Windows XP Memory issues

4

407Mainman

About six months ago I changed out my Gigabyte 7DX motherboard for a similar board. The previous board had 2- DDR memory slots. The new board has 3-DDR memory slots.
When I installed three strips of 1Gig DDR 5300 memory (total of 3-Gig) and booted up the machine, the left and right sides of the monitor became very wavy. Also, during the POST startup, the 3 Gig of memory was listed but that is a far as the POST would advance. Booting several times . . . with the same results, I removed one strip of memory leaving 2-Gig as I originally had and re-booted. My PC booted just as it should.
This motherboard -- according to the documentation says the maximum for this particular motherboard is 3-Gig. So why would the monitor go blank when that third strip of memory is added?
 
My concern with what you did is that you started with a system that had two modules of 512MB each, and you added a 3rd module of 512MB. By definition this is a problem in a dual channel memory system, simply because its an odd number of modules. For dual channel operation In a dual channel memory system you must ALWAYS install memory in MATCHED PAIRS, so any odd number of modules always a sub-optimal configuration (if it will work at all). If you install a configuration of memory modules other than matched pairs, any one of three things can happen:

-The system wont boot (at all)
-The system runs but reverts to single channel operation
-The system doesnt recognize all of the memory (AND it MAY revert to single channel operation).
Click to expand...

above from this thread

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/identifying-and-upgrading-ram/
a tutorial on ram

===============

it is not the same exact board if one and 2 slots and the other has 3 slots, what is the new boards make and model??

what is the make and model and model number of your pc??
 
No question, my system has been described as a dinosaur. I purchased it in 2001. The system was built by MicronPC and it had Microsoft Millenium on it when purchased.
The motherboard is a Gigabyte 7DX and the Processor was an AMD Socket A 1.0-GHz. As I said, about six months ago I was able to find a similar 7DX (Version 2) Gigabyte motherboard but this board came with a AMD 1.2-GHz Processor and three memory bays instead of the two that was on the original board.

Now, as you inferred, is it my understanding that you are saying that this Gigabyte
7DX board must have four (4) memory slots in order for the 3 Gigs of memory sticks I have to work properly? While I don't doubt your information, Gigabyte tells me that the maximum memory for this board is 3-Gig. Thus, if they have to be installed in pairs (parity) exactly how can the maximum memory be classifed as 3-Gig?

However, you are correct. When the third 1-Gig memory stick is installed in the machine, the boot process stalls. Then I have to shut the machine down, remove the stick of RAM and the system re-boots as it should; and it registers 2 Gig of RAM as it should.

Now, being just a bit curious, I installed a stick of 512M in the third slot and booted my machine. The machine booted exactly as it should and showed the additional 512M of ram in the total RAM. So if these RAM sticks must be installed in pairs, as you suggest, why is it that the 512M RAM stick works?
 
The upgraded mother board is more modern, as indicated by the 3DDR memory. Now you can install and use more than 4GB limit.

There is absolutely no reason you shouldn't be able to use 3 memory modules. I am using 3 DDR2 right now and have done so for many months.

But do not ever install DDR2 into DDR3 slots.

The problem with these memory modules is they tend to break easily and this sounds exactly what has happened to yours.

They are very static sensitive and need to be inserted exactly right, as a slight misalignment, even for a moment, can destroy them. Hence the reason I have 3. :eek:

The advantage of your new board is it can use 64 bit OS.

If you cannot get XP registered with M$, may I suggest you look at W7 64 bit?
 
As for registration:

each motherboard is tied to the pc and product key if you change the motherboard, windows acts like it is a new pc and makes your key invalid, what you have to do is use the phone activation method to explain the change to get your installation validated.
 
System Memory Issues

Perhaps I did not clarify the problem I am having with the memory installed.

When my old Gigabyte 7DX Motherboard bit the dust, I was able to find a Gigabyte replacement. However, the Gigabyte replacement had a 1.2-GHz CPU already installed instead of a 1.0-GHz CPU on the former Gigabyte board. Secondly, the old Gigabyte 7DX motherboard had only two DDR memory slots with a maximum of 2-Gig RAM. The newer Gigabyte 7DX-v2 board I installed has three (3) memory slots and will accept a max of 3-Gig of memory according to the Gigabyte.

Now, when I install three (3) sticks of 1-Gig RAM and boot the machine, the boot process freezes just as the POST begins. Furthermore, the 3-Gig of RAM will not register. However, I can remove one (1) of the 1-Gig RAM sticks (leaving a total of 2-Gig of RAM) the system boots exactly as it should.

