Bad Mobo or Bad RAM??


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I now know that the problem is with the RAM. However, I don't know what exactly it is. I ran the memory test and found what is wrong. I have 2 256MB DDR266 RAM sticks and both will work only but they won't work together. My motherboard (ASUS A7A 266) has 2 DDR RAM slots and I'll call the RAM sticks A and B and the RAM slots 1 and 2. An combination of A in 1 or 2, and B in 1 or 2 works fine. But if I try to put both A and B in either 1 or 2 I get errors. I don't know what would cause this. Is it a stick of RAM or is the motherboard. I don't have other sticks of RAM or another motherboard to test either so if anyone knows if I need new RAM or a new Mobo the help would be appreciated.

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Look in your BIOS first to see if maybe you aren't allowed to have two sticks of RAM...

Is your computer beeping at startup? Different mobos give off different beeping combos to tell you what's wrong.

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That sounds a lot like what is happening with me. I have an Asus A7M266 motherboard, an Athlon 1.4, and 2 256 DIMMS of Corsair Memory. My computer starting acting up and would crash at weird times and wouldn't read things off the CD reliably. I sent my motherboard back thinking that the IDE channels were screwy. When I got a new motherboard, I started running into the same problems. The computer won't boot with both DIMMS in, so I took one out and it would then boot. However, I had to seriously underclock my CPU to get it to work. Not having the time, knowledge, and least of all, the patience to figure it out, I just sent the memory and CPU back.

I'll have to wait about a week before my parts come back, but hopefully that will solve my problems.

Look to your memory - it sounds like that is where your problem lies.

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Originally posted by Slouch

My computer starting acting up and would crash at weird times and wouldn't read things off the CD reliably.

Thats 100% bad ram

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Originally posted by Cheif_Bigfoot

Sorry should've stated the comp is about a year old and this only started a couple of days ago.

Well, sounds like a stick of RAM has gone bad; also, what are your CPU temps just to make sure its nothing else.

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CPU temps are fine but I have one more ?. How do I know what stick is bad. If either works by itself but not with the other. I know I can just get a new stick and try it out and see which one works but still I'm just curious for future reference. And one more ? that is a little off topic but how much space does an XP partition need. When SP1 becomes official I want to reinstall XP and give it its own drive so if I need to format again I can just wipe off XP.

PS Where's the best place to buy RAM? And if I get faster stuff then 133 will it just run at the speed of the slowest stick?

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Originally posted by Cheif_Bigfoot

CPU temps are fine but I have one more ?. How do I know what stick is bad. If either works by itself but not with the other. I know I can just get a new stick and try it out and see which one works but still I'm just curious for future reference. And one more ? that is a little off topic but how much space does an XP partition need. When SP1 becomes official I want to reinstall XP and give it its own drive so if I need to format again I can just wipe off XP.

PS Where's the best place to buy RAM? And if I get faster stuff then 133 will it just run at the speed of the slowest stick?

try switching each slot between slot 1 and 2 with the two sticks and see if the both boot. That may single one out. Crucial is the best place to get ram, lifetime warenty and the stuff performs the best out of all of them. www.crucial.com

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