[Alex F]

My friend's parents bought a custom computer off of Craigslist for $175 and quite frankly... it sucks. 3 times since last year I've had to fix it for them (because they aren't taking chances with Funky Monkey). At first I thought it was the power supply, which is a 250W Hi-Pro, but I noticed something else. The motherboard, a PCCHIPS P23G, has two memory controllers, one for DDR and one for DDR2. When I'd swap out the couple sticks of DDR in it already, it wouldn't post. Once I put in a stick of DDR2 of my own, it'd POST and would still POST after I put back in the DDR.

Anyways, I've decided to just put a new board in it and it seems to be working fine for now, but before I charge the parents $50 for it is there absolutely any other possibility as to why the first mainboard would do what it does?

Other specifications:
Celeron D 3.33GHz
40GB Western Digital Caviar
Samsung CDRW
XKROMA ATX case
Windows XP Pro
The new mainboard is a Jetway P4M9MP

[Advertisements]

My friend's parents bought a custom computer off of Craigslist for $175 and quite frankly... it sucks. 3 times since last year I've had to fix it for them (because they aren't taking chances with Funky Monkey). At first I thought it was the power supply, which is a 250W Hi-Pro, but I noticed something else. The motherboard, a PCCHIPS P23G, has two memory controllers, one for DDR and one for DDR2. When I'd swap out the couple sticks of DDR in it already, it wouldn't post. Once I put in a stick of DDR2 of my own, it'd POST and would still POST after I put back in the DDR.

Anyways, I've decided to just put a new board in it and it seems to be working fine for now, but before I charge the parents $50 for it is there absolutely any other possibility as to why the first mainboard would do what it does?

Other specifications:
Celeron D 3.33GHz
40GB Western Digital Caviar
Samsung CDRW
XKROMA ATX case
Windows XP Pro
The new mainboard is a Jetway P4M9MP

Hmmm, what is odd is most mobo's with DDR and DDR2 slots do not allow them to be used simultaneously. ARe you sure it is using the DDR when you have the DDR2 in the board.
Here is why, I think the DDR controller or sticks are bad. My WAG is that when DDR2 dimms are used it shuts down the DDR controller (heat and energy savings) and since it is shut down, the DDR subsytem does not cause the crash. Now if everything shows up with that board that blows my theory out of the water.

[PedroDaGR8]

My friend's parents bought a custom computer off of Craigslist for $175 and quite frankly... it sucks. 3 times since last year I've had to fix it for them (because they aren't taking chances with Funky Monkey). At first I thought it was the power supply, which is a 250W Hi-Pro, but I noticed something else. The motherboard, a PCCHIPS P23G, has two memory controllers, one for DDR and one for DDR2. When I'd swap out the couple sticks of DDR in it already, it wouldn't post. Once I put in a stick of DDR2 of my own, it'd POST and would still POST after I put back in the DDR.

Anyways, I've decided to just put a new board in it and it seems to be working fine for now, but before I charge the parents $50 for it is there absolutely any other possibility as to why the first mainboard would do what it does?

Other specifications:
Celeron D 3.33GHz
40GB Western Digital Caviar
Samsung CDRW
XKROMA ATX case
Windows XP Pro
The new mainboard is a Jetway P4M9MP

Hmmm, what is odd is most mobo's with DDR and DDR2 slots do not allow them to be used simultaneously. ARe you sure it is using the DDR when you have the DDR2 in the board.
Here is why, I think the DDR controller or sticks are bad. My WAG is that when DDR2 dimms are used it shuts down the DDR controller (heat and energy savings) and since it is shut down, the DDR subsytem does not cause the crash. Now if everything shows up with that board that blows my theory out of the water.

[Alex F]

I mean when I tested all this, I tried the DDR memory first and then took out the DDR and put in DDR2. They aren't in at the same time. And like I said, when I have the DDR in first, the board doesn't POST, but when I take it out and put in DDR2, it POSTs and then still POSTs when the DDR is back in.