asus mobo ram

hi
i'm a newbie and hope i am in the right thread.

i have an agena asus mobo p5rc-la (400mhz) in my compaq sr1800nx desktop.
it came with one 512 mb pc2 3200 400mhz 240 pin dimm sdram rolleyes. wanted more of course and by researching found out my two little slots could hold 2 gigs and by further researching that my system/board could run 2 gigs total of pc2 4200 533mhz? and i always check to see if these are low density.

so i bought one gig off ebay, brand new stick of the pc2 4200 533 mhz. works great and i think its alittle faster/better.

now i bought another stick/module (got greedy) of what is supposedly the same specs for the ram with samsung chips and they assured me (another ebay seller with very good rep and a power seller) that this was also low density. no name brand on the module. they said it was brand new, tested, not retail samsung and the same specs as the other one. so i thought great.

doesn't work at all now. when i first installed windows went a little crazy but it did boot up. i changed slots etc. worked pretty good but more problems sometimes, blue screen etc.

tried it by itself and i think it worked? sorry i've been working on this for days and just cant remember all the combinations. bottom line is now puter will not boot up at all with the newly bought one by itself and when installed in 1st or 2nd slot with my good module only red/white compaq screen comes up and it has lines running vertically thru it and won't boot any further. put my good module in by itself and all is fine again.

any ideas whats wrong?
and i guess my main question is can my mobo run 2 sticks of pc2 4200 533mhz? everything/everyone i have asked said its fine. or am i needing to get pc 2 3200 400mhz?

at the time i could not find any of the 3200 at a good price.
i am geeky but not in a good way. thanks for any help

 

Yes. They're right, and no, you don't need to go down in speed.

I think this is your problem. All RAM is not created equal, and there are different "tiers" of memory, ranked by quality. No-name brands tend to be on the lower end of the scale. Personally, I'd recommend that you always, always buy memory of an established big brand, for this very reason. If your budget allows for it, you can just replace the two memory modules with a kit from this Newegg page. Any of them will work, and Corsair, Crucial, and Kingston are all of them good brands with life-time warranties, so if it goes dead on you again they will replace it for free.

You seem to have been doing some testing already, tested the parts by themselves, swapped them around in slots, et cetera. The computer won't start with your second module installed alone, and starts but run poorly with the old and the new one in together. Regardless of how you end up doing it, that one needs to be replaced. Replacing with a matched pair is recommended, and will give you dual channel boost. That's why all the suggestions on that Newegg page are matched pairs.

If you want to buy just a single stick, you should match the first one you bought as closely as is possible, to avoid confusing your motherboard. We'd be happy to help you with that, just post as much information as you have about the memory stick. (Hint: The numbers on the labels on the memory are very helpful here)

 

thanks mimsy
are you saying if i buy a single stick again to post all info available here and you can yea or nay it for my system?

or are you asking for more info on my good stick of ram? so to be able to match it more completely?

another ??
the bad stick i have...what description, as they have a return policy and i am going to return it, can i give for whats wrong with the bad newly bought stick? they supposedly have a testing dept. and i personally think there is something wrong with one of the chips but...??
any ideas? how to phrase it? they do have some kingston modules but have to check if they are compatible.

thanks and let me know
:wave

 

Both. If you post all info on the good memory stick here I can tell you what will work with it. If you are willing to ditch the bad one entirely, I can help you match the good one, if you give me lots of info about the old one.

If the eBay seller you bought the stick from have a warranty and will replace bad modules, by all means take them up on it! If replacing the part solves your problem, that is great! That's our goal. How we get there is a lot less important.

If you want, you can post the specs of the Kingston modules here, and we will help you figure out if they are compatible. As for your return, in your situation I would state only this: "when the memory is installed alone, the computer refuses to boot, and it gives me <whatever error message it gives you>". That should be all that is necessary.

If they offer you a different part with "identical specs", post them here for review before accepting them. I don't want you to get ripped off.

 

thanks very much i checked and they don't have a kingston listed at least, that is suitable so i will check with them when they receive the bad module.
again thanks for the is great site and help! :clap