Abit IX48-GT3 Tigerforce. Which Ram??

[freedomdwarf]

I'm currently running an ancient Abit VP6 motherboard with 2x1GHz Intel CPU's & 2GB of SD-Ram that I built nearly 12 years ago. It has served me very well but with modern things advancing so fast it is now showing it's age. :eek:

 

To that end I bought an Abit IX48-GT3 Tigerforce motherboard from fleabay, 2x 2GB DDR3 from PKR and surprise surprise, it won't boot or even post!! :mad:

The nearest thing I get is a boot code C1 which the chart says is a Ram identification error. It doesn't even initialise the video card so the monitor stays in sleep mode!! All I have is the code that is put on the on-board digital display.

 

I had no idea that Abit had withdrawn from the motherboard market so when I went to search for a modern motherboard I only looked at Abit boards as this ancient VP6 one has served me so well.

When I asked Abit tech support (USA) they just said to make sure that they were the same spec Ram modules - and that was all I could get from them! Big help they were!

 

So.... I can't get any support from Abit or the Hexus forums where Abit tech support sort-of exists. Everywhere else I've asked has resulted in answers that involve changing BIOS settings - but seeing as I can't complete the BIOS boot sequence it doesn't help me a lot. Have reset the BIOS and removed the battery for a few mins (as per Abit documentation) but it still won't boot. Have tried each Ram stick on it's own in all the 4 slots and also in pairs - same C1 error code. :sigh!:

I have no idea what the default values are for this board as I haven't managed to boot it yet!

Someone said it should be 1.5v as it's a DDR3 motherboard; somebody else has said it's 1.8v but they didn't own the Abit IX48, they only heard it elsewhere.

 

I asked the seller what type of Ram he used and he said he used Corsair XMS DDR3's and it ran very well right up to the point where he dismantled it and sold it to me. He sold the Ram separately so unfortunately he can't tell me exactly which modules he used.

PKR tell me I need old 1.8v Ram modules but I can't seem to find anything except 1.5v or 1.65v modules and everywhere I've read says DDR3 mobos are compatible with 1.5v Rams so I have no idea what they are on about.

 

My manual says it will take modules from 1.35v to 2.20v so I don't understand why the original Ram modules I bought won't work and further investigation seems to suggest that this particular motherboard does have Ram issues depending on the manufacturer!

 

I came to the corsair web site and was confused as to which modules are compatible with my motherboard - the IX48 isn't listed in the compatibility table.

I can find a few references to the IX58 on Asus mobo's but they aren't the same beast (triple channel??) so that didn't help. Also found IX38 but they use DDR2's, not DDR3's so that didn't help either!

I searched these forums with just "IX48" and only found 2 items which aren't Abit boards - so I am at a loss.

 

 

So now my question is - which Corsair modules are compatible with my Abit IX48-GT3??

I don't intend to overclock it and probably won't use more than 4GB of ram - I just want it to be able to boot properly so I can install an OS (probably XP Pro) and get this system up & running!!

 

I don't have a heap of money to throw at it so can't really use a trial-and-error method with the usual wastage. I need to find Ram that works with this board so I can use it.

 

Thanks in advance.