[Devv]

My system is-

*Core 2 duo- E8200 (2.66 Gig)
*INTEL DG33BUC MB.
*2 GB DDR-II 800 single module RAM
*512 MB DDR 2 Nvidia PCI graphic card
*160 GB HDD SEA Gate
*Win XP Professional SP2

Problem-
When I try adding extra 2 GB RAM module of the same type/speed to the DIMM 0 or DIMM 1 slot,
the sound in XP start up cracks a bit and the system becomes slightly sluggish. Each 2 GB module
works fine singularly. But not when installed together to make total RAM 4 GB. What should be done?

I know XP 32 Bit is capable of handling 4 GB memory. Then why do I still have this issue?

Thanks

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Hello and welcome to geekstogo,
Can you give me the exact specification of all the RAM modules you are attempting to install and in which slot. Additionally, can you list what motherboard you are currently using.
Thanks.
James

[james_8970]

Hello and welcome to geekstogo,
Can you give me the exact specification of all the RAM modules you are attempting to install and in which slot. Additionally, can you list what motherboard you are currently using.
Thanks.
James

[Devv]

Hi James,

My apologies for the late update.

The Mother Board is Intel DG33 BUC (G33 chip set)--

The 2 DDR -II RAM are 2 GB each with 800 speed each.

They are of the same make/pin/ Transcend made. Individually they work fine and show the same specs. Problem happens when both are placed
together to make a total of 4GB.

As you know the DG33 has 4 RAM slots-- (supports 8GB of DDR max)

1st pair is DIMM-0 slot
A___________
B___________

2nd pair is- DIMM-1 slot
C___________
D___________


Let's name the 1st DIMM slot pair- A & B. The next slot pair C and D. Now if we are installing 2 RAM modules--
As per specs the 1st slot of DIMM 0 has to be occupied. So a 2GB RAM (DDR-2 800) is installed in A.
Any additional 2GB Ram has to go into C (preferable) or B.

If installed in C-- The system shows blue screen error '' Dumping physical memory...."

If installed in B-- Works. But Response to mouse clicks or menu clicks in XP becomes slow. Graphic intense games jerk on screen. Even the start up XP music cracks up while booting. Though after wards the sound is alright.

Edited by Devv, 24 December 2008 - 04:12 AM.

[Devv]

Hi guys,

Would be great if someone can throw some light on this.

Its somewhat of a challenge here.

[james_8970]

Can you please give me a link to the exact RAM kit you are using. I want to verify whether or not it uses the default DDR2 voltage. I've experienced a issue similar to this myself.
James

[Devv]

Hi James,

Long time--

Well the link would be www.transcendusa.com

Spec as available on the pack--

2 GB memory module STD

240p DDR2 DIMM (256M * 64)

The black chips on the RAM have " TQ243PCF8 " written on all 16 blocks.

engraved on the chip " E 186014 94V-0" Is 94 v the voltage????


Thats all I can glean from this.

I hear that Win Xp 32 bits may not be able to handle 4gb RAM.

Awaiting your kind updates.... Ciao

[Troy]

As it's been longer than 14 days since the last post, the subscription will have lapsed - you'll need to send James a PM to let him know you're still here.

Windows XP 32-bit can "handle" 4GB of RAM just fine, but because of allocation issues (memory address mapping or something like it), it just can't actually use all of it. There's shouldn't be any reason why your computer won't work fine with them all installed, though.

Troy

[Nicolet]

I know XP 32 Bit is capable of handling 4 GB memory. Then why do I still have this issue?

Thanks

That I'm afraid is not true, the reason for that is that 32 bit numbers can represent numbers form 0 to 2 elevated at the 32th power, and the minimum amount of memory that can be addressed is one byte, so that adds up to approx 3.25GB of memory addresses, theoretically there is a work around this limitation but it doesn't work on windows, if you install 4GB of RAM on a 32 bit OS, it will only use about 3.25GB

[Devv]

Thanks a ton.

Well if 4 GB or at least 3 GB RAM does work fine with Xp 32Bits--

Then why does my system become sluggish after putting in 4 gb?

I'm finding this dilemma to be quite a challenge. Any inputs Mes Geek champs?

[Troy]

You have Transcend RAM - can you find the exact kit you purchased on their website? Have you setup the RAM correctly in the BIOS? (94V in that serial number is not the voltage!).

You may wish to try running a RAM diagnostic test.

Cheers

Troy

[Nicolet]

Thanks a ton.

Well if 4 GB or at least 3 GB RAM does work fine with Xp 32Bits--

Then why does my system become sluggish after putting in 4 gb?

I'm finding this dilemma to be quite a challenge. Any inputs Mes Geek champs?

The reason could be (theoretically) that the first memory addresses on windows are assigned to peripheral devices such as video, sound network cards, etc. If windows sets this addresses to be used as RAM by the OS, it could be interfering with DMA on other devices and that would disrupt a lot of things.

I also agree with the RAM diagnosis if you haven’t done so. And very important, How much RAM is windows showing you when you have all the modules installed? Is it a constant number? Try disabling or disconnecting non-vital devices (sound, LAN) and see if that number changes, if it does then it’s what I explained above, if not, well, then the challenge is even more interesting.

[Devv]

Interesting thing we got going here boyo....

3.9 GB RAM (out of installed 4 GB) is detected every time.

Its the same when I disabled a few things except 'sound'.

The sound itself is an indicator of something being amiss--

All XP inbuilt sounds like start up, menu pop, logging off up etc crack/ get distorted with 4 GB is installed. 10% of the time everything's fine

Hang on mate! music CDs or saved music files work fine all along.

High end games become a bit choppy and picture jerks.

The mystery continues..........

[Troy]

Sounds like your hard drive is reverting to PIO mode, which would cause those problems.

Have you run a RAM diagnostic test on all 4GB?

[Nicolet]

Sounds like your hard drive is reverting to PIO mode, which would cause those problems.

I’d doubt that, if the drives are going back to PIO it would just slow down the whole PC, if it was the PIO mode then if it can play audio files from files he created, it should be able to play the wav files for windows sounds. Why do you say it's PIO?
I’d say the erratic behavior is caused by devices (like sound cards) that are not being able to get DMA features properly, and it may be able to play audio files because the codecs for those are optimized better than the regular sound ones (this is a wild guess).
I’d advise you to install less than the 4GB or get a 64bits OS, would be the simplest solution possible in my judgment.

[Troy]

Why do you say it's PIO?

Because I had this problem once in the past, and the symptoms were very similar. I may be wrong, of course, it doesn't hurt to check, but it is a logical possibility.

To the OP:

Run a hard drive diagnostic. Download and install HD Tune from my signature. Run the benchmark and copy the information into your next reply. (There are some buttons up the top right that will copy the information/screenshot for you.)

Cheers

Troy