Hi there, complete noob, so hope you'll bear with my incompetence.. Just bought some Patriot Extreme Performance 2 x 1gb DDR2 PC2-6400 800Mhz RAM for £75.00, about $150, and went to install into my pc, specs below, I removed the existing DDR2 RAM (pc2 5300 2 x 512mb) and inserted the new (pc2 6400 2 x 1Gb) in the same channels as the old, re-booted and no display, just some mobo bleeps. Both sets of ram old and new have timings of 5-5-5-15, though the new can be clocked to 4-4-4-12. I think it may be power related, the old ram is rated for 1.8v, but the new patriot RAM is recommended 2.2v, tried looking at BIOS settings to try and increase Vdimm, but the Vdimm option is unavailable in my BIOS (greyed out) My pc only has a 250w PSU, and with the 8800GTS probably using a lot of the juice, I'm guessing that this may be the cause with insufficient power to run the 2.2v ram and so the mobo bleeps. As soon as I re-insert the old RAM pc boots no problem..... ........:doh: PS. just realised didn't include OS in my specs....its Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit. I'm considering upgrading my BIOS, there is a newer version available at the Acer website - version R01-B1 - but there's no information as to what it fixes and no instructions on how to perform the Flash, in the downloaded zip file either, so I'm a bit hesitant to go ahead, not knowing if it will actually provide any additional options in the BIOS for tweaking. Any help or thoughts on this problem would be really appreciated. Sorry about the length, but thought it best to get as much info in as possible. Any more info needed let me know....thanks...Karen
RAM Install problems (UPDATE) Hi, Right latest is, I've managed to install the RAM, and system recognises the new modules, but only while I've got the old RAM installed, and only when in certain slots..... The only way the system will boot, is if the old RAM modules are in the 1st and last slots, and the new RAM modules are in slots 2 and 3. System boots andx shows 3Gb RAM, however when I check using SiS Sandra, it shows that there is only 1 channel and not dual channel. So now I know that all 4 RAM modules are good. But how can I configure it so that system runs in dual channel mode, I''ve tried alternating RAM sticks, taking one old ram stick out at a time, and when there is 1 old and 2 new RAM system boots, take the 2nd old RAM stick out so just the 2 new sticks are in and the system won't boot....????????? Really stumped any ideas...????.....Anyone....please....???
Hi, I just had a similar situation. I purchased 2 1GB sticks of pc6400 ram and I already had 2 sticks of 512MB of ram. I took out my old ram and put in the new and it gave me a nice long beep. I reseated the ram and tried again with same result. I played with the new ram in different slots and they would not boot no matter what I tried to do. I put in the old ram, and it booted. Once I got it to boot, I raised the RAM voltage by .2 volts in the BIOS, took out the old ram, and put my new ram in slots 3 and 4 and it came up and recognized the new ram. I do not think that you will be able to have your ram all in and running in dual channel because the old and new RAM sticks are different speeds and different sizes on the modules, but I am not 100% sure about that. My motherboard specifies that they need to be the same size in and speed in either slots 1 and 2, or 3 and 4, or all 4. Maybe the new power supply will resolve the issue though, so you may want to wait for that before changing BIOS settings.
Thanks Wildcard, This will definitely help, I've checked my BIOS to see if I could increase the RAM voltage, but theres no settings available, damn manufactuers BIOS, why they think that everyone who buys their PC's are totally inept and can't be trusted to alter the BIOS settings I don't know. I'm waiting for the PSU to arrive, hopefully tomorrow, I'll install that then try the new RAM on it's own again, see if the mobo will accept it with the extra power 1st otherwise, I think I'll have to do a flash upgrade of my BIOS, and hope that the new BIOS will have the settings available to increase the RAM voltage. It's really strange though coz the mobo manual says that it supports PC6400 RAM, and yet the only way the mobo will accept the 6400 RAM is if there is a PC5300 RAM stick installed. Thanks again for your reply, it narrows it down for me to the BIOS voltage settings, and I think this is what will eventually need changing, even with the new PSU, as even with the extra power available, will the mobo know to make use of it without being told to...???
Latest on this problem, I've now installed the new 500W Thermaltake PSU replacing the crappy 250W generic psu that came with the PC, it's running a lot quiter, but thats theonly noticeable differnce I suppose. Back to the RAM problem, ok, with the new PSU installed, the problem is exactly the same. PC still won't recognize the 2 new DDR2 PC2-6400 Patriot RAM modules, unless there is at least one of the old PC2-5300 in one of the first 2 slots or 1st channel...so I am noqw guessing that it is a BIOS thing that maybe Acer have set up so that memory addressed by the system at POST has to be the type of RAM installed by Acer...does anyone know if this likely...???????? I am really wary about doing a BIOS flash upgrade as per the sticky about BIOS settings/upgrade, and I don't have a floppy installed on my PC, DVD-RW only, so will also have the added problem of having to create a bootable CD, to contain the upgrade and then changing bios boot settings so that DVD drive is 1st boot device....IS THIS RIGHT...?????? If anyone else out there has an Acer with the BIOS version R01-B1, can they let me know if it has settings to adjust the vDimm available, as there is no info on the Acer website to advise what issues the upgrade addresses.........as you can see from my signature...my current BIOS version is R01-A4.. Please if anyone can give me some help or insight into this I would be very...very...grateful.
