Member Avatar for mayb

my mainboard Matsonic P4M266A come with 2 DDR + 2 SD. Currently I'm using 1 x 128mb SDRAM with good working conditions.

I buy a new Kingston 256MB DDR 184pins 333 , and take out 128MB SDRAM. It runs but stop after Microsoft Start up screen. Showed with a blank screen.

Then I change another stick Kingston 256MB DDR 184pins 266. Encountered the same problem. So I change again, but this time with difference "chips & 400mhz". Plug-in again still the same problem.

Frustrated, changed 4 times. Please help.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by ediehm

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Practical checklist for (building on 's BIOS/jumper suggestion). The symptom—system boots, hits the Windows splash and then the screen goes blank—usually means either memory compatibility/timing/voltage issues, a bad DIMM, or a driver/OS-level failure that only appears once the OS loads drivers. The steps below isolate those causes.

  1. Clear CMOS and load BIOS defaults, then put a single new DDR stick in the primary DDR slot.
  2. Boot into the BIOS and confirm the module is detected and the reported capacity/timings/voltage look sensible. If the board shows odd capacity or wrong voltage, stop and check the module type.
  3. Run a standalone memory tester (bootable Memtest86). Let several full passes run; any errors point to bad memory or incompatibility. Memtest86/86+
  4. If Memtest is clean, boot Windows in Safe Mode. If Safe Mode works but normal boot goes blank, suspect display drivers or a driver that loads later — test with the generic VGA driver or reinstall the GPU driver.
  5. If Memtest shows errors or BIOS misreads the stick, check motherboard support: many older P4 boards are picky about density (single vs double-sided), ECC/registered vs unbuffered, and rated voltage. Consult the board manual/QVL and consider a BIOS update from the vendor. Vendor memory-compatibility tools (for example, Crucial) can help identify supported modules.
  6. If all else fails, return/RMA the memory—multiple bad sticks are rare but possible.

Why this happens: mismatched SPD/timings or voltage, high-density modules unsupported by an older chipset, marginal PSU, or defective DIMMs. For background on DDR specs and voltages see DDR SDRAM (Wikipedia).

Member Avatar for ediehm

Check your BIOS settings, you'r SDRAM slots are probably enabled, but you're DDR aren't... Too bad SD and DDR aren't compatable. :P

Member Avatar for mayb

I am using DDR RAM at DDR slot not SD slot. Have done the jumper setting to enable DDR use. I did not run 2 difference RAM simultaneously.

my question is why my DDR still not work. It run until desktop then stop with a blank screen. Why?

Member Avatar for ediehm

Hah, I didn't mean put the DDR RAM in the SD slot. Sorry for the misunderstanding... Double check your jumpers and BIOS settings... you're absolutely positive this is a RAM issue?

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