monitor goes blank after memory upgrade 2

[JTILL]

My system: Home built/self assembled
OS Win XP - sp3 32bit
Motherboard: PcChips A13g+ (3.0)
CPU: AMD Athlon 3500(tm) 64 Processor
2.21 FHz, 960 MB of Ram
Power supply: 450W (don't remember brand name).
Originally: 1GB Crucial. CT12864AA667.8FE
Graphics: Nvidia GForce 6100nForce 405 256MB (on Board)
Original Sound Device Realtek
Sound card: Creative Ensoniq Audio PCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM) (add on)
Monitor: Acer X223w 22".
#1 Seagate 500Gb Sata
#2 Seagate 500Gb Sata
#3 Iomega External 500GB(?)
1 - Sony DVD RW DRU-840A drive
1 - Toshiba ODD-DVD SD-R5272 drive
1 - Plusdeck 2c cassette player/recorder
1 - Floppy drive

Memory update Attempts
#1: Crucial - 2ea. x 2GB BLS2G2D80EBSS00.16FH (Causes problem with monitor)
#2: Kingston 2ea. x 1GB DDR2 PC5300 667MHZ(Causes problem with monitor)

monitor goes blank after memory upgrade

I recently purchased 2 - 2GB sticks for use in my pc. these were recommended as compatible by your scanning program (crucial memory). When I put

both in I lost my monitor, it went blank screen with 'no signal' message. When I turn off/on monitor I still get "no signal" message. I took out both stick

sand put one in the one good bank, but still the same. what am i missing?

I tried each stick separately in the bank that I know works. Neither worked, I still lost my monitor (no signal). I put the original back in and returned to

normal.
This also happened using 2 Kingston 1GB DDR2 PC5300 667MHZ that did the same thing. Which I still have laying around.
Bios update suggested by Crucial Chat Person.
I am hessitant in trying to update bios. Everything I read says not to if things are working. Things are working.

My M/B is supposed to be capable of 16GB ram. I am only trying to max out 4GB, max for Win xp-sp3 (32bit)

Any Ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

PS. I don't think memeory is bad, either pair, and not looking to replace them.
PSS. I have yellow sign in device manager "Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus". Code 28 Drivers not installed.
Cannot find proper drivers for it.
I bypassed by installing sound card that works. See above.

 

[Noway2]

Windows XP - 32 bit will only see 3GB of memory, not 4GB. Having 4 installed won't cause a problem in and of itself. If the system is not booting up with the memory, there is either something incompatible about it, it is not installed properly, or you have a problem with the motherboard. It is possible that a BIOS update would address some form of motherboard issue that creates an incompatibility, but I find it a bit suspicious and would need / want an explanation of how this will fix the problem before attempting it as it sounds like it is just the next "go away" step on some idiot, er, tech support professional's, flip chart. (I saw your thread on another forum and it looks like the bios doesn't affect memory).

From the motherboard website, based upon the specs, I think that the memory should be compatible. Have you tried playing around with any settings?
From this link:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t628881-problem_w_pcchips_a13g

PC-Chips infamous for memory controller issues.

In the BIOS, set the memory speed to the highest CAS and lowest speed. Make sure FSB and memory timing are asynchronous so you can slow the memory. Turn off interleave, etc...
Is your memory mismatched? Use one stick, and pick the best one.
Try a different one.
Almost guarantee it is a memory issue of some sort.

 

[goombawaho]

So it boots and runs fine with the OLD memory (1GB Crucial. CT12864AA667.8FE), but won't boot at all with either combination of the new memory.

The "no signal" from the monitor means it's not booting at all. Are there any beep codes when you power it up with the new memory?

The old memory is: Crucial 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2-667MHz non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 240-Pin DIMM

This new memory model doesn't come up by searching: BLS2G2D80EBSS00.16H What does it say on the stick?
This memory looks like the right spec: Kingston 2ea. x 1GB DDR2 PC5300 667MHZ

Analysis: memory that SHOULD work does NOT. Maximum of 4GB memory supported / 2GB per slot

Recommendations:
1. Check BIOS for any strange memory settings that are not DEFAULT. Set to AUTO if you find any. Try memory again.
2. BIOS update and try both sets of memory again. If you DON'T know what you're doing with the BIOS update or don't completely understand their instructions, seek professional help. You could turn your computer into a brick.

