock better- i think i will have to have sata 3g drives no sata 1.5 connections- oh well an extra $100 or so.

Ideas or answer to enhanced mode question id be greatful- I have 2x p160 cases and a raidmax mid scorpion- the swiftech- ultra xconnect 500w uvblue- wd800 80g- kingston 2x256 cl3 value ram and some other stuff. my fav games #1 ut04- tribes- CoD-h/l2 collectors-painkiller battle out of hell-

I have many others and will buy ut07 fear and maybe bf2 2142 not sure i do not care for bf2 or prey collectors or pariah i have all 3 and others- i prefer online net play fps.- not many of them are good online games- i play system match 1time beat it thats it- i like to play other people online and kill them and talk some trash at times. many games fall short not as much effort is put into the online part nothing like system match. ut04 seems to be the fastest most agile acrobatic fliud smooth player movement and weapon balance lots of modes maps etc. just more cheet than are honest- that sucks!

Thank you

IC7G bios 28- P4 2.8 c -Fios 15< >2mbps-
XP pro SP2- Dx 9c- Antec p160-OCZ 520w
modstream-ViewSonic p95f+b-OCZ el rev.2
plats pc3200 2x 512m-Thermalright xp120-
Iceberq orb mod-ATI 9800pro 256m 256b-AC
ati1 rev2-Logitech5300e 5:1- Audigy2 zs pro plat-
2 Seagate st3200822as 200g satas 1 OS no raid
on chip-IDE1 Aopen cdrw combo dvd rom- IDE2
NEC nu2500a-Fuji floppy-3 Silverstone sst fmc3xw
120mm fans-Lexmark x6170- 2 Thermaltake silver
river usb enclosers- 2 Seagate st3200822a
200g-Plextor px tv 402u-Sony vcr