Blue Screen of Death flashes before the Windows Loadup Screen Starts, then PC reboots

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Banjo, Sep 25, 2006.

  1. Banjo

    Banjo Private E-2

    Ok, so, when my pc gets to where the Windows loadup screen should be, a blue screen with information on it shows up. The problem is it flashes only once for a millisecond and then my pc reboots by itself. So I cant see what it is trying to tell me! Ive tried the pause button, but either it won't pause, or I'm just too darn slow to cacth that blue screen.:mad:
    Even more frustrating is that this happenes randomly. Sometimes when I cold boot, it starts normally, goes through the loadup screen and I'm in Windows, other times it takes more than 3 tries before it Windows loads!
    (It happenes with both cold/warm boots btw).
    Ok, the reason I think it is hardware is - get this guys, you gonna love it - It only happenes when I have more than 1 gig ram installed... :eek:

    My basic specs are as follows :
    Intel P4 3 ghz hyperthreading cpu (socket 478)
    Chaintech A865PE Motherboard
    2 Gb Ram (4X512MB Dual Channeled
    Channel A has 2 precisely the same chips
    and channel B has two precisely the same chips)
    6800 Ultra(256 mb)
    120 Gb Sata(I think its Sata1?) HD
    500 Watt Power supply.

    I dont think you need the rest of the specs, those are probably the most important. Now I have tried numerous things, but is having only 1 Gb ram the answer?
    Please guys, I would love to hear/try any ideas you might have!
     
  2. Bladesofhalo

    Bladesofhalo MajorGeek

    Could be a faulty RAM stick, try taking out one at a time and restarting your pc to see if you get the error.
     
  3. sewy18

    sewy18 Private First Class

    Re: Blue Screen of Death flashes before the Windows Loadup Screen Starts, then PC reb

    You cannot go 4x512 unless you have the exactly EXACTLY same memory.
    IF you do get it to work at 4x512 with the exact memory it will run very bad.

    I would return the last 2 x512 and get 2x1gig =2gigs.
    4x512mb is most probaly slower then 2x512mb.It makes the memory controller do a harder job.
     
  4. Banjo

    Banjo Private E-2

    Re: Blue Screen of Death flashes before the Windows Loadup Screen Starts, then PC reb

    I've tried using the ram sticks one at a time, it works fine.

    My mobo can not address more than 2 gig Ram (as far as I know), and the general consensus(advice from friends) so afar actually was that 4X512 Gig is faster... Not sure. I'll try replacing 2X512 with the same type as the others.
     
  5. nitecrawler

    nitecrawler Guest

    Post your mobo specs to be sure, but if you have 4x 512 sticks your mobo must have 4 x DIMM slots (2 on one bank, 2 on the other). The 2 banks specifying your dual channel capabilities.
    If this is a recent mainboard, it may support up to 4 gigs! (4x 1g sticks).

    Sewy18 is correct in saying that these modules must be identical, otherwise this can cause problems for your system, and as long as you are running in dual mode (one stick in eack bank), you probably wont notice an increase in speed by filling the remaining DIMM'S in each bank.
    Not sure that it will run slower though as the CPU's memory controller will only access what is necessary!

    Regards
     
  6. Banjo

    Banjo Private E-2

    Re: Blue Screen of Death flashes before the Windows Loadup Screen Starts, then PC reb

    Ok, well, as the saying goes when all else fails consult the user manual. I did that, and it stipulates the following about RAM :

    Symmetrical Dimms must be identical for optimal performance
    BUT
    they do not have to be the same brand, have the same timing specs or the same DDR speed...

    Of course that's what Chaintech claims though.
    My Mobo specs are as follows :
    Intel Socket 478 400/533/800 FSB Hyperthreading
    Dual DDR 400 ram up to 4 gig(oops!)
    AGP 8X
    SATA
    ATA100
    USB2.0
    LAN
    6-CH Audio (<- Buggy btw, disabled it and got me an SB live)
    S/PDIF overclocking

    That's basically it I think, let me know if I can give you some more info.
    Oh yeah, Dual Channel layout is ABAB, so I made sure A's match(identical)
    and B's match(identical)
    Don't know about other boards but its colour coded on mine.
     

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