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Abit BH-7 reboots if more than one stick of ram installed.

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Aktunka

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2003
Location
Portland, OR
So I have had my BH-7 since around the time they first came out, and I have been using 512MB of Corsair 3200 Ram with it being rock stable at the settings in my sig. I decided a little while back I would like to have !GB of ram though, so I bought another identical 512MB of ram and installed. Well, after a very short time, the machine locked up. I rebooted and it locked up at my XP login screen. So, I ran Memtest and it fails on me. So I think ok, I got a bad stick of ram. Well, to test thouroughly, I pull out one of the sticks of ram and run memtest again....everything passes fine. I put the other stick in in its place and run memtest....everything passes fine. Hmmmmm. Ok, I then try gaming for a few hours with each of the two dimms in seperately and have no problems. As everything turns out, even at stock speeds with ram timings relaxed all the way, my machine just does NOT like having more than one stick of ram installed at a time, regardless of which dimm slots you use. Has anyone else had this sort of an issue with the BH-7 and if so was there some sort of fix? Thanks!
 
I have exactly the same setup as you do in my other rig, but a slower video card, 9700Pro and XMS 3500. I am using two sticks in that one as well as what is listed on my sig.

You are not puttin the stick of memory on the third slot are you?

It won't work on the third slot, that is designed for DDR 333 only. Look at the manual.

DDR333 and higher will work on the first two slots closest to the CPU.

Also, you have a sweet CPU. Mine is a dud, for a 2.4b, it only goes up to 3ghz on 1.7 v. It won't do 3.06 anymore even with more voltage. Time I get another 2.4b some where or a 2.66ghz CPU.

Hope this helps.
 
I have a BH-7, and was under the impression (from the documentation) that it only supports one dimm of DDR400.

I have another stick of Corsair XMS3200C2 laying around, so I may try it out to see if I get the same problem.
 
I tried it out, and was able to boot to windows. One thing I didn't think of in my last post was that I'm underclocking my RAM (using 3:4 divider @ 130ish fsb). So my experience may not even be appliccable, even though you are slighly underclocking your RAM as well (?).

I'm pretty psyched tho. I have a gig of RAM in my 2ndary rig... a pretty nice upgrade. Wonder if it's doing dual-channel...

edit2: I'd love to test it out at DDR380 speeds, but I can't get there... only DDR340ish :/

edit3: Is it me, or do the timestamps on my two posts here say I posted my previous thread before this one?
 
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Here is the deal, according to the manual, which I have in my hands...

Here is what it calls for. Max of 2GB of DDR 333mhz or 2 Strips of it can be supported in the board.

DDR 200/266 3 strips to a max of 2GB.

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/manual.php?categories=1&model=3

Download the PDF for it, that is the user manual.

Also, check the Abit Forums.

I have ran in the past two DDR 433 Strips of Corsair Memory successfully with my BH7, but now they are apart of my new IS7 setup. I have now in it a DDR 433 Strip of Mushkin Black Level II memory. 2 2 6 2 as listed in my BIOS for ram settings.
 
Ahh thanks for the help guys. The answer was simple and I just missed it. Thanks for pointing out that it states right in the manual that it only supports one dimm of ddr400. I hadn't even considered that before hehe. I suppose I will check to see if there might be some workaround on the abit forums for this then. Thanks again!

PS I just noticed that the Abit website states that this board supports hyper threading now? Is this correct? I know in the BIOS revision I am using there is no option for enabling hyperthreading. Is it only in certain bios versions or what? I had been under the impression that it wasn't officially supported until the 865 / 875 chipsets. Would be nice if I could turn it on and somehow get it to work hehe. Thanks again.
 
Oddly enough, I have ran two strips of DDR 433 in two slots on my BH7... it ran perfectly....

Each motherboard is different. Luckily I may have been able to run two DDR 433 strips of memory.

The motherboard BH7 has always supported hyperthreading, and has some support for the 800fsb CPU's (kinda of unstable)

Check it out.
 
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