Help Please! :(

[hombre]

I posted this in the Abit Motherboard Section, but hope someone here may be able to help.

Basically, I installed more RAM and now it wont boot.

Here are the components:

Abit KR7A
Athlon XP1800
512 MB Kingston PC2100
IBM 60GXP/60GB
Leadtek GF2 GTS 32MB <-normally a GF3 Ti200
TDK 12x10x32 cd-rw
Acer 56x cd-rom
Sound Blaster Live!
Zoom V.92 modem

I received some new RAM a while ago which is Kingmax's 256MB PC2700 CL2.5 DDR-333. (I got 2 sticks)

I already had 2 sticks of Kingston 256MB PC2100 installed in sockets 1 & 2, which was for another computer, but I was using it while I was waiting on the Kingmax to arrive.

Ok, there was a change in plains, and I'm going to use all the RAM now, so I stuck the new 2700 in the remaining 3 & 4 sockets with the 2100 still installed, fired it back up and the monitor stayed black and I got a longer beep then normal, which kept repeating.
So I turn the power off and reset the CMOS; still no monitor and longer beep.
Re-checked all the connections again, removed battery and re-set CMOS once more. Still the same.
Removed new RAM, re-set; same thing.
Tried it with the new 2700 alone; still no good.
Removed all PCI cards and vid card, checked connections, put vid card back in and restarted. Still black screen with beep.
Removed battery and let set for probably about 15 minutes, reset CMOS, and put in a TNT2 card to see if that would help.
It didn't.

All LED's light up on the motherboard and graphics card, fans all run...I don't know what else to do except get another motherboard. :(

Please help if you can.

[Shadow ÒÓ]

call it an educated guess....your board isn't compatable with PC2700?

Edit.....Sure enough....look up the specs on the board....it's PC 1600 or PC 2100 only.

[hombre]

So basically, it's fried?

[Shadow ÒÓ]

nope...just incompatable....re read my post above.

[hombre]

Oh, my bad.

Any idea on how to fix the problem I'm having?
I've reset the CMOS a dozen times and in a dozen ways, but nothing has worked.

I appreciate the help.

[Bmxpunk86pl]

you cant fix that. reread the posts above, the memory is incompatible. Go and get memroy that goes with ur motherboard.

[rogerdugans]

Hehe....
Reread his: He's got pc2100 too, no go (I was trying to figure it out in his other thread.)

Could pc2700 have damaged the mem controller?

[Shadow ÒÓ]

nah...but read his post again...he didn't say he plugged his 2100 back in...just tried to solo the 2700 once. If anything...I could see it frying the memory (the 2700) but not the board or other 2100.

[hombre]

Hehe....
Reread his: He's got pc2100 too, no go (I was trying to figure it out in his other thread.)

Thanks bro, for all your help. (again) :)

[hombre]

One of the first things I did after resetting the CMOS, was to remove the 2700.

The only thing I haven't tried is putting the 2100 in the 3 & 4 sockets and/or one stick at a time.

What do ya think, would that change anything??

[Shadow ÒÓ]

put one stick in the first dimm slot...try to boot. If that works, take it out and put the other stick in. If that works, try both sticks. If that works I recommend www.ebay.com to sell the 2700 (or pm me if you wanna offer it for a reasonable price)

[hombre]

Ok, thanks.

I'll go and try that.

BBL (hopefuly on new system)

[Placid]

Originally posted by Shadow ÒÓ
call it an educated guess....your board isn't compatable with PC2700?

Edit.....Sure enough....look up the specs on the board....it's PC 1600 or PC 2100 only.

Not sure about that shadow I have the kingmax 2700 and it works fine in my epox 8K7A specs say 1600 or 2100 ddr as well.

Actually in this review of the kingmax 2700 ddr the motherboard used was a abit kr7a.

http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/misc/ddrguide/f1.shtml

[Shadow ÒÓ]

as I said...an educated guess. And only read what the specs said. I am definitely not familiar with AMD stuff.....yet.

any chance it could be quality 2700 vs junk 2700....therefore the junk could be expected not to work?

Sorry if I gave bad information......

[Placid]

Always a chance of getting a bad stick of memory.
I have wondered since some postal facilities irradiate some of the mail now if memory would be damaged if it was sent that way.

[SteenkyBastage]

well, first what i would try (since you've already tried to clear cmos) to only install one stick of the ram that was previously working in slot 1 (your 2100). try again to clear the bios via jumper, then if that doesn't work, boot the computer up holding the insert button. that is another way to reset bad bios settings.

now, about the whole 2100/2700 deal. i thought 2100 & 2700 are the ddr equivelant of pc133 and pc150 ram. meaning, the 2700 SHOULD be backward compatible to run at the slower rate, but will be able to also run at the higher.

i could be way off, and if i am, someone pipe up and set me straight!

[hombre]

First let me say "Thank You!" to everyone that's tried to help.

Secondly, I don't know what was the cause and I don't know what was the cure, but I do know that all is back to normal. (as far as normal is around here)

I tried testing one stick, (2100) at a time and still had the problem. So I took everything apart, pulled the motherboard off the tray to check underneath, and even removed the CPU. No visual signs of problems, so I put everything back together, added just the graphics card and 1 stick of the PC2100 in socket 1. Hit the switch, and everything was fine!
I shut back down and added the second 2100 stick into socket 2, but this time it was a no-go. I removed both sticks and switched them to see what would happened and it started right up.

I have no idea what's been goin' on with this thing, but thank goodness it's working again! (It's only a week old)

Maybe tomorrow, when I get over the shock of tonight, I'll start playing with the 2700 again...:eek:

Thanks everyone :)

[TruckChase!]

I went through the exact same thing. Here's the problem:

The memory isn't seated right. I know it sounds stupid, but I must say that this board has THE WORST DIMM slots I've EVER worked with. I have two sticks of memory in my KR7A, and it took me 30-40(!?!?!) tries to get both of them in and working correctly. (NO exateration) Installing memory in this board is quite simply the most frustrating thing I've ever done with PCs...especially considering that this is something my mother should be able to do.

Make sure your board is mounted solidly in your case and push like hell on those sticks. Just don't break the board.

P.S. The board is compatible with all Registered, Unregistered, and ECC memory, be it PC1600, PC2100, PC2400, or PC2700. The only thing you can't do is mix registered with unregistered or ECC with any other type. PC2100, etc. is just a specification of how fast the chips are rated to run at. They can be mixed at will, but your maximum FSB overclock will be limited to the "weakest link" in the chain. (the slowest stick)

Good luck.

[hombre]

Yes!
Thank You TruckChase!

I hated not knowing what happened!

So all that B/S was due to the memory not seating well...:rolleyes:

Ya know, when I removed the motherboard from the tray, I did add some rubber pads to help with the support, because I had noticed that the board seemed to flex a lot when inserting the memory.
I couldn't understand what the problem was, nor what fixed it, thanks! :beer: