First boot trouble shoot question

[jbktiger]

Hardware:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe mobo
Athlon 2600+ Barton
Mushkin 3500 DDR 512x2

My problem is when we cut the power on everything runs, lights light up...fans spin...however the mobo tells us it is failing the memory test and it is not accessing the BIOS. I have tried back the memory down and using just one at a time in the various slots and not much changed. We got it to hit the BIOS once and it mentioned another error message about overclocking (we think this is just a BIOS setting error perhaps?), but we cannot get it back to the BIOS.

Anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[jbktiger]

ok...so I swapped out and put in pc2100 memory and it boots ok to windows.

So, the question is did I waste the money ont he pc3500 memory or is there a BIOS setting maybe I can change to get that fixed? Thanks again


*scratch that*
back to the failed memory test on boots now and willnot go any further....so I am still at square one

 

[Bug]

Since you said that it boots fine with the PC 2100 ram, have you tried using that to get into the BIOS? Once there, can you set the RAM settings to go by the values from the SPD? It is possible that the ram is bad. Have you used it anywhere else?
If the SPD value doesn't change its behavior, try using the FailSafe values for the BIOS.

 

[Fern]

Any luck by clearing the CMOS ? Have you tried that yet?

 

[jbktiger]

I have nto tried the memory in another rig (do nto have one available to me...although on occasion I can get a single boot to work with that memory and it recognizes 1GB, so I think the memory is ok). It is just random and that is what confuses me. It will work once, but then I cannot get subsequent restarts to catch with the pc3500 ddr. I can get it to boot on a consistent basis with the pc2100 stuff.

I have tried adjusting the BIOS settings and I changed it to by SPD and left the rest along. When it goes by SPD it changes the frequency to 200mHz, which leads me to believe it at least sees it. Ran out of time to see if that would give me consistent boots or not.

Any further ideas?

Also, clearing the CMOS does nto do much except reset me...and the default is where I have been having trouble, so that does not correct much, have done it a couple times though jus to get into the BIOS.

Thanks again for your help and suggestions

 

[lucky9]

Sounds like a BIOS setting. Check every setting in BIOS. Some of them are terrible about needing to set things in several places for the same thing to work right. mobo drivers and BIOS updates can make a world of difference also.