lightbulb Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Heres one for you with a bit of an ageing system :) I've been using CMX512-3200C2Pro matched pairs (TWINX1024-3200C2Pro) for a few years now on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe revision 2 motherboard with no issues in Dual Channel Mode (Slots 1 and 3). I have now got a 1gb stick of CMX1024-3200Pro which I seem to be having a setting problem or compatibility issue with. Prior to installing the 1gb stick, I read somewhere that ideally the 2 smaller sticks of RAM should be in slots 1 and 2 to deactivate Dual Channel mode and the larger memory should go into slot 3, furthest from the CPU. I did this, without trying to put the 1gb stick in the empty slot-2 first. The computer booted up into Windows (XP Home SP2) without problems. BIOS reported 2gb and also said the system was running in Dual Channel Mode, despite there being a 512 stick and a 1024 stick in the dual channel slots. Windows also reported 2.00GB ram. Ram configuration: Slot1:512, Slot2:512 Slot3:1024 Now, thinking that having dual channel running with a 512 stick and a 1024 stick was bad/wrong or potentially hazardous to any data running through the unmatched pair, I shut down the system and put the 1024 into slot 2 and the 512 back into slot 3. Now the configuration is like this: Slot1: 512, Slot2: 1024, Slot3: 512. The bios detected 2gb and said dual channel mode was active. The system got as far as the Windows XP loading screen with the scrolling progress bar and froze just after the step where my USB mouse light flashes off and back on again. I thought it might be a USB device issue so pulled all usb devices out except for the keyboard and also tried disabling legacy usb device support, but get the same result. I put the RAM back into the configuration when it worked the first time: Slot1:512, Slot2:512 Slot3:1024 The computer froze on the XP loading screen again. THe computer boots with any RAM configuration in safe mode and reports 2.00gb in bios and windows. I have tried each stick in each of the three slots. On their own, the 512s or the 1gb stick, windows loads no problems. The freezing at the xp loading screen can be triggered when there is at least 1gb stick and a 512 stick in any of the slots however the computer can boot in safe mode and get to windows regardless of slot configuration with either 1.5gb or 2gb. My BIOS settings when the Slot1:512, Slot2:512 Slot3:1024 config worked was set to Aggressive automatic timings. This is what the system has been using since I bought the TWINX1024-3200C2Pro a few years ago. I tried to set the timings manually to 8-3-3-3 as written on the 1gb stick to no avail. The voltage has since been set to 2.7 as part of my troubleshooting attempts. It was on 2.6 when the full 2gb worked first time. Any ideas? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted February 21, 2008 Corsair Employees Share Posted February 21, 2008 You should not b mixing memory with any MB, but for these to work I would suggest the 1.0 Gig module be in slot 1 closest to the CPU and the two matching modules in slots 2 and 3 and then load setup defaults and set the memory frequency at 100% and set the timings to Cas 3-3-3-8 at 2.7 Volts and see if the system is more stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightbulb Posted February 21, 2008 Author Share Posted February 21, 2008 Thank you for your help :) I gave your suggestions a try to no avail. Since the computer booted into windows the first time I tried the stick and if I use safe mode, is this a stability issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Yes. When mixing and matching DRAM in a system you often find issues arising as the memory controller is given different information from the Serial Presence Detect chip. Does it run with 2 X 1024? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightbulb Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 Hi! Unfortunately I don't have another 1GB stick to try but am looking around for another CMX1024-3200PRO so I can hit the 2gb mark, and sell on the 2 x 512s that I have. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 That's the move I would also make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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