 

[goombawaho]

Maximum of 4GB memory supported / 2GB per slot" That was incorrect. Sorry. Still, your memory should work!!

By the way, cheap motherboard brand. I would avoid: PCChips, Biostar, ChainTech, similar "bottom feeders". Sorry.

 

[cdogg]

I'll wait for a response to Goom's question about the Crucial sticks, but are the Kingston sticks identical? In other words, were they purchased and packaged together? Having the same speed rating doesn't mean they are identical. There are timing specs such as CAS latency that must also be the same. If one little thing is off between the two, it could be causing your board to choke. Unfortunately, it's from a less tolerant era.

In the BIOS, restore ALL settings to the factory default. There should be an option to do that off the main menu. Try the memory again. By the way, when you try sticks individually, you have to try them in the DIMM1 slot, not DIMM2 according to the manual. They are marked on the board.



-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[JTILL]

goombawaho,
This new memory model doesn't come up by searching: BLS2G2D80EBSS00.16H What does it say on the stick?
This memory looks like the right spec: Kingston 2ea. x 1GB DDR2 PC5300 667MHZ

You are correct with the numbering of old and proven stick. I haven't a clue where that other number came from.

Did not notice any beep code when booting.

Does this tell anything, I have 3 pc's on network. All XP Pro sp3.
#1 Old Gateway-a little sluggish, but is working fine. Memory upgrade on it worked, but, alas, did not make much difference in performance.
#2 The one I am writing about.
#3 Very old, mostly extra storage.

With #3 power off #3 does not show in my network places on #1.
With new memory in #2 (monitor blank) it does show in #1 but I'm denied access to it. With OLD stick in either bank all's well. It shows up in #1. And I can access it.
Any combination of 1 or 2 NEW sticks in either bank, #2 shows but can not access it.
I hope I've explained well enough. If not let me know.
Thanks

 

[goombawaho]

Go back to my first reply and do what I suggested. Your last post wasn't helpful in moving forward. I don't care about the memory that works. Tell us what it says on the Crucial memory sticks that don't work (#1: Crucial - 2ea. x 2GB BLS2G2D80EBSS00.16FH)

This is where we're at.
1. Check BIOS for any strange memory settings that are not DEFAULT. Set to AUTO if you find any. Try memory again.
OR as suggested by CDogg (if you are comfortable doing this) reset all BIOS settings to default. Save changes. Shut Down. Try memory again.

If that fails
2. BIOS update and try both sets of memory again. If you DON'T know what you're doing with the BIOS update or don't completely understand their instructions, seek professional help. You could turn your computer into a brick.

I'm not trying to be difficult here, but follow our recommendations in a linear fashion and don't keep thinking "it should work without doing these things" because it obviously doesn't.

 

[JTILL]

I apologise to everybody for being so slow to respond to your ideas and suggestions. I have come to realize I need to repost with a whole lot more info than I have supplied so far.

 

[goombawaho]

I don't think it's lack of info. We set up a path for you to follow but you don't seem to want to do the BIOS update, which is what I would personally bet will fix the problem. If not that then the motherboard is just one of those really fussy boards when it comes to memory and that's a non-fixable shame. You'd have to experiment with all different RAM to get something it likes.

Why don't you set the BIOS to all defaults, shut down, try the other memory (both sets) and report back.

It shouldn't be a mystery of what RAM will work and I'm blaming the board.

