Can't get RAM working on NF7-S 2.0

Phaser · 9 Jul 2007 at 19:10

As title really, got a second machine which consists of an XP3200+ and Abit NF7-S 2.0 board.

I recently had a 512MB stick of Samsung RAM in there, PC3200.

I picked up 2x Crucial 512MB DDR400 but the system refuses to boot with them both in. Only works with one of them in at a time. Tried putting them in different slots etc but still nothing.

One thing i've noticed - it's got DDR4000 on the RAM but when it boots up it says DDR333. Have I got the totally wrong RAM or something lol?

split · 10 Jul 2007 at 13:20

You haven't got the wrong ram.

Not sure what that motherboard is like with more modern ram, but it was fussy with some pairs.

Have you tried memtest on each stick just in case.
You may also need to change the BIOS to make it see DDR400 tho I'd concentrate on getting 2 sticks to run first.

My daugter has a Abit NF7-S 2.0, and that runs well with 2 sticks on 512 (OCZ) ram, but she on a 2800 barton. (166FSB)

While I remember..this board has 3 memory slots, so in theory for all ram to be in dual channel 128 bit you need 1 x 512 and 2 x 256 tho it makes very little difference!

cavemanoc · 10 Jul 2007 at 21:28

That's not quite right - to run dual channel you need the same amount of RAM in each channel - but you don't have to fill all three slots - just put 1 stick in one channel and the other in the other.

It sounds like something in the bios is misidentifying the ram and messing up the speed (probably the timings as well)

Make sure you've got the latest bios (preferably a good modded one) and then install the 2 sticks.

Go into the bios and set the FSB to 200 (should give you 400 - ddr). Go into the memory timings and set 2.5 - 3 - 3 - 11 (2.5 in the CAS - the others should be self evident). You should now be good to go. The problem with the FSB may well have been down to the fact that most of the Bartons ran at 333 FSB, unlike the 3200+ so that may be why it was defaulting low. Running below speed it may have been setting the latency on the memory to 2 or below which might have stopped the boot.

All speculation - been a long time I admit - but something to try. Make sure you're putting the RAM into the right 2 slots (I 'Think' it was one in the coloured and one in the black - but check the manual - and on some boards it made a difference if you did 1 and 3 instead of 2 and 3 so have a play)

Good luck

split · 11 Jul 2007 at 00:49

That's not quite right - to run dual channel you need the same amount of RAM in each channel - but you don't have to fill all three slots - just put 1 stick in one channel and the other in the other.

Maybe it's the way I explained it.
They do run dual channel with just 2 dimms (channels) in use, but to have it in dual channel 128 bit it has to be like this. Yes I know that's an ASUS Nforce2 but same principal with the ABIT.

As I said, it makes very little differnce if any.