P4M800Pro-M & DDR2 RAM Problem

[rtjones11]

I'm having problems with my Socket T ECS mobo and the DDR2 Ram I just purchased for it. The mobo claims to be compatible with DDR2 533 but upon startup it recognizes my RAM at half its capacity. It fails to boot because when the DDR2 is in the mobo doesn't find my harddrive. After a few restarts my BIOS detects "128 mb OK" but freezes on the front screen. A few restarts later and the screen is black.

This is a cheap mobo that came as part of a combo deal. I've read reviews from NewEgg that says it has issues with DDR2 until you upgrade the BIOS. The ECS site claims the new BIOS has a "Patch code to fix Realtek clock buffer sometimes couldn't detect DDR2". I upgraded but I'm having the same problems.

Is it my OEM Ram, cheap mobo, or a little bit of both? Thanks for any help.

Intel P4 506
ECS P4M800Pro-M 1.0A
A-DATA V-Series 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533

 

[Scottz]

I'd try the other slot and also a different brand/stick of ram.
I'd also try the VIA Arena forums.

I just picked one of these up today.

Fry's just put this mobo on sale with a Pentium-D 930 (retail box) for $159.
Current pricewatch for the 930 is $180, so even if you decide not to use the mobo, it's a way to get a 930 for a few bucks less.

The ECS Boards Fry's bundles with are typically notorius for not being all that great, but right now I'm not finding much on the net about this board.

Even the other variants of the VIA P4M800Pro chipset boards is a bit sparse.

For grins and torture I'll probably try this board out later this weekend.

 

[BillMo]

Did you or anyone else go forward with their P4M800PRO-M with the D930 (or D950)? I've had a persistent problem with random applications slowing to a crawl. I eventually traced the problem down to a memory problem. When I have two 1GB DDR400 modules installed the problem occurs. If I have only one 1GB DDR400 or one 1GB and one 512MB installed it does not. I can predict the problem by running memtest86. (This eliminates any XP or application factors). Memtest86 demonstrates the problem by pausing for significant time (seconds) on certain parts of certain tests. ECS suggested I flash my BIOS to the new 8/16/2006 version which I did to no avail. I check a friend's machine with the same hardware (different brand of memory) and saw the same problem via memtest86. ECS tech support keeps asking for information I've already given them and seems inclined to ignore the problem. I'd like to know if others are seeing this. It took me quite a while to narrow it down to memory and other's might be wondering what's happening. You can see the problem with XP's task manage because the process that slows down goes to 100% of one of the D930 (or D950) cores.

 

[degolf]

I am having the some of the same problems. I have a P4M800PRO-M V2.0 which I got from Frys after the V1.? did not work. I have tried 4 different sets of RAM and different brands and all give me random restarts. I have Kingston 2GB PC@-4200 KVR533D2K2/2GR in it now and still get random reboots. I have tried two different CPU's both same type Intel D950 3.4GHz I tried two different hard drives and did fresh windows installs, went to via site and did download of drivers, did a flash of bios from ECS site changed graphics card to see if that is the case and drivers nothing is working. I have not gotten a reply from the ECS support (Nothing) I was told by Frys they were having problems with their own boxes that use the ECS mobo. I need a mobo that gas a agp card and will run. If I put DDR not DDR2 on the board I do not get the reboots or maybe they are spaced out so I have not had a reboot yet. The system of course runs slow with the DDR and I want the DDR2 to work. Hope this helps someone else.

 

[lgk]

same exact issue here.. I say these boards are faulty and ecs knows it.. they played dumb when I called and said they would look into it.. I assume others have called and they know and don't want to spend the money giving free boards to all the people with these buggy pieces of ....

I have tried 2 different types of ddr2 memory and nothing works in the board.. under heavy load it always reboots.. I get a heavy load by running a virus and spyware scanner at the same time...

ddr memory works fine in the box and it is stable..

b4 I figured out it was memory I bought a new power supply and a different cpu fan..

I am running this board with a pentium d 915 dual core cpu

thanks

 

[hepcat]

I just bought this board with the E6300 Core 2 Duo CPU in order to extend the life of my AMD AthlonXP 2700+.

Installation went fine, with a slight issue getting the CPU fan on.

However, my 1x1GB + 1x512MB of DDR RAM had some problems. Initially, Vista RTM was only reading 512MB of RAM. After mucking around with the sticks (and resetting the CMOS), I finally got the board to recognize the 1GB stick of DDR400.

I got the expected perf gain out of the CPU, but my memory perf score went down. I suspect that it's a net perf gain, but it's a bummer I can't use both sticks. At this point, I'm leaving well enough alone.