 

[JTILL]

Goombawahoo, I was hesitant, but I have tried this past weekend. If I am missing something please let know.
I have actually made boot disk for XP from MS Page, I have reset the boot priority HDD to Floppy and eveytime I reboot it looks for cd and then I get Disk failure. It does not seem to see the floppy at this point. It does in BIOS.
I have just now set to bios 'Optimized Default' settings and reboot. I end up with a line saying :
CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 19 21 4B C1 26 GUID: FEFEFEFE-FEFE-FEFE-FEFE-FEFEFEFEFEFE
DHCP.... (After a few minutes I get next 2 lines).
PXE-MOF:No boot filename redceived
PXE=MOF: Exiting NVIDEA Boot Agent

Repeats those lines a couple of times and then DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.
Put in win xp disk and press enter. Takes me to Windows setup and starts reloading windows files.
Question, do I want or need to setup windows again, repair windows using recovery console or quit install.
I chose quit install.
Go back to bios?
What?
Also the MB has ju8mper for clearing CMOS.

After all this and resetting bios, I cannot get back to windows. Just repeats what I've just explained.
Do I need to reload windows now?

PS. I should tell.
System was TigerDirect kit put together about 2006. It had 320gig HDD, that failed June 2012. I put in 2 500gig HDD's and reistalled win xp-sp2 from my original disk. Downloaded sp3 and installed with no apparent problems. Before, I had had recurrent firefox problems using to much cpu & memory and would freese. Had to reboot. I thought adding memory would fix that. Sat, pc frose once using FF and once without.
I don't know if this may be relavant or not but there it is.

Thanks for not losing patience with me.

 

[goombawaho]

I was concerned about this happening. You aren't that familiar with the standard BIOS options (boot priority, etc.). It's trying to boot off the network card to get an IP address and failing. You don't want this.

You DON'T need to reload windows. To get the PC running again, you need to:
0. Go into BIOS and choose "Load Fail Safe Defaults" - close and save.
1. Turn off PXE boot or network card boot (whatever they call it) OR
Set the Network Card to disabled or very low in the boot order list see page 22-24 of your motherboard manual.

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSit...e.aspx?catid=1&driverid=1242&areaid=2&LanID=2

2. Set the floppy drive to first boot device
3. Set the optical drive as the second boot device
4. Set the hard drive as the third boot device

If it boots, you're back in business. Try the different RAM. Is your floppy internal or USB?

Then we can work on updating the BIOS. The floppy must have windows 98 boot files on it. So make one from here:

http://1gighost.com/ed/jamiephiladelphia/boot98se.exe

Then you can put the BIOS update and the flash utility on it.

BIOS update instructions

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/extra/PCC/utility/biosutl.htm

 

[JTILL]

0. Go into BIOS and choose "Load Fail Safe Defaults" - close and save.
1. Turn off PXE boot or network card boot (whatever they call it) OR
Set the Network Card to disabled or very low in the boot order list see page 22-24 of your motherboard manual.

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSite/Downloads/Dow...

2. Set the floppy drive to first boot device
3. Set the optical drive as the second boot device
4. Set the hard drive as the third boot deviceI tried I have set all 3 options to floppy first, but it continues to look for CD to boot from.
------------
I even tried setting all 3 options to floppy, but it still keeps looking for CD, then disk failure.

I did try, for S&G's, a 2 disk Partition Magic ver8 to see what happens. It actually booted to PM screen, neither drive showed anything. Probably because it was used on my previous 320gig drive and not used on this one.

I have several different win boot floppies, even original MS win98 2sd, still no boot.

WOW! Having said all I just said it did boot to PCChips setup floppy disk and installed MS-Ramdrive on C:\. I can access A & C . I'm not sure whats next.
I have run out of time tonight. 4am comes quick.
Thanks.
Later

 

[goombawaho]

At this point, I'm going to get out of this discussion and recommend that you take it to a professional or a COMPETENT friend or relative. If I could reach out and touch it, it would be booting again in about 3 minutes (assuming no underlying hardware issues), but I can't.

You're spending too much time on this. I never stayed up to 4 a.m. with any female acquaintances - never mind a computer!!!

 

[cdogg]

JTILL,
I'm trying to follow the best I can, but it seems like we're getting further and further away from the original problem. Let's keep this thread about memory. If you want to fix the "new" Windows XP issue you're having first, then create a new thread about it here: [tab]forum779

When you're ready to test out the new memory sticks again, come back and post in this thread.

 

[goombawaho]

CDogg: following your advice is what landed him here - inability to boot from hard drive. Though I concurred on that advice.

 

[cdogg]

@goom
Indeed

@JTILL
Go ahead and set the hard drive as the 1st boot device. It still seems that the system is not checking for the hard drive, and instead is trying to boot from the network (PXE boot) after checking for the CD and failing.

By the way, if you used a RAID configuration with the two 500GB drives, then make that clear to us now. Going down this road may lead to more problems.

 

[JTILL]

goombawahoo
You are quite wrong. while i am no expert, I am quite capable of going into bios and set boot priorities and anything else I need to change. More important I know when to question 'if' / 'why' doing or not doing, or do more research before I actually decide something needs doing. Am I expert?, certainly not, but again, I also know my limits.

The time frame I mentioned was intended to say I'm in bed by 8pm, give or take a few minutes and I get up 4am, 4 days a week. I have only couple of hours weekdays to play with pc. Sometimes I let it take a rest. I use my slow standby 'Gateway'. Which recently has become my main system.

With all due respect, I guess you are much better 'doing' than 'explaining'. I am now down to only system turns on, but nothing works except the blinking lights on face of pc. Will not boot to anything, even bios setup.

I have to rethink what to do now. Replce M-B to match all memory and hardware or consider new lit. This one has lasted least 6 years.

PSS. there is no use to put in new memory if system does not bootup, right?

All in all I think quite possible it may have been dying all this time and is just coincidental that its happened now with the memory upgrade attempt.


Cdogg
"It still seems that the system is not checking for the hard drive, and instead is trying to boot from the network (PXE boot) after checking for the CD and failing".
Also I did not setup raid configuration.


Did I screw up?, I don't think so, but I have before.

Thanks goombawaho & cdogg for your help.

 

[goombawaho]

Wrong is an absolute state and not subject to gradation." I'm awesome at explaining if I had your motherboard in front of me to work from. It's something you have to see/feel/touch and move around in to verify all settings that could affect boot. Very difficult to explain how to navigate around in a BIOS on which you've never worked.

Is the motherboard dieing? Possible, but I doubt it because it WAS booting before the "restore to defaults". I think you now need to disconnect everything from the board that is not needed: optical drive, hard drive, add-in cards, mouse, etc. Unplug the computer, remove everything and let it sit for a minute and then see if it will boot up into BIOS. If not, it could be a power supply or a toasty motherboard.

IF it boots to BIOS, is there a place in the BIOS where you can enable/disable the sata ports. If so, are the SATA ports ENABLED for the optical drive and the hard drive. Is the SATA controller set to IDE, RAID or SATA/AHCI?

 

[JTILL]

Goombawaho
I am glad you haven't quit on me. I apologize. I do have an understanding of what you said. I have found it very difficult trying to tell people that are newbies 'how to' as opposed to showing them how and even better talking them through doing it and I remember gong through that phase myself.

Thurs after work. I unplugged the power supply and used my tester to show all circuits were good. I also checked all plugins. I did see and repair a broken power wire to the sata drives and I can feel them running?

One other thing-I used jumper on MB to clear cmos. When I booted it came up with this boot screen mesage.
"CMOS checksum error - Defaults Loaded
Warning! Now System is in Safe Mode.
Please re-setting CPU Frequency in the cmos setup.

When I press F1 to continue it goes to floppy boot disk

I don't know what 'system is in safe mode' means nor do i know what or how to reset 'CPU Frequency in cmos setup' means.
Should I 'load optimal defaults'?

The bios sees all HDD's & optical & DVD drives.
I seem to have to Clear cmos with MB jumpers to get back to bios screen everytime I turn system off.
Thanks

 

[rclarke250]

Safe mode for the bios, means that it may have under clocked the cpu and memory timings to allow a boot. You can go back into the bios, and set the cpu to auto, and the memory to SPD or auto. This will allow the board to read what is in the machine, and set the timings based on the devices. Also regarding SATA, it may have set it to AHCI on or off depending on what the bios has set as default, and it may not be what you had set during the OS install, so it may not allow the OS to boot, if it blue screens,or doesn't see windows, change this setting to another choice and try again.