unusual for memory not to work

vance1977 · 16 Jun 2007 at 12:51

hey guys
i have just bought 4gb of ddr pc3200 400mhz ram for my asus p4p800 deluxe motherboard the problem is that out of the 4gb i bought only 1 gb stick works when i put the others in the system just wont boot i have placed the all separatly one at a time but only one works.
what i am asking is 1 is it normal to get ram that doa and 2 am i doing it right im pretty sure that i am the mb manual says i can load up to 4gb of ddr pc3200 400mhz ram one of the chaps i bought the ram from asked me if i have a low or high density mb i dont know what that mean perhaps you could enlighten me.
cheers vance

fobose · 16 Jun 2007 at 13:19

I have pretty much the same mobo as you (P4C800-E) - yours has the cheaper chipset, anyway I cant find in my mobo manual what density mine accepts but I presume it must be low because high density memory is meant for mainly server boards I thought?

<edit> If only one stick allows your PC to boot then I would have thought the others are faulty, quite rar you would get 3/4 to be faulty though! When you tried them on their own, did you try them in the same slot?

vance1977 · 16 Jun 2007 at 13:24

yes i did use the same slot i guess because i know that that one work ok with the lone 1gb stick that worked.
vance

fobose · 16 Jun 2007 at 15:40

Send it back. You could try it in another computer first though just to be sure.

vance1977 · 16 Jun 2007 at 18:30

I bought them on ebay but one of the chaps giving me a refund cant give me the money till tomorrow as he dosent get paid till then so hopefully it will go ok the other i cant get hold of so i may try it on my sisters comp if it works i will sell it on ebay.
It's really weird two of the sticks show up when i run the program cpuz but if i run say pc mark 05 it only see's the one 1gb stick and not the other two very weird its as though the computer knows that they are there but just cant use them.
vance

flying grouse · 16 Jun 2007 at 22:35

The density of a memory module refers to the number of the chips that are on the module. Different computers require the memory module to be built with a different number of chips. i.e. There is more than one way to build a 128MB or 256MB memory module. Make sure you get the right module that is guaranteed compatible with your computer "the same make and brand"

just to confuse even more I will add this link : http://www.pcguide.com/ref/ram/packChip-c.html

vance1977 · 17 Jun 2007 at 09:25

Hi thanks for that i had a look but whooo straght over my head lol.
i think i will stick to my 1gb stick and my 512 stick and sell the rest.
cheers vance

hp7909 · 17 Jun 2007 at 09:49

Mobos, especially old/the first Dual-Channel ones, are picky with RAM & prefer matched* sticks

Advise, if still want to upgrade, you visit manufacture website like Crucial, etc. They will have sticks guaranteed to work with specific mobo.

EDIT: *= pair manufactured & bought at same time. Bought a same part number stick (as what I already had from Crucial) for my Asus A8V mobo only to find the manufacturing process/design was changed therefore would not work at all in mobo. Had to use 1 stick until I bought a matched pair.