RAM Upgrade Problem

[nsaul1211]

Hi everyone, I'm having a bit of a problem which I'm hoping someone can help me with. I decided to upgrade my ram from the 2GB which came with the system to 4 GB. I looked into what RAM was compatible with my system which is DDR2 PC 4200 or 5300.

To make a long story short, after having some initial problems which I thought were related to mixing new RAM with old, I just bought four sticks of Kingston 1 GB RAM to put into the 4 DIMM slots. When I put all 4 GB's in and start the computer up, BIOS recognizes the installed RAM, but when Vista comes up, it does a quick blue screen flash and just restarts the computer. This was the same thing that happened when I mixed RAM. I just left in 2 GB of the new RAM and the computer works fine, but if I try to go any higher than that it craps out and restarts itself, I even tried to do 3 GB. I am also fairly confident that it is not a bad RAM stick as the problem has been consistent with just upgrading past 2 GB. I even moved the sticks around to make sure the DIMM slots were working properly, and they worked with no problem.

Just for clarification I am running the 32 bit version of Vista, the motherboard is a ASUS P5LP-LE per the HP Specs which are listed here:

Motherboard Specifications, P5LP-LE (Emery) 

I looked around and it seems that my motherboard should be able to handle 4gb of RAM.

If anyone has any suggestions on what the problem might be I would greatly appreciate it! I hope I have been clear enough with what issues I am having.

Additionally I know that 32bit Vista will only allow for 3.5 GB max, but I can't even get into Windows which I know should be possible.

Thanks

 

[Yami]

Have you tried each individual stick on its own? Perhaps there's something up with one of them (hint: it won't be either of the two in this scenario "I just left in 2 GB of the new RAM and the computer works fine", only try the other two on their own).

 

[nsaul1211]

ohh yea, I've tried them and the sticks are all ok.

 

[Luke]

I have heard about a few problems when both using all the dimm slots, and using over 3gb of ram in a 32bit os. So it could be either of those (or not).

 

[nsaul1211]

I'm starting to think the issue is Vista related and not hardware

 

[Luke]

^the only thing that it would be because of vista is that it is a 32bit os like i said mate, unless you have a messed up install (you never know what it could do)

 

[Slaymate]

Make sure your using the correct voltage setting to start with. Another thing, some mobo's just don't play well when all the memory slots are full. I had a 780i mobo with 2x1GB of DDR2 1150MHz PC2 9200 in it. I decided to add another kit of the same memory to it and it would no longer boot at 1150 MHz it would only work at 1066 speeds. You may be able to run it at the rated speed but you might need to increase the latency settings, or if your at a 1T timing you may need to use 2T.

I learned this lesson the hard way, if you'll notice, I always try to steer users away from filling up their memory slots.