4 GBs of Ram wont pass post!

thought i might be able to find help here. basically, im finishing building my computer with the following specs:
ASUS M2NPV-VM MB
160 GB Western Digital HD
4 GB Patriot Extreme Performance 800mhz ram
can add more specs if needed.
but my problem is that when i try to install the 4th stick of ram my comp wont pass post it keeps giving that annoying beep. i can do 3 GBs fine but for some reason not all 4. I've flashed the bios but still no luck.
any ideas?

 

Have you tried the stick that caused the error in a different slot?
ie: try to determine if all 4 sticks are good and that all 4 slots are good.

 

yes i have verified that all 4 sticks are good. that was my first guess that maybe one of the sticks might be bad or one of the slots. so i swapped it out with another piece back and fourth with all four and they all work, just not with all four in the most i can have right now is 3 and passes post just fine. im completely lost on this, cuz i tried it on a friends board and had the same problem, im thinking i may have to set the timing but, idk how to do that.

 

I tried to download the manual for your board, to get some extra info, but it keeps freezing and crashing half-way through download.

Anyway, a lot of ASUS boards have a weird thing where you can only use all four slots if you install RAM of a speed slower than the FSB/board maximum. What does your mother board manual say about memory speeds?

Edit:
You board manual is also where you would find instructions for how to set the memory timings and voltage. The voltage and timings your Patriot modules want can be found on their website.

 

If you negotiate through your BIOS setup you should find the RAM configuration page
http://joelkilgore.com/dram.jpg
Try setting this to your specific RAM

This was taken from Page 72 of your manual
http://dlsvr05.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socketAM2/M2NPV-VM/e2806_m2npv-vm.pdf

 

Strange- your MB has two different manuals; one is numbered 'e2806' and the other is 'e2527'. I had no problems downloading e2806, but e2527 refuses to download past about 460k out of 2.12mb. I also checked the QVL for RAM for that motherboard, and Patriot isn't listed in the DDR2-800 table, and doesn't make the list until the bottom of the 533 section. Just because RAM isn't listed on the QVL (Qualified Vendor List) doesn't mean it won't work, but it does suggest a possible compatibility problem.

 

I too noticed that Patriot was not listed on the RAM table.

If all else fails, you could try reseting the CMOS and allow the BIOS to rediscover your RAM

http://joelkilgore.com/dram2.jpg

 

That's what I was looking for! Thanks

And I'm glad you had the same download problem. I was just about to rip the laptop apart.

 

It is true that Asus Mobos have issues with using 4 sticks of RAM. What OS are you running? (winXp 32bit will only support 3gb anyways). Also you could try running the 4gb using a 2x2048 ram kit (matched pair of sticks) and installng them in the 1st and 3rd or 2nd and 4th slots. You can run them in dual channel mode that way.

 

...if the motherboard supports 2GB modules. Although the manual seems to say it does, there are no 2GB modules on the QVL.

 

WOW! I appreciate all the help. Ok to update all of you this is what i have done so far. Oh, and it probably would help if i said that i am running vista ultimate 32bit verision with sp1. I've gone through hell with this ram, i tried setting the timings 4-4-4-12 and voltage 2.2v but, i was completely lost when i was doing so and not knowing what i was doing i had to clear the cmos jumper to get my computer to boot again. I looked through my manual but, i wasnt sure what to set which one because there was 2 additional selections and i didnt know what they were or if i am suppose to select 1T or 2T i am unsure. I didnt think of the manual of much help when selecting ram so i didnt bother plus the QVL wasnt the easiest to find the specified ram. So basically where i am at now is that i know all 4 slots work as well as all 4 stick but, for some reason wont boot with all 4. if i could get the timings correctly im sure that could fix it. just unsure how to set all of it. Thanks for all the help again.

 

Set it to 2T for now. More stable.

 

ok so i tried setting the ram to 2T, thats all i changed in the bios i wasnt sure if i was suppose to change anything else but, that didnt work either still gives me that annoying beep will i turn on my computer. guess you have to love the troubleshooting part of computers.

 

Next stop: Motherbard manufacturer's tech support. If all the RAM is good, and the computer won't boot with all four installed, something is wrong with the motherboard. Do you have another board you can test these in? Preferably another brand...

 

I wish i had another computer to try it on, i did try the ram on my friends computer not too long ago and ran into the same problem he didnt have the same motherboard but it was still made by asus. ive spent a good part of the day talking to patriot tech support and they told me that because i cant set 2.2v in the bios that the ram wont work. yet, i have 3 sticks working right now, so i went to their website out of curiosity and look for memory for my mobo and the memory i have wasnt listed. so i guess its a good possibility im running incompatible ram. but, if the ram was incompatible wouldnt the computer not boot at all anyways? so the tech told me to try setting the timing to 5-5-5-15 and voltage to 1.9v yet still no luck. maybe i can exchange the ram that i know is compatible. i think ram is the one thing i hate buying for computers because most places only list so many models and its never the one you want to buy. im going to try contacting asus tomorrow and see what they have to say. wow what fun this is.

 

Not necessarily. Computers are 100% logical... that doesn't mean they make sense. The board may be incapable of providing the correct voltage for all four slots at the same time, but do fine on three, et cetera.

If you do an exchagne, get RAM off the QVL list, to make sure it is fully compatible.

 

well i guess i did learn something from this, that ram can be a real pain in the *** if your not 100% sure its compatible with your mobo. if patriot wont let me exchange anything, i may just use the 3gbs for now until i decide on which brand to go with next. well this sure has been a fun learning experience sure learn alot. thanks for all your help.

 

Ask them for 533MHz RAM. Worth a shot

 

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to let you guys know that I solved my ram problem. It was the voltage! My mobo only supported 1.9v and the ram needed 2.2v, didnt even consider that. Well now problem is fixed and have new ram installed. Thanks for all of your help!

 

Thank you for posting this solution.

 

Was going to add even if your RAM has a specified Voltage once you add 4Gb's sometimes you need to raise the Voltage slightly as the 4Gb starts to place a drain on the power. For example I wanted to check my RAM at it's SPD spec (i.e. 400MHz at 1.8v at 4-4-4-12) but be cause I had the 4Gb I couldn't even get it to POST until I increased the Voltages to 2.0v, then I could finally run memtest 86+ and ascertain the modules were all good (which they were).

 

What Bold Eagle said... I see this a lot in my job, and very often, bumping the voltage a bit will enable you to run them all, in all four slots.

 

Thanks both of you I'm glad we were able to solve this, now onto finishing the rest of my computer. i got the rest of my parts yesterday so im a bit anxious to get everything up and running.

Thanks Again.