800Mhz RAM being annoying.

[spac3d]

My friend bought some 5-5-5-18 Corsair ram, same brand/model just different timings (His are 5-5-5-12).

The sticks I thought would just revert to the highest timings, but they aren't. They won't boot (No display) together.

What's worse, I can't find anywhere in the BIOS to set the timings to 5-5-5-18.

Any suggestions?

It's a Socket775 P5P41D (ASUS).

[tomferry25]

This may not be alot of help but it may be the case that your motherboard does not support changes to the memory settings in the bios, I don't have any personal exp with Asus boards although I've heard they normally have a good bios? Can you change things like the voltage or does it not allow you to alter anything whatsoever?

[spac3d]

Yeah I don't think it does. It will accept both rams but not together.

Gotta be the timing issue.

[tomferry25]

This may be obvious and I apologise if this seems patronising but have you tried visiting the Asus website to see if there's an updated bios you can flash, that would allow you access to the timings?

[spac3d]

No it's cool, It's the first thing I did software wise. I've updated the BIOS, and it doesn't really include anything useful and doesn't add any more settings.

Going to probably run my RAM (luckily I have the same sticks) at specified timings, and try and get him 2 sticks with the same timing. Basically, my motherboard lets you adjust the settings. We'll see!

[tomferry25]

Sorry i couldn't have been anymore help, good luck with it

[Skulltrail]

This is pure speculation, but it may be worth seeing if some of those software overclocking tools that Asus do allow you to that it from within Windows? I doubt it will work but may be worth a try.

[saman_gh]

I think RAM with different timings only work when they are in different channels ...

[arthurleung]

If you use a quad core with 4 sticks of 2GBs you will need to increase northbridge voltage and set command rate to 2T instead of 1T.

If you have a Q8xxx or Q9xxx CPU and you are overclocking, you will likely need to reduce your overclocking by 200-400 Mhz to compensate for the extra load on the memory subsystem.

[spac3d]

It's a Core 2 Duo, i'll get the NB Voltage and the command rate.

[spac3d]

I've tried increasing the northbridge voltage but it's still not displaying. I've also disabled "Determine ram speed by SPD", and set them manually to 5-5-5-18. Still no joy.

Also, where would the command rate settings be? I can't find it.

It's a E2180 CPU.

[kalniel]

I think RAM with different timings only work when they are in different channels ...

The opposite. If you have RAM with different timings it's better to split the channels so that each channel has both timings in it. You want the channels to mirror each other.

I suspect the problem is having 4 banks rather than timing specific problems - ie you need to compensate a lot more than just dropping to the lowest common denominator, be that through command rate, speed or voltage.

Getting the BIOS settings up is the most important thing - can't help you with that specific model, but have you tried things like ctrl-f1 to access advanced menus etc.?

[spac3d]

It just seems like a really simple bios, I'll see what the manual says..

[spac3d]

This board just won't accept 4 sticks of ram, all slots work..

[scaryjim]

Is the CPU overclocked? I believe s775 motherboards are reputed to have overclocking stability issues with 4 sticks of ram...?

[spac3d]

It's not overclocked. It's stock.

So confused, could it be a faulty motherboard?