I recently began work on ordering pieces to make a new computer; this computer will be used to do a lot of things, from playing fairly big games like TeS: Oblivion, Star Wars Galaxies, Guild Wars, to using programs like Corel Paint Shop, Visual Basic, After Effects, Windows Movie maker, etc. Of course, I'm on a budget, and have sold a lot of my valuable possessions on ebay to buy the required parts.
My old system was an old computer with a intel celeron 600mghz processor that could only use sdr100 ram, which I had running at 512 megs of ram (2x 256), and I learned a lot about assembling computers with it, so I am not without knowledge; just a beginner (going for a degree in information technology, plan on taking courses online, so this justifies my upgrading).
Anywho, to the point:
I purchased 2 sticks of 1 gig RAM from newegg; G. Skill brand, to supplement my computer with 3 gigs; I had a 1 gig Kingston. All 3 sticks work individually, I tested each one solo on my motherboard, and each booted and loaded windows fine; even played around in a game.
However, when I try to put all 3 sticks in, I don't even get the BIOS screen. 95% of the time with 2 sticks in (any combination of the 3 sticks), I load windows fine; However, occasionally, I get stuck on a post-bios screen that says it is loading something from nvidia; may be unrelated, no idea.
Well that's my problem; now I will give my specs (if you can't scan them or whatever);
Note that this all sits on a table; I don't have a computer case
Nforce6m-a 520le Motherboard
3 sticks of 1gig RAM, max system potential I can achieve: 2 gigs
AMD Athlon (2.4x2 dual core) 4.8ghz Processor (Brisbane)
1 IDE 320 GB HD
1 IDE 10 GM HD
1 SATA 500 GB HD
1 DVD RW Drive (haven't installed yet, waiting for my computer case to come it)
Nvidia GeForce (Biostar) 7300 series 512MB Graphics card (PCI Express) - goes to a old CRT monitor max res 1024 x 768
Nvidia GeForce 6200 series graphics card (PCI normal) - goes to another old CRT, max res 1024 x 768
^ The driver I use conflicts between these two, looking for an adapter so I won't need the 6200 anymore
Operating system is Windows XP Professional SP2, I hear it's max ram is 3.5 gigs, Maybe this is why I can't use 3 gigs? My only other thought is my jumpers might be set wrong; I left them set as they came from retail.
If I need to take pictures, let me know. I'm anxious to get my 3 gigs I paid for working asap, thanks!
Edited by Kei_Centillion, 05 March 2008 - 06:05 PM.