Ok so I finally got my PC to boot after changing my motherboard. My problem now is that when I try to install windowsXP sp3 it shuts down. When it's on the BIOS, the computer stays running until I shut it down but when I'm installing XP in shuts down. I noticed that it shuts down on the part where XP is installing the components. I don't know if my ram becomes unstable at this point or xp has conflicts with the ram. Also, I tried two sets of ram: 2X1GB Crucial Ballistix PC2 8500 2.2V http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148069 and 2X1GB Corsair XMS2 PC6400 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034 When I try to boot with the Crucial my pc shuts down at the installing components part. I went to the BIOS and the the ram was running at 1.904V-1.926V so I changed the voltage and tried to boot with the following voltages: ~1.95V(+.05V), ~2.1V(+.15V), ~2.15V(+.20V). It kept shutting down with those voltages but I couldn't set the voltage to 2.2V as my motherboard sets it to ~2.21V and the pc doesn't boot at all. I tried the same thing with Corsair and I got the same results.(I only went up to ~2.05V). So I went to the bios and I found the memory settings and all that. I noticed that the timings stay 5-5-5-15(I don't remember the exact numbers but I'm almost sure these are it;I'm typing these from my work so i can't really check) but the sticks are advertised as 4-4-4-12 so I'm not really sure what's going on.(I don't know much about how memory works) My question is, is my motherboard picky on the ram?does it have something to do with voltages on the ram?or do i have to change the timings manually? Specs: Motherboard:XFX 750a SLI AM2+ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813141010&Tpk=xfx+750a CPU: AMD 4800+ Brisbane 2.5GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103212&Tpk=4800+dual+core PSU:650Watt Termaltake http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153034 DVD/CD: Sony DVD HDD: 160GB Western Digital The PSU is fine as I have tried two different PSUs.
When you say shut down does it reboot or shut down completely? If the latter, it's more likely to be an overheat problem.
It completely shuts down as if the power cord was removed. I"m not too sure about the overheating issue because when I go into the BIOS the temperature is around 47C but then again the CPU is not doing much work at all at the BIOS.
I'm going to check but as i was saying, it shuts down right at the 'installing component' so my best guess is that it has something to do a hardware.
mobos can be picky! Especially at the 8500 level, which is running at, what 1066? Usually at this speed your mobo has a guide in the manual as to what it will accept. Judging by your voltages your fine, but if not mistaken your latency speeds is the cruical (5-5-5-15) and your corsair is the 4-4-4-12. I sincerely doubt its a ram conflict if just trying them as individual sets, but I don't think its an overheating issue either... as its a dual core amd, try resetting the voltages back to their defaults, my rule of thumb don't teak this until you've got the system up and running so you don't do any damage. Do you have BOTH sets of ram in at the same time? Try taking the crucial out first. If it don't like the corsair, try the crucial next... preferably in the same slots, this way if you've got bad ram slots you can find out if its the mobo the easy way! On this ram note if you have BOTH in your only shooting yourself in the foot, I don't think 8500 has been designed yet to clock down to 6400. I could be wrong, anyone please correct me. I am sure of one thing xp and ddr2 work fine together, and ram speed has never been a problem yet from what I hear. Yeah, 8500 is ddr2 1066, 6400 is 800 ddr2... shutting down when installing components... could be a had hard drive. Installed new mobo? Make sure you got all your power cords plugged in, both the the four pin or 8 pin, along with the 20 pin or 24 pin... double check all the connections it could be shutting down because it can't read the temperature thus giving the mobo an overheat error. For now I'll assume heat sink is on the mobo properly with thermal paste or grease on it... if this don't fix it, either bad processor or more likely a bad mobo. Although crucial doesn't have as high of a reliability rating with me personally its still good ram, I'd pick it as good way to fix a computer cheaply over half the other ram out!
Mainboards can be very picky about ram, but usualy Corsair is usualy the one of the old brands that will work with picky boards. You should not need to raise the voltage, and setting the memory to 5-5-5-15 is something I might sugjest if you were having problems at 4-4-4-12...so these numbers are not causing a crash. Are you running onboard video or PCI-E video? If PCI-E, what card? (XFX does not always design boards to handle the wattage needs of modern parts; I know the high-end AM2+ cpus will not work on this particular model because it does not provide near enough watts)
If you have PC8500 Crucial RAM, you're in for a world of issues. If you want to run memory at 1066mhz, you should really look to Corsair.
