[flashbax]

Ok Doby the ram i have or im running at the moment but will be upgrading tomorrow. The ram im running now is 512 DDR266 2100. But if all goes well im gona be running, CORSAIR-Value select 1GB DDR PC3200(VS1GB400C3).
But not sure if this will be ok running with the setup i have.

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Ok to answer your questions, there is no jumper on your board to contoll the fsb you do that in bios, you set it to a value of 200 mhz this will make your cpu run at its rated speed or you could just load optimized defaults I would try this first after you install the new ram. The Corsair ram will be fine for your system

Now for thr ram, the new ram is 1g but is it 2 sticks or 1 stick?
The reason I ask is because if it is 2 and you are planning on using dual channel there are a couple of things to note.

To run in dual channel the ram has to be a dual channel kit sometimes called a matched pair.

To run dual channel the ram must be installed in dimms 1 (purple slot) and dimm3 (green slot).

Let me know how it goes or if you have any other questions.

Rick

[Doby]

Ok to answer your questions, there is no jumper on your board to contoll the fsb you do that in bios, you set it to a value of 200 mhz this will make your cpu run at its rated speed or you could just load optimized defaults I would try this first after you install the new ram. The Corsair ram will be fine for your system

Now for thr ram, the new ram is 1g but is it 2 sticks or 1 stick?
The reason I ask is because if it is 2 and you are planning on using dual channel there are a couple of things to note.

To run in dual channel the ram has to be a dual channel kit sometimes called a matched pair.

To run dual channel the ram must be installed in dimms 1 (purple slot) and dimm3 (green slot).

Let me know how it goes or if you have any other questions.

Rick

[Doby]

Oh yea let me explain one more thing about your old ram, its speed is 266 it would be set at a ram clock of 133 mhz in bios. This would be a peformance hit to your system because the ram clock is lower than the fsb.

Also Amd systems like to run in sync for greatest stability in other words the dram clock and the fsb need to be set the same in your case 200mhz for both. But your old ram won't allow this because its rated clock is 133mhz.

So it was a alaround good idea to upgrade the ram to pc3200 you won't be sorry.

Rick

[flashbax]

Ok doby i got the upgrade ram, they didnt have the ones i wanted so i went with, 2 sticks of 512MB DDR400 PC3200 RAM Elixir brand. So i need to run this one in green slot and the other in the purple. But i dont think this applies to normal sticks of 512mb. Or does it....!!!!!!

Edited by flashbax, 22 April 2005 - 12:09 PM.

[Doby]

If you got "normal sticks" meaning it is not a matched pair then install them in dimm 1 and dimm2 both slots are purple

dimm1 and dimm3 (purple&green) would be for dual channel witch requiers a matched pair also called dual channel kit.

[flashbax]

Ok i have the system setup i wanted now i gotta get the [bleep] xp disc to work. I got a copy of XP pro off a friend and its scratched over the years so now every time i try and instal it it just gives me a blue screen or hangs on the windows is now starting up screen. But thats easly sorted. My next thing now is to try the dynamic overclocking thats built into the MOBO i have about 6 options, Private, Sergeant, Captain, Colonel, General, Commander. They all increase the speed of the CPU but im not sure if its a good idea to try it on a new CPU, MOBO, Memory.

Edited by flashbax, 23 April 2005 - 01:34 AM.

[Samm]

Can I make a suggestion here?

Before you start overclocking things, get the system running stabily first. You said windows install was hanging at the 'windows is starting up' screen due to a scatched CD.
Most of the install files are read from the CD earlier on in the install. The files accessed during startup should be mainly from the hard drive. If the CDs that badly scratched, I would expect it to cause a problem before the install got this far.

I could be wrong of course & a better copy of the XP CD should definately be used but I would still run a few system diagnostics if I were you - especially memory ones. memtest86 can be loaded from a floppy disk, so you don't need to have windows functioning properly first.

[Doby]

Samm, my thoughts exactly, couldn't of said it better

[flashbax]

That windows hanging thing was a tricky thing to sort out. I ended up re-formating the hard drive then running scan disk and defrag then it installed with out a problem, so i'm now running my machine with no problems. I'm gonna give the overclocking a miss for a while the [bleep] bios set up is just screaming for me to start playing with CPU FSB and memory timing ect but i know very little about this so im gonna just leave it for now. I fitted a extra fan at the top of the case and a exaust fan that slots in to the gaps meant for the PCI bits and bats, I put it just below the CPU HSF so its gonna be taking the hot air out as the fan at the top of the case is blowing cold air in.

[Doby]

You may want to experiment with airflow inside the case, normally the fan at the top or any fan at the top of the case for that matter blows out because hot air rises to the top of the case and needs to be exausted out. Likewise Low fans like the one in the front of the case blow in.

But like I said it don't hurt to experiment while watching the temps to see what works

Rick

[flashbax]

Ok this is getting a bit of a ball ache, but the [bleep] thing is gone again. Ok so i instaled windows and it was running sweet i got on line ect. Then i put in the HDD cady and my DVD rom the cady has a 80gig HDD full of MP3. Any way it started to freeze up so i rebooted and it wouldnt go past the windows screen, the one with the loading bar it just keeps rebooting and when it does go past the windows screen it just freezes on my desktop, the HDD light is on the whole time so somethings going on. no matter how long i leave it it just stays on the desktop with the loading icon. So im formating the drive now, i think its a faulty HDD i had all the trouble with trying to install windows. If this dont work im going to buy a new drive an hope it sorts out.

[audioboy]

so it was working until you added the second hard drive, correct? that would seem to indicate something is not right with the second drive. perhaps jumper settings...
if you disconnect the 2nd drive, does the system boot up normally?

as for your RAM, it should work fine in dual channel config. I have an MSI mobo, also with two 512 sticks of elixer RAM, and it is happy. I am running intel, though...

the page on the MSI site does not list that RAM as a supported brand, but it doesnt list it on my board either. you should be fine using RAM sockets 1 & 3 (or 2 & 3) for dual channel mode. especially if the RAM came as two sticks in one package, as mine did.

[flashbax]

Ok still no luck with installing windows just freezes all the time. I removed the second drive but still the same problem, i should have the new HDD by friday and i hope this fixes the problem as i cant find the invoice to return the MOBO if it turns out to be the problem.

[Doby]

In the mean time run memtest 86 you don't need a operating system or drive for that matter to run memtest it runs from a bootable floppy

Most of the time when I can't get a OS to load its related to the ram.

When you test the ram test each stick individually and let memtest run for at least 3 passes and report back what it finds.

You could also try to load the OS with only 1 stick in, maybe it has to do with the dual channel config

Rick

[Samm]

In the mean time run memtest 86 you don't need a operating system or drive for that matter to run memtest it runs from a bootable floppy

Most of the time when I can't get a OS to load its related to the ram.

Rick

Has he still not run memtest yet? I told him (sorry, I mean strongly recommended) to do that 4 days ago!!