Member Avatar for ruit

I recently bought 1 2gb DDR2 stick of ram to replace my old two 512mb sticks. I installed it and immediately had problems with my computer restarting at any time, despite my computer booting up and loading programs faster when it boots. My motherboard is a 775Dual-VSTA and is compatible with 2 gb DDR2 RAM.

I also had problems installing Fallout 3 - my computer would restart when it got to a certain point in the installation. The computer would also restart when I transferred big files in between hard drives. I thought it might have been the RAM slot I put the RAM in, so I switched it into the other slot, and instead of the computer restarting it would just freeze. When I moved big files again, the computer would freeze and the mouse wouldn't move, and the computer wouldn't recognize any keyboard inputs. This also happens periodically when I use firefox.

I was actually able to install Fallout 3 now, but the in-game video cutscenes are very choppy, and the game freezes 30 seconds into it. I am having the same problems I had on the desktop - no mouse or keyboard input at all.

My next step is to run memtest to see if the memory is faulty (which I doubt, it's brand new). I am thinking I don't have enough power, or the RAM is getting too hot.

I can post my dxdiag if necessary.

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Member Avatar for The New Normal

You might need to setup your RAM in the BIOS. Sometimes it doesn't get your settings quite right. Although it is possible to get brand new RAM with problems, I've never seen it happen.

Download CPUZ from here (download in top left hand corner) and run it.
Go to the SPD tab. It will tell you what settings your RAM wants. There's a few different profiles, take the speed at the top and multiply by 2 and this is the effective speed. In mine the 533MHz represents its 1066MHz speed. For this I set 5-5-5-15 with a voltage of 2.1 in the BIOS. See here:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r222/vegetables_go_off/CPUZ.jpg

You can check what it's set at at the moment in the memory tab of CPUZ.

Your motherboard manual should tell you how to set up the RAM. While you're there, make sure the speed of your RAM is compatible with your motherboard. If you're not confident with changing the BIOS post up the CPUz specs from your motherboard, memory and SPD tabs and someone here can help you out.

Member Avatar for jbennet

DDR2 must be installed in matching pairs.

Its DoubleDataRate. So if its not in pairs, it runs at half the speed and = an unstable system.

Member Avatar for jbennet

wierd

what are your other specs?

Member Avatar for The New Normal

I don't understand how these RAM sticks are 667 mhz but I can only run them at 333 mhz. Is this because of my motherboard?
http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=94825421ch4.jpg

That's just how it shows up. Your RAM is 667.
My RAM shows up as 533, but that means it's at 1066 because of the Double Data Rate.

Installing in pairs is for Dual Channel, which is a different thing.

If you go to the 'Memory' tab of CPUZ you'll see what settings your motherboard is using. They should be
DRAM frequency 333MHz
CL 5
tRCD 5
tRP 5
tRAS 15

If they're not, you can go into the BIOS and change the settings. Your motherboard manual should tell you how to do this. Let me know if this doesn't make sense.

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