I'm going to check both PSUs again. The one thing that's very weird is how it always shuts down right at INSTALLING COMPONENTS. I also tried loading Vista but is shut down right when it was loading. About the Crucial ram. I can't get it to 4-4-4-12. The BIOS always shows 5-5-5-15 even when I change the voltage. Any body know how to change the timings with this mobo. Right now I'm trying to boot with the onboard video but later I"m going to try to boot with a 4850. Thanks for all the help so far. Too bad I still can't install xp.
He's was right about this crucial ram which I found to be a shock! The 8500 ram they make has either been having compatibility issues, or has been bad from the get go from what rumors I've been hearing... no one really knows for sure where I work which of these is the case so I'm not going to knock the company nor the product. Question though, are you sure these are 2gig kits and not 4 gig? If its a 4gig that may explain the installation issues; xp won't install with anything over 3gigs, all service pack 3 really did, if I heard right, was allow for directx 10 for the operating system. Now if your doing vista and its giving you the same problem and you do have a 4gig kit just remove one of the sticks until its completed, it should not hurt anything; unless this board is a piece of junk. By the way you just scared me a bit too roger_90. If this board has on board video, you might want to disable this, only because your using a graphics card. If this is doing this on both xp and vista in the same place did you try taking out the ram as I suggested? Don't worry about the ram timing that is completely unimportant (kudos to KillerBug). Bottom line though if it isn't a bad mobo, its a bad hard drive; either this or you have the HDD in the wrong sata port... or the right drive isn't being selected in bios. If its in sata port 1 check your manual but I think that ought to be HDD 0, just make sure its not on HDD 1 in your bios or it would be looking for the drive on sata port 2. If its an ide drive you've possibly got a configuration problem which could explain why it keeps crashing at the components screen... it may not be seeing the drive at all to install to so you'll need your manual to find out how to change the settings around. Most settings I've seen lately make the sata ports as the primary drive root thus making the ide as the secondary... any ide drives would be made as slaves until this action gets done. Right now I'm taking shots in the dark at this problem, and right now by process of elimination these are what I'm coming up with. Switching out the power supply may not do you any good. Because if it keeps cutting out in this fashion can mean a bad mobo, but this shut down can also mean you've got a 4gig kit instead of a 2gig. This happened to me with vista like crazy until I pulled out one of the ram chips, and it wouldn't let me install xp with anything more than 3 to 4 gigs of ram.
Hehe...I do have a graphics card but I'm trying to boot with the onboard video. I have a 4850 and it runs extremely hot without the driver fix so i'm trying to avoid it for now. You got a really good theory. Until now I've been ignoring the possibility of having a bad HDD but now I'm starting to suspect the hard drive might have something to do with it. My primary HDD(only HDD for now)is sata. I also have a cd burner set as slave and a DVD to primary. Both of these drives are IDE. I'm almost sure both sets are 2GB(2 x 1GB) but I'm going to recheck. PS. Should i return the Crucial kit then???
Crucial has NOT been bad from the get go. A year ago I would have readily picked Crucial over Corsair as Crucial used to be EXCELLENT ram. I think they might have fixed the problems with their ram. The Crucial is rated at 5-5-5-15. So yeah if you can't get it to run at 4-4-4-12, thats not their problem. You can TRY returning it. I would recommend 2 sticks of 2GB Corsair Dominators PC2-8500.
No it hasn't, and if you have crucial RAM working fine, no need to get rid of it. It does however have a problem working at rated specs, i.e. PC8500 CAS5 RAM that will work at PC6400 CAS4, but not PC8500, regardless of latency.
that's what I meant about the ram. If it is working okay then good but either way you might be giving yourself an issue because other than the dominator series ram from corsair, I've only seen one other company release ddr2 8500: ocz tech ( at least on the retail front, I ask to be corrected if I'm wrong.) I think corsair does have one I'm just not sure. you also just told me what else I needed to know; you need to get into your bios settings and do some changing concerning your drive settings. XFX is similiar to Asus in regards to how they've got their ide controller set up. By this I mean this port is set as the secondary not the primary. This means it will continue to cut out on you at that very spot unless you either get a sata drive or go through your manual find out how you make your ide the primary drive channel. Should actually be very easy, its usually an option that's available... only wish I could tell you but every manufacturer has their own way of doing this. Until you do this it won't work.
