End of the line... Any help appreciated with RAM and a KX7-333 Abit Mobo

Hey guys,

I have a problem with going over 512Mb of DDR PC2700 RAM on my PC. If I have anything over the above, any games I try and run and even windows apps crash back to the desktop within seconds of running them.

My CPU is a Athlon XP 2100 and my mobo is a KX7-333 Abit. I have the latest BIOS and the latest VIA drivers.

I have also tried loading the FAIL SAFE and OPTIMISED DEFAULTS in the bios but with no luck, if anything the FAIL SAFE defaults make things crash quicker!

So now here I am, depressed and altogether quite frustrated that I cannot figure this out. The only configuration that the manual specifies is that it recommends I populate the banks in order, well, since I am trying to insert 3 DDR DIMMS with 1 already in there, thats all 4 banks and hence the only order possible is 1,2,3 and 4. I have also tried combinations of 2 and 3 DIMMS in the various banks with no luck.

3 of the DIMMS are brand new Kingston 512Mb DDR PC2700 ones.
The other was my exisiting SAMSUNG DIMM of the same size and speed. I have also tried just the KINGSTON ones but with no luck.

Any ideas and help appreciated.
Thanks,
Ian

I would start by testing each ram stick by itself. There may be one or even two bad ones. Also make sure your temps are ok,especially under load. Sounds like you might have a bad board if you continue to have problems at default settings.

Each RAM stack is fine as I have already done this and I have tested each bank too and all work perfectly individually or in groups of 2. 3 or more is where the trouble starts.

Anyone?

One last thing, try setting your tRAS to 7 or 8 or even higher if your MB allows it.