Got a third ram stick and system doesn't work

[winslm]

At first I purchased pair if 1 gig sticks with twin2x2048-6400. I want to push my system to 3 gigs of RAM. So I added 1 CM2X1024-6400PRO. With the new stick the system freezes and fails windows memory test. I tried to make certain all the specs on the twin and single were the same. I put the single in one bank and the twin in the other. Because windows xp maxes out at 3 gig of RAM I didn't want to spend the extra money on another twin box.

 

Any idea if the memory stick is bad or did I screw something else up?

 

Thanks,

Mark

[RAM GUY]

Mark,

You can run 1,2, or 4 modules but three would not be suggested. If you do you will need to slow the memory frequency to DDR-533 or 667 Mhz max for this MB.

Also have you tested the modules one at a time with http://www.memtest.org?

[winslm]

I tested them with the windows memory test. The program doesn't run through windows, so I don't get why MS called it that.

 

When I had the new stick in solo I think it passed. I'll have to recheck when I get off work tonight.

 

If I return the 1 gig stick and get 2 512 MB sticks with the same stats (pc-6400 etc) should the system work?

 

Am I correct that Windows XP home edition supports a max of 3 gig?

 

Thanks,

Mark

[RAM GUY]

WinXP 32 Bit will see:

Example:

4-1,0 Gig = (4096) Giga Bytes X 8 = 32,768 M-Bits

Any 32 Bit O.S. or Chipset will only see 32,000 M-Bits

Then it would have to subtract any other memory used in the system like for your Video card and or cache on your CPU, LAN or Modem, and the MB bios may reserve some for caching as well. That would make the total size of memory accessible to your system, something between 2.6 to 3.2 Gigs of available memory.

 

And please use http://www.memtest.org and you might have to disable Legacy USB in your bios when running http://www.memtest.org. And with the MB you have the memory Freqency should be set to 667 MHz!