 

[southwow]

Having problems with v2.0 board, e6300 and Kingston 1GB(2x512) DDR2. Suspect memory incompatibility with DDR2 RAM on all of these boards. Experiencing random BSOD and reboots in XP pro. Going to flash bios tonight to latest version (released in Sept) and see if that helps, if not then trashing this thing and boycotting ECS from now on.

Got the 6300 and P4M800Pro for $169.00 from Frys; less than the price of the CPU alone..

Hard to believe this after so many good experiences with their boards in the past. The K7S5A was an awesome board in its time.

 

[southwow]

I did a lot of experimenting with this board and different memory; it seems that it will not work properly with two strips of DDR2 memory installed... at least not identical ones. It works fine with one strip. It also appears to work fine with one strip of DDR memory, although I was not able to test a pair.

I flashed the bios up to the newest release, but nothing changed. The system would show failing memory addresses at close to 1GB with a pair of kingston 512's installed, but each strip tested fine in both slots individually.

My solution to the problem was to go out and grab an intel 865 board and take advantage of dual channel memory. I had no problems with memtest after installing this board... except that there doesn't appear to be a way to make the 865G chipset give back it's allocated memory for the onboard VGA... oh well, small price to pay for a stable system.

 

[batkinson001]

hmmm... cant really help here but i have threads in this forum and need help, no one seems to check these forums anymore so i am replying to the most recent thread to get some help(asumming the users posting have instant email notification on). this is the only forum with ANY info on my p4m800pro-m class board.

threads are here:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/p4m800pro-kind-Speedfan-temp-readers-ftopict209470.html

and

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/ECS-P4M800PRO-M478-good-ftopict209151.html

Also, this one is more important,

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/connecting-front-case-audio-P4M800PRO-m478-ftopict209654.html

 

[gregor2012]

I am having the same problem with the system randomly rebooting and have one stick of 1gig DDR2... however, i did a memtest for about an hour and got back zero errors. some of you say that you are experiencing no problems with using DDR instead of DDR2... is it possible to run DDR2 in the DDR slot?

 

[gregor2012]

I just checked the VIA driver at ViaArena.com, the lastest driver for the P4M800PRO-M is version 5.10a and is dated 9-8-06... the version at ECS is extremely outdated, by many version updates - at ECS they have only version 4.56 from 4-6-05! I'm going to try the former and see if this helps.

...as a sidenote, when I first encountered this problem ECS tech support told me to manually set the DRAM speed, which I did but wasn't sure about what I was doing so I set it to the exact speed of my RAM which is 533... dunno, maybe I should lower it, any opinions?

 

[batkinson001]

I am having the same problem with the system randomly rebooting and have one stick of 1gig DDR2... however, i did a memtest for about an hour and got back zero errors. some of you say that you are experiencing no problems with using DDR instead of DDR2... is it possible to run DDR2 in the DDR slot?

Hmm, my comp restarted while I was in the middle of playing wow a few times last week, not sure if it was ram or some other issue...

As to running DDR2 in a DDR slot, i would think this would be not allowed as why would the board have both kinds of ram slots if the ram chips were meant to be interchangeable and use the same slots?

I just checked the VIA driver at ViaArena.com, the lastest driver for the P4M800PRO-M is version 5.10a and is dated 9-8-06... the version at ECS is extremely outdated, by many version updates - at ECS they have only version 4.56 from 4-6-05! I'm going to try the former and see if this helps.

...as a sidenote, when I first encountered this problem ECS tech support told me to manually set the DRAM speed, which I did but wasn't sure about what I was doing so I set it to the exact speed of my RAM which is 533... dunno, maybe I should lower it, any opinions?

quite interesting, however I will wait for ECS to update their drivers page with newer drivers before I do any driver updating for my P4M800-PRO-M478 board...

Did tech support say what to set the DRAM speed to?

 

[gregor2012]

no, tech support did not specify what to set the DRAM to, just that I should do it manually (I set it to 533 for mine)... I would not suggest updating the drivers that aren't on the ECS site unless you are having major problems. BTW, Batkinson001, what type of RAM are you running (DDR or DDR2) and what is the speed.

I did some research and you cannot use DDR2 in a DDR slot (and vice versa) do to the number of pins used (184-pin for DDR; 240-pin for DDR2)...

 

[gregor2012]

As to running DDR2 in a DDR slot, i would think this would be not allowed as why would the board have both kinds of ram slots if the ram chips were meant to be interchangeable and use the same slots?

Good point...

 

[batkinson001]

PC3200 DDR 400's (512 x2)

 

[gregor2012]

I read a bunch of negative reviews for this motherboard at Newegg and it appears the random restart problem occurs when using DDR2, especially 1GB. I don't think your problem is the memory since most people using DDR have not reported this problem and have only good things, mostly, to say about the board. I would go to VIAArena.com and download the latest 4-in-1 driver package update as it is newer than the release found on ECS's site. Here is the link for windows xp users http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1070

 

[batkinson001]

i read those reviews as well so i could get an idea as to what the board was like that i was getting...

thanks for the link, i will check it out.

