Setting ram to 1066mhz causes no start.

Hey all, I'm new here, and having an issue. I figure that overclockers know the ins and outs of booting up more than the companies that make the products do, so I'm figuring this is the best place to ask this.

Here are my specs:

Asus P5Q Deluxe Turbo motherboard
Intel Q8400 Core2 Quad 1333mhz 2.6ghz
8 gigs of Kingston Hyper-X NON-ECC 1066mhz ram
Western Digital 500gb SATA hd
BFG 260 GTX OC 1gb
For cooling I have 2 120mm case fans, one on the side, on exhaust, and a Zalman AlCu CPU cooler. Temps are around 30C idle and 40C while playing Everquest 2.

And here's my problem:

I started the computer before with the AI Tweaker settings all set to auto. But when I had 4gigs of ram (just got the other 4gigs today), I noticed that it was clocked low (800mhz) and not 1066mhz. I kinda freaked and was like what the hell is going on here, why is it not properly setup. Did some research and went into AI Tweaker and set the frequency to 1066mhz and it booted and ran fine for the past couple weeks.

Today, I got my other 4gigs of ram from CanadaComputers, so I install that, went to boot up, and it wouldn't boot, so I had to reset it to everything auto (default settings) and it booted up fine, but any time I try to set the ram back to 1066mhz, it will not boot.

Anyone have any ideas what is doing on? I'd really like to not be running unclocked ram, would like to get the full power out of this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. The motherboard can support 1600mhz cpu and 1333mhz DDR2 ram.

There are many thing you could do or try. Up the voltage of the ram, Time the ram with slightly higher numbers, off of SPD (memory settings from the mem chip) Leave it at 800 and overclock the rest of the computer, as you raise the FSB (overclocking) the ram will be pushed harder.

your using Auto for the overclocking ?
I find that the Auto overclocking not only doesnt do very much extra speed, but it has a tendancy to use more cpu voltage than nessisary (on my asus)

adding in more memory can slightly change the "stable" timings setting, It also can cause the ram voltage to really lower a tiny bit (more power use), which can change things that are on the edge of working.

the easiest thing if you can control it , just up the voltage of the memory to 1.90 and test again, but it SOUNDS like you might be able to tweak the whole thing up much better.

For Better information, if you could post CPUZ pictures which quickly shows info the way were used to seeing it.

With only two DRAM modules installed, boot to the BIOS and manually adjust the NB Voltage option to 1.25V (Auto sets it to 1.10V). Save and exit, boot into Windows, then shutdown as you would normally. Install the remaining two sticks, then boot to Memtest86+ installed to a floppy, thumb drive, or DVD...

http://www.memtest.org/

If the PC still won't POST even w/ the vNB set to 1.25V, then bump it to 1.3V following the same procedure.

I will upload the pictures now.

I do believe that my CPU voltage is high without an overclock.

I just put everything to "default" when it gave me a boot error, which sets everything to default.
I can also write out all the #s in my BIOS if need be.

Ok, so I did what you said reduc, it would POST and go into the memtest, but give me errors at 20%

I went as far as 1.30

If this is your RAM, then you'll need to supply 2.2V DRAM voltage at 5-5-5-15 and DDR2-1066...

http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KHX8500D2K2_2G.pdf

If Memtest passes at that voltage, then lower the vNB to 1.25V and re-run it. And the reason your RAM defaults to 5-5-5-18 at 1.8V is because Kingston programs the DDR2-800 JEDEC #3 standard into the SPD.

http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_313_622&item_id=018157

I believe that to be my ram.

Ok, so I think I did it right, tried it with NB V on auto and then on 1.3

now, every time I change the DRAM values or whatever, do I have to do the restart with only 2 slots full, then turn it off, then add the 2 new ones, then try and boot it again?

Here's some screenshots of my AI Tweaker

Here's my specific ram
http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KHX8500D2K2_4G.pdf

I got the 2x2GB sticks

Amity said:

Now, every time I change the DRAM values or whatever, do I have to do the restart with only 2 slots full, then turn it off, then add the 2 new ones, then try and boot it again?

Click to expand...

No, as long as Memtest86+ passes w/ the current values you're fine, although like I mentioned vNB may be able to be reduced to ~1.25V or lower at DDR2-1066 and 2.2V. If you have to reset CMOS or load optimized defaults in the BIOS, then the DRAM voltage will be reduced to DDR2-800, and the vNB to the default of 1.10V again. This is what happens when the RAM manufacturer programs only up to DDR2-800 into the SPD, when they should have also programmed DDR2-1066 values, since that's the speed the memory was advertised to run at. But regardless, you'll need to re-enter the BIOS and manually change vNB back to 1.25-1.30V, and the DRAM frequency to DDR2-1066 if that happens... this after removing two of the RAM modules for a successful POST.

Now, I raised the voltage of the DRAM to 2.2, when I check in CPUZ it still says 1.8.

How does everything on that screen look to you?

CPU-Z doesn't read the current DRAM voltage. The 1.8V you're seeing is the JEDEC #3 programmed voltage at 400MHz. Disable both CPU and PCIE Spread Spectrum options, and enable Load-Line Calibration (LLC). Also disable C1E Support and Intel SpeedStep Tech (EIST).

So I'm stable on 4gigs right now, here are the settings

Going to go do what you said now.

I turned everything off, set it to 5 5 5 15 2.2v, 1066mhz, NBv 1.3v, booted the computer up with only 4gigs in it.

Shut it down normally, installed the 2 new ram sticks, booted into mem test. mem test failed at 20%

So I am at a total loss.

Can this motherboard maybe not handle this ram at 2.2V? I was under the impression when I bought it that it was more than capable.

Change the FSB Strap to North Bridge to 400, and the DRAM Frequency to DDR2-886.

Ok, did that.

So now it's
Northbridge freq- 400
DRAM Freq - 886
5-5-5-15
Dram 2.2v
NBv 1.2v

Both spectrums disabled
LLC enabled

Booted up fine. What did that do?

It changed the MCH / NB strap from 333 (Auto) to 400, which in turn loosened the internal NB latencies. This also offered the 2.66 System Memory Multiplier as an option related to the D strap, as opposed to the 3.20 multiplier on the 333 B strap = DRAM frequency change from DDR2-1066 to DDR2-886.

So even though it's running at 886mhz, it's running as if it's 1066?

Sorry, I am new to this and trying to understand everything. I do appreciate all your help in this thread!

No, it's currently running 80MHz (DDR2-190 / 2 = 80; the difference between 1066 and 886 / 2) slower than what the RAM is rated to run at. Just leave it where it's at for the time being, and instead concentrate on your overclock. As you start getting closer to DDR2-1066 by raising the FSB, lower the memory multiplier from 2.66 to 2.00, which will result in a 1:1 FSB : DRAM ratio. And leave the NB strap set to 400 for the time being also.

I wasn't even sure I was going to overclock this thing at all. haha. I am not too sure what #s the Q8400 was putting out. but if by overclocking I can get my ram to run at 1066mhz then I will definitely be looking into that.

For the ram to run at 1066mhz, I need the cpu to be at what, 400mhz? to have a 1:1?