DDR not working in dual-channel / no speech POST

[Richard M]

I'm running an Athlon XP 3200+ (Barton, 200Mhz FSB) in an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard with 2x512MB PC3200 DDR.

The problem I'm having is that no matter what I try, I cannot get the system to boot in dual channel configuration.
AFAIK, it must be in the two blue slots but the guy in the shop where I bought it said it must be one black, one blue.
It boots fine with the RAM in the two blue slots but only runs in single channel (it tells me this in the very brief post messages) but if I move one stick to either of the black slots then it refuses to boot, all it does it turn on and doesn't supply an "on" signal to the monitor, it doesn't even beep.

Anyone know what could be up with it?
Is it the RAM? I bought "branded" PC3200 DDR but they didn't have anything like Corsair XMS - just some make which I can't remember the name of now.

Also, the board is not "talking" when posting, it's enabled in the BIOS but does it only work through the onboard sound or something because I'm using a separate PCI card?

[Bifta]

I doubt it's the ram, I stuck 2 x 256 meg and 1 x 512 meg in exactly the same board, all three sticks are totally different brands and the 512 meg stick is PC3200, the 2 x 256's are PC166, however, my bios post say's that dual channel is enabled not sure if the speech post uses the onboard soundstorm, prolly not as it'll have no drivers installed, chances are it uses the cases built in speaker. With regards to the memory locations, 1 in blue, 1 in black.

[Richard M]

Hmm... it doesn't boot like that though.
Is there much performance to be gained by dual channel anyway though because I heard that it gets combined into one at some point anyway?

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by Richard M

Hmm... it doesn't boot like that though.
Is there much performance to be gained by dual channel anyway though because I heard that it gets combined into one at some point anyway?

There is an increase in memory bandwidth, not a bad one either according to Sisoft Sandra. I would say that either a) The black memory slot if fux0red on your board or b) there's some kind of compatibility issue with your memory.

[Richard M]

Thanks Bifta.
I think I need to buy some Corsair XMS Low Latency modules, or maybe I'll wait until I move to 64 Bit in 5-6 months or so.

[Steve H]

IIRC On the asus board the ram need's to be in Slots 1 & 3.. You shouldn't have to enable anything, should do it itself..

Are both the sticks defiently matched?

[Richard M]

Yep, both exactly the same.

[Rough.D]

Hi Richard
I just looked at the manual for your board and it says that for dual channel.

DIMM_A1 POPULATED DIMM_A2 empty Dimm_B1POPULATED

DIMM_A1 empty DIMM_A2 POPULATED Dimm_B1 POPULATED

Or

DIMM_A1 POPULATED DIMM_A2 POPULATED Dimm_B1 POPULATED

Looking from the right of the CPU the first Dimm Slot is DIMM_A2 Then DIMM_A1 the one on its lonsome is DIMM_B1

Hope this helps.

R.D.

[Crypto]

Just to confirm earlier posts, I'm running the same MB and have dual channel memory using slots 1 and 3.

Post speech reporter works fine for me through the on-board audio, it dosen't work through the PC speaker.
It sometimes tells me that I've failed the memory test ( I have my FSB up at 190) but it still runs fine anyway.

Cheers

Crypto

[The_real_dj]

This is strange, mine is exactly the same when the machine boots up it says that the memory bus is running at 200mhz single channel, but if you look at the attached pic it says the bus is running at 400.909mhz so i just guessed the bios was wrong, and after lots of faffing i gave up!!

I also looked on asus's web site and they do say the board does not support dule channel memory
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/faq/q...px?KB_ID=84593

to be honest im a bit ****ed about it as well!! Thought i had a proper bo machine, not sure now ???

[The_real_dj]

also here is a link to the util that produced the screen attached on the last message
http://www.nvidia.com/object/sysutility_1.08.5.html

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by The_real_dj

This is strange, mine is exactly the same when the machine boots up it says that the memory bus is running at 200mhz single channel, but if you look at the attached pic it says the bus is running at 400.909mhz so i just guessed the bios was wrong, and after lots of faffing i gave up!!

I also looked on asus's web site and they do say the board does not support dule channel memory
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/faq/q...px?KB_ID=84593

to be honest im a bit ****ed about it as well!! Thought i had a proper bo machine, not sure now ???

Ah you need the 'deluxe' to use Dual channel