 

[gregor2012]

well, whatever i said before - forget it... i was humming along just fine, then it began restarting and now i can't even start my game (Silkroad Online) without it crashing and restarting... i don't get it. can anyone offer advice on a good motherboard that supports a Pentium D 915?

 

[JET007]

Greetings,

I am new to this forum, but I shall tell you what drove me here. Yes Folks ,it's that one and Only brand new P4M800Pro-m V2! To Answer the DDr2 Question. No, DDR will not fit in DDr2 because they are keyed in differently. I am currently using 2 stiks of DDR @ 1GB each, The manufactuer brand is "Corsair". This MBO is somthing else, I have never read a OEM Mini tech pup for Installation as many Times since I got my degree In CPU Science! My CPU has rebooted itself at least 1000 times on its own since I bought this.....Thing from Fry's. I am convinced
the Processor they sold me (Intel Pentium D 945 Dual-core LGA775) is Good, However The I/O Section of this MBO is Unsatisfactory. I have replaced Everything Except The P4M800Pro-M V2! Anyone have any fresh Idea's before I return to "Fry's" with a less than favorable consumer spirit?

 

[gregor2012]

JET007, I talked to the vendor that sold me the board and their techs said they've been having trouble with this board and ANY processor of 900 or above. I've got an Pentium D 915 - they said that was probably it - I sent the board back on Friday, upgrading to a different ECS board.

 

[JET007]

Thanx Alot Bro, I cleared my Schedule this Saturday so I could return to Fry's. They probably won't take the MBO back because I have been trying to get it to Run since early Dec 2006. Sorry I couldn't reply sooner, My CPU had other Plans these past few days... I Will have a New MBO by Saturday, Can you recommend a Stable one that accepts DDR 1G and Pentium D 945?

 

[gregor2012]

No, I'm wondering the same thing. Let us know if your new board works...

 

[JET007]

Greetings!

Check this Out. I brought my PMPRO MBO back to Fry's... Only to find out that the only Existing motherboard out there to Accept DDR Ram (Since I already bought 2 G from "Fry's") , was An ECS MBO! The Sales person was quite helpful and understanding but said "Personally I wouldn't purchase that Crap" When I Informed him of the Situation....

A Long story short, I took home the Exact same MBO V2, The Difference is this.. When I Installed the Processor, I noticed @ least 25-30 Differences Inside the LG-775 Socket (Between the MBO I returned and the One I am Running Now). The Original MBO I Bought had all the contact points for the Processor Installed execept a few on the bottom and top, (Use a 10x Mag Glass to see what I Mean). The New one was Identical, Except changes Only In the Processor Socket (Contact points to the CPU had been removed).

I Installed Everthing... I am Here to Tell you, I am still waiting for my Computer to Reboot! I Informed "Fry's and ECS of this problem, But the credit should go to this forum and everyone who supported This endeavor.

My computer SCREAMS now. I will stand by to assist in any way. Thankyou For the Insight.

JET007

 

[redamaleki]

Hey, I have recently purchased a pentium D 920, and the infamous p4m800pro-m (v.2) I have DDR400 memory and a 400 w psu. I've updated the drivers for the board and also swapped different parts with different brands (except the MBO), and everything works great except for the same random restarts. Monitoring the cpu, the hottest it has gotten is 50, but that was heavy usage and it didn't reboot until after the processes had finished. I have finally reverted to sending in this one for a new one to see if that works. Let me know if I am missing anything or if that particular board still has an issue with pentium D's that are in the 900's.

 

[JET007]

Greetings master jedi, It is Indeed a small Universe. What is the speed of your processor? Is it 900 or above? I have chatted with some dudes with the same problem, Some say that it (P4M800Pro-M V2) will work just fine with a processor series below 900. I think what happened is Most Electronic outlets like "Fry's" bought up thousands of these boards and started selling them as bundles. If you contact ECS they will say thier Techs are having the same Reboot problem I'm sure your Ram is fine as well as your PS-That's what I am Running 400Watt. Heres a trick you can try. In the Bios setup take the ram speed out of auto and set it to the cpu speed Usually 200mhz'that should help a little. I have troulbeshooted this problem since Nov 14,2006... I finally Won. See if you can take your MBO back and Exchange it for another P4M800ProM-V2. I went and bought a new one, Brought it home and compared them. The socket Internal pin layout was different. I Installed It and My problems were gone. I took the old MBO back to "Fry's" and spoke with the Manager- He refunded my Money. Let me know If this helps.

JET007