Problem upgrading RAM (please, help)

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playitloud413

New Member
Alright, guys. Here it is. I'm a computer technician and I've worked on tons of computers, doing all sorts of different things. One of these things being memory installs and upgrades. No big thing. Not difficult at all. Yet when it comes to my system at home, I'm ready to throw the thing out the window.

Here's some background: I have an HP a1030n. The system came stock with 512MB of RAM (2x256MB). The stock memory is PC2-3200 333mhz. The motherboard can be upgraded to 4GB of memory and can handle up to PC2-4200 memory. There are four memory slots on the motherboard.

512MB stopped being enough a long time ago, and I decided to upgrade, so I bought two 1GB modules. I figured I'd just pop out the two 256's that were in there and replace them with the two 1GB's. "Figured" being the operative word.

I took out the originals, put in the new ones, and booted up. Checked in the BIOS and the system located them perfectly. Two 1GB modules operating at PC2-4200. When I get to the Windows logo with the loading bar underneath it, the bar will go across a few times, but then it just halts. Nothing. Not going anywhere. Can't even do the three finger salute. Have to shut it down.

The only way I've been able to get my PC to work WITH the 1GB modules is to have the original two 256 modules installed alongside the 1GB's. Does it work better than having just 512MB? Well, yeah, obviously. But it also sucks, because I'm definitely getting a latency hit because there are four memory modules installed, but what's worse than that is the 1GB modules have to down-clock themselves to PC2-3200 333mhz, because that's what the 256MB modules are.

Yes, I have updated my BIOS.
Yes, I have the memory in the correct slots.
Yes, this is driving me insane.

So, please. If anyone out there can think of how to get my system to work with JUST the two 1GB modules, I am forever indebted to you.

--Henry
 
the ram timings and voltages will prevent the computer from booting, also an overclock can change the speed a ram is actually running at drastically
 
I'm not doing any over-clocking or anything like that. Nothing is tweaked to perform any differently than it would out of the box. My motherboard supports PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM, and that's what I'm putting into it. Nothing special. Everything's been checked and double-checked. And it won't get past the Windows logo with the loading bar underneath it.
 
You have to clock the RAM down to a 1:1 ratio, which you can't do in an HP, or you have to disable the SPD detection and manually adjust timings and voltages. You'll probably have to loosen them up a bit.
 
If you wanna either tell me how to do that exactly or point me in the direction of a how-to, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm willing to try anything.

SirKenin said:
You have to clock the RAM down to a 1:1 ratio, which you can't do in an HP, or you have to disable the SPD detection and manually adjust timings and voltages. You'll probably have to loosen them up a bit.
Click to expand...
 
You go into the BIOS and in the options disable SPD, then all the timings options will show up. Set the RAM to 4 or 5. You may also need to increase the voltage. I'm not sure where a tutorial is. Maybe someone else can help with that.
 
You go into the BIOS and in the options disable SPD, then all the timings options will show up.
Click to expand...
I wasn't aware that HP was putting this option into their BIOS. The last HP I had was a P3 and I don't think it would even let me set the RAM speed manually let alone the timings. They may have changed so you can since then though.

Have you tried testing the new memory with memtest?
 
Sorry I haven't responded in a while; these things like sleep and work tend to get in the way.

Anyway, I did a little research on my processor. It's an Intel P4 530J. After Google-ing the processor, what I've found is that the FSB is 200mhz & the multiplier is 15x (yielding my processor speed of 3.0ghz). If I'm putting this all together correctly, the problem lies in the fact that computer is detecting the memory at PC2-4200, which has an inherent speed of 533mhz. For stability, the system SHOULD be at a 1:1 memory divider, which would mean a 200mhz FSB : 400mhz memory. BUT my memory is operating at 533mhz, hence the system freaking out.

The solution, I imagine, would be to just go into the BIOS, manually override the settings and input a custom memory divider. The problem (another one! wouldn't you believe it lol) is that my BIOS doesn't support altering anything in regards to the memory. No options whatsoever.

I've put all this together and come to the conclusion that I'm pretty much just S.O.L. Your thoughts?

--Henry
 
One more thing: I have CPU-Z, so if you guys want/need any info on the SPD of the memory (if you think that info will help), I'd be glad to post it.
 
Actually, at a 1:1 ratio the RAM would work at 400, which it is by default. The thing is that the timings will be what's wreaking havoc.
 
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