I found a stick of 512M and installed it in the vacant memory slot to see if the problem was with the 1-Gig RAM stick. Oddly enough, when the system booted 2.5-Gig of RAM was registered. I also removed each stick of 1-Gig memory individually in an attempt to determine whether this RAM was defective. In other words, I first booted with only 1-Gig of memory. Then I booted with 2 sticks of 1-Gig of RAM and each time the system booted normally. Yet, when I installed the third stick of 1-Gig RAM and booted, the system froze shortly after the POST began. I then removed one stick of 1-Gig RAM and installed a
stick of 512M. The system booted like normal.

One other thing. When I first boot the system, the left and right sides of my monitor have wavy lines. Then about 15 to 20 seconds later the waviness stops. This started shortly after installing the new motherboard. I purchased a new Creative SoundBlaster sound card and a new 1-Gig NVIDIA GeForce 6200 Video card when I had the old Gigabyte motherboard . Then I installed these boards in the new motherboard.

For a moment I thought the video card was the culprit which was causing the memory and waviness on the sides of the monitor. Yet, the waviness still is present even after removing the NVIDIA video card and re-installing it. I also deleted the driver and re-installed it but that didn't correct my problem either.

The short of it is this: It appears that while Gigabyte says I have a 3-Gig max motherboard, only 2-Gig and some change (512M in this case) will only work.
 
Apologies, your terminology's threw me, along with the ancient hardware, which I wasn't expecting. I assumed, wrongly, that 3-DDR meant DDR3.

Again, it sounds like a faulty RAM.

Why the screen was briefly wavy could be almost anything. You're working with old equipment, so many things could be happening.

Frankly, if I could get it to work properly with 2 Gb RAM, I'd be satisfied, though I understand why you want to get all three. I have recently managed to get an old Linux notebook, with a CPU speed of 500Mhz, connecting to the net recently.

Is everything absolutely clean? Is is free from rust? Are any of the joints loose or any of the solder not absolutely shiny.

This is an address of a manual: http://www.nodevice.com/user_manual/gigabyte/Motherboard/ga-7dx.html#.U-fqQaNu6I4

This is an address of a number of different issues: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/s/gigabyte+7dx+manual/

I'm sorry I'm not more help. It is years since I worked on those machines.
 
Gigabyte 7DX-v2 Motherboard issues

Jojo & Elizabeth;

Thanks for the input and suggestions. At the present my machine has 2.5Gig of DDR memory. That stick of 512M I installed in the third memory slot appears to be working fine.
Guess I'll have to purchase another stick of 1-Gig DDR memory and see if a brand new stick will make any difference.

The processor (CPU) is an Athlon 1.2GHz, and I presently have 2.5Gig of DDR ram.The only problem is, each time I open my browser page (IE8) the CPU pegs out at 100% and the system locks up. If I attempt to close the webpage or program I receive a dialog box informing that this certain program is not responding (due to the high usage of CPU resources).

ProcessManager tells me that iexplore.exe is one of the high usage culprits and another process (rundll32.exe) is another. And to be truthful, this 'rundll.exe' process has just shown up recently. As a matter of fact there are eight (8) rundll.exe process running and only three (3) have a Microsoft source ID. The other five (5) have PID numbers which I am in the process of looking up.

My main issue is that as soon as I open up my browser page my CPU immediately peaks to 100% locking up the entire machine.

Any suggestions?????
 
drop IE and use firefox or chrome!! ie is not secure and you should not use it. install firefox and see if that locks up your pc.

and you also want to see if you are infected in any way do the following:

Download, install, update and do full scan with these free malware detection programs:

Malwarebytes Free (MBAM): http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/

SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

Remove all found, reboot, and run again until scans run clean, these can be removed afterwards if you so choose. Run scans one at a time, please.

what is your current antivirus??

what other scanners are installed??

Also please check to see if 100 percent cpu is used when in safe mode with networking.

post back with the results
 
As Elizabeth says. IE8 is trying to do something, probably look for updates, though it could be other things.

If you can load CCleaner, you might want to take a look at your startup programs while you're at it. Get rid of as many start ups as you can.

If you have a router, make sure it has a hardware firewall, (almost certainly it does) and turn off any software firewall in your machine.

Also, turn off anti-virus. Risky, but the amount of power it will be taking is quite high and you need every ounce of power.

I recall, back in the late 80s, most HDs were 20Mb and the newest upgrade was 70Mb. The top of the range word processor then was Word Perfect. It did everything from spell checking, translations, graphics, even grammar checking. To have the entire suite installed at one time, would have taken up about 100 Mb of storage space. Most users tended to have the main program installed and load the 5.25" floppys as required.

The point is, modern Word Processors are not any better. Most are, frankly poor. Yet modern word processors are using Giga-bytes of storage space.

That's what's happened to PC. As newer ones get faster, more memory and storage, designers write their programs to fit what is there now. I suspect most of the space taken up by any program is redundant. But disassembling to find out is hardly worth it.

Your machine is old but not useless. It just needs a bit of extra care with the modern world.
 
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