I've also had RAM upgrade problems with my T180. (See forum below) Upgrading the BIOS to R01-B1 seems to solve it. (I'm only 24 hours into testing). This later Acer BIOS does NOT allow you to change RAM voltages etc. (just like the earlier version). Like you I was very wary of upgrading as I am no expert but I found some crucial instructions from "smarty" in the ebuyer forums: Acer T180 Bios update - Ebuyer Forums I found that the BIOS upgrade was less fearsome than I expected. Do make a copy of the old BIOS first using winflash. Hope my experience helps a bit.
I've just seen another post which might help: Kingston 2GB DDR2 Memory - Cheap at Ebuyer! QUOTE What's to say? cheap ram, works great. Also, it does work fine with the Acer T180, you just have to insert the ram in a not very obvious order. If you upgrade from the standard 2x512 mb ram already installed in the acer t180, you need to order it from left to right, 1gb, 512mb, 1gb, 512mb. UNQUOTE Apparently the order in which you insert sticks is important. I don't understand this at all as my original memory is in the left 2 slots???
Hiya Chris, Many thanks for this and the link to the ebuyer forum, that bit of advice from Smarty about disabling the bootblock is very good to know. One thing can I just ask how you performed the flash, I've got the R01-B1 download file from the Acer ftp page, but there isn't anb instruction readme file with it, I've done some googles on it, but mostly seem to be about using floppy boot disk, and I havn't got a floppy on my PC only the DVD R/RW drive. Thanks again Karen
Hi Chris, looked into this a bit more, and even thought the BIOS download from the Acer ftp site has the AWDFLASH.EXE file, I take it it's ok to use winflash but use the .bin file that came in the .zip file from the Acer site. The business about inserting the RAM in certain slots etc, I've done this and got the system to recognise all the RAM modules, but it only works in single channel, and what I really want to do is to get my system running in dual channel mode, but with just the 2 new PC2-6400 RAM in and removing the old PC2-5300 RAM sticks completely, I think I'd prefer to have less RAM (2Gb), but in Dual Channel and higher speed, than 3GB in single channel and at the lower speed. But I'm really gratfeul for your advice, I may try and do the BIOS upgrade with Winflash. Thanks Again
The page I downloaded from and which has some brief instructions is: AcerPanAm.com/us This is a 946Kb zip file. Under Vista right click on the file after downloading and select Extract All. The new bios is deep in a set of nested folders beginning with My Documents (NOT your normal documents folder). Click down until you reach two more zipped folders namely R01-B1 and Winflash2. Extract all for both those zipped files. Then one of the extracted files will be Winflash.exe (not Wflash). Right click on that and Run as administrator. You don't need a floppy drive - winflash runs under Vista from your hard disk. Look at the Help menu function of Winflash to get familiar with it and backup your old BIOS When it asks you to locate the new BIOS locate the file 61AOC29 which you will have extracted previously. Then File: Update BIOS..............and hold your breath!!!!!!!!!!! As long as the PC power doesn't fail during the update you get a Success message. Remember all smarty's tips as well - his sequence is important. Particularly to "load defaults" in the BIOS AFTER you have done the update. Hope that helps.
Thanks Chris, I'll give it a try a little later tonight, and I'll let you know how I get on, if I fry my PC, I'll get on my laptop and post a message....fingers, toes, and everything else crossed....wish me luck...lol. Kaz xx
Hi Chris, Well I did the BIOS update, just a couple of mins ago, I don't mind telling you my heart started going like the clappers form the second I hit the update button, and then re-started.....thankfully, it all went smoothly, I disabled the bootblock in the BIOS first, then did the flash upgrade with Winflash, then on re-start went straight into BIOS set defaults, but before saving and exiting just in case, I went back in and disabled the bootblock function again. then saved and booted straight into Windows no problem,:good: I didn't even have the 2 beeps and BIOS warnign page you mention in your post.....what settings did you set in Winflash, I selected the update all setting......I ihavn't tried installing the RAM yet so don't know if it will have fixed this problem, I think I need to give my heart a rest first...lol. But BIG MASSIVE THANK YOU.....to you and to Smarty on the ebuyer forum, for all the tips, I don't think I'll be quite as nervous about doing it next time, if there is a next time....lol. Again THANKS and check this page tomorrow, I'll give the RAM another go tomorrow and see if the BIOS update has sorted it. KAZ
ok, hello Im new to the forums and have a probem similar to previous metioned ones. I have a new comp that origianl was built with 2x1024mb corsair ddr2-6400 5-5-5-12 800 mhz ram sticks. I just bought 2x1024 Patriot 800mhz 6400 sticks. Ive tried to put them both in but the comp wont boot. just the fans will run and nothing starts up. Yet when i remove one stick of either brand the comp runs at 3 gigs of ram. ive tried to shuffle ram sticks/brands to different slots 1/2/3/4 and no matter the arrangement i can only run 3 of them and have the comp run normal once i put the 4th in comp wont boot. can anyone give me some advice on how to remedy the problem Thanx Patrick
