I have been trying to install addtional memory on my ASROCK K7VT2
board. Both the old and the new memories are from PC World Component shop 168pin SDRAM one 256MB the other 512MB. The PC works with any one of the two memory chips but if they are both on the MB the PC would not go into windows. I am running windows XP. How can I get this sorted

The modules appear to be incompatible in some way. It could be that the two memory modules are of different speeds - 100 vs 133 MHz or that they are configured differently.

What ever the reason is, you will probably not be able to get them to work together. Go with the 512 MB module or get two of the same size. Your supplier should work with you on this.

They are both 133's same brand. I did not want to buy more memory and have a chunk of 256 just there as a spear. Is there any thing else that I can try. Lastnight I updated the bios but still no luck.

they are both on the MB the PC would not go into windowsAre you making it through POST or locking up coming out of the gate? Beeping?

I am getting through POST fine the beep is normal. If I GO INTO THE BIOS it see both peices of memory. BUT it lock up on the windows xp opening screen.

If you have a boot disk handy I would run a memory tester just for the heck of it...

I would think that if the memory was incompatible that it would lock the system up coming out of the gate...

Are you just saving and exiting from the BIOS after putting in both sticks?

http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products/doc/docinfo.asp

Actually no I am not. When I put the sticks in I power-up and the PC locks at the windows xp opening screen and then I reboot, go into the BOIS to see if the it is seeing the sticks.

Why should I save when exiting the BIOS although I am not changing anything?

How do you do a memory checker??

If you're adding differing amounts of RAM to the system it is my understanding that "Saving and Exiting" updates the BIOS to the change.

You mentioned that you flashed the BIOS to the latest...are you running with the factory defaults, or have you made any changes?

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with XP to know if you can interrupt the process and load Windows from a command prompt...if that would be possible you might be able to see which entry is causing the freezing...

Hmmmmmmm...just a thought...what about trying to see if you can enter SAFEMODE?

And, you're sure the two sticks show up identical other than the amount of RAM? (e.g., ECC or Non-ECC)

Yeah I made changes to the power settings but the both sticks where not on board then.
I tried safe mode but that freezed as well.

Not all that used to xp myself.
I will save bios settings with both memory on board and see what happends. The Bios shows the the two sticks 512MB/133 & 256MB/133
But this is strange!

Thanks for the like to the DocMemory tester I will run this when I get home later.

It still does nto work. I ran the test, it passed but I am still getting locked up at the opening screen of windows XP.

Help

Asrock emailed me saying that I could me my power supply unit. DOes this make sense to anyone. It sure doesn't to me. I have 300W PSU that pushes 2-HD, 1-CD, 1-DVD, 1-CDRW, 1-3.5" floppy all working fine with either the 512 or the 256. Why would it be different with the both?

My thought is if it were the PSU it would be "random" freezes. The fact that it happens every time you are loading Windoze seems to zero in on something else.

Next move I would suggest is running your Harddrive diagnostics. You can download them from the manufacturer's site.

I will try that but I cannot see this acheiving anything simply because the machine workes very well if there is only one of the memories installed. If there was a problem with the HD would it still work good with one of the memory installed?

Whyzman speaks from experience on this.....we spent about 10 hours over two nights in the chat room diagnosing a similar problem on one of his machines. Finally we ran the drive diagnostics (on a less than three month old drive) and they came back that the drive had gone south and not told anyone it was going to Disneyworld....so, yes, even though it seems unrelated it could still be the drive.

Well people I have tried it. And it still doesn't work:mad: . There must be something, something.

I have written down two other error messages that I have been getting.
1) Hardware Malfunction, call your hardware vendor for support, the system has halted

2) In a very bold white box with a blue border on a black screen. I get this message in the white box "out of range, HF:30-70KHz, VF: 50-150Hz" under this message, in the blue border I get a flashing message "28.0KHz 53Hz

I have been getting either of these messages or the freezing at the opening screen of windows XP ever since I tried installing a second Memory and I get them regaurdless of what I do. They just to happen....

Now what the @*&^£%$ Does this mean.

The second message is regarding video.

HF is horizontal frequency
VF is vertical frequency.

Your horizontal frequency seems to be out of range. 28 when it shouldn't be any lower than 30.


Something is happening in your video subsystem when Windows tries to go to the desktop at a higher resolution than the post screen.

It may be a power supply thing, or it may be that the type of memory you are using contains too many "banks" for your motherboard.

Or it could be one of your RAM slots is bad. Have you tried using either slot when using just one piece of RAM?

You could also try going into Windows with one piece of RAM installed, and lower your resolution or set the frequency to "adapter defaults", or just increase the frequency response of your video adapter. Then try again with the 2 pieces of RAM.

Still looking for more help here. I have even changed the graphics card but the problems remain.
I am going nutts on this one:(

I am assuming you have tried changing resolutions, frequency response and testing the ram slots individually.

All that is left is too many "banks" (not too much) of RAM and too much for your power supply to handle. It can only take just one extra piece of hardware to go beyond what the PS can handle, especially at startup, when everything is juicing.

Try disconnecting one of the HDDs and a CD ROM with both sticks of memory in to see if it is the PSU ( this could be it, with 3 optical drives, 2 hard drives, 2 sticks of RAM, graphics card; that's a lot for a 300watt supply, especially if it is a generic one that came with the case).

Interesting that you say that. I changed the power supply for a new 450W double fan and so on (cannot remember the brand). On the first bootup after installing the new PS the pc actually got to the desktop but froze before any icons could load. As I said that was the first bootup there after I went back to getting the

1) Hardware Malfunction, call your hardware vendor for support, the system has halted

OR

2) In a very bold white box with a blue border on a black screen. I get this message in the white box "out of range, HF:30-70KHz, VF: 50-150Hz" under this message, in the blue border I get a flashing message "28.0KHz 53Hz

OR

3) The freezing at the opening screen of windows XP.

I have adjusted everything I can think of except disconnecting some one of my HD and a couple of the other ones.

You have tested your HDD?

Have you tested each stick of RAM?

If not try memtest86 (http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/memtest86/) . DL it, stick in a clean floppy, dbl click the batch file, then reboot, will run autmatically. Test each stick one at a time.

If it passes, it looks like you just won't be able to run with both of those sticks.:(

Last thought. Two more things to try. Are both sticks of RAM set to the same cas latency? If it is set at 2 try bumping it up to 3. You can also try toggling from 133 to 100 and back.

I found this thread (http://www.techimo.com/forum/t66375.html) on another forum. Same problem, unsolvable. Those Asrock boards are pretty cheap, a little old and seem to have problems when running XP.

You may be out of luck using two sticks of SDRAM.:(


Maybe you could try finding updated chipset drivers for that board, as you have already updated the BIOS.


EDIT Check here (http://www.asrock.com.tw/support/Download/dl_k7vt2.htm) for updated chipset drivers for XP.Via 4in1 and XP VGA drivers.