Computer Crashing after getting new RAM

Naturalist99

Well, I recently received two Corsair DDR2 2GB ram sticks in the mail the other day that I ordered. Now my computer already had 2 Corsair DDR2 Ram sticks, but were 1GB each instead. So now my comp has 6 gigs of ram, 2 2gb ram sticks, 2 1gb ram sticks. Is that the problem to my crashing? Since I installed the new ram Ive been BSODing a few times a day now.

EDIT: My graphics card has DDR3 memory, I never had a problem before but could this be some kinda problem? Ive never had this BSODing problem where it happens a few times a day, but Ive had my fairshare of problems with this comp. (Mainly when I used to have vista, most were fixed in W7 lol)

stringboi

Your graphics cards RAM has no bearing on system RAM....at least not when comparing the two.  DDR3 on the graphics is just applicable to the GPU's RAM speed.  Did you get the same speed as the previous 2gb?  Mixing speeds and brands is not a good idea.  They should all have the same voltages, speeds, timings.  If they are the same...I would download Memtest86 and check your RAM for problems.  It will find any errors the sticks will generate. 

Naturalist99

All the RAMs are the same, brand, and everything. Only difference is 2 of my rams are 2gb, 2 are 1gb, same ram, different size or whatever youd call that.

skeaser

Are they the same speed?

Manestream

It could be your motherboard itself, check to see if there are any updates for it. There could also be a problem with one of the memory housing slots on the board being faulty. You could also try remeving the 1gb sticks and just having teh 2 2gb ones and see if that gives any problems, if it does it could be a faulty memory stick itself. Then it could even be a little option in the bios settings too, check that.

I had a simular problem, my board would take all ddr2 memory but when i upgraded to ddr3 it would only take kingstone memory, nothing else would work. At least i got refunded for the memory that didnt work. took about a month to get it working too. That was just over a yr ago now. Hope that helps you a little.

jdnewell

Sounds like the RAM may have different timings, voltage, ect.

Look up and identify what timings and such both sticks have and that may help. Just because they both are say... Corsair ddr2 800 does not mean they have the same settings or whatever.

noquarter

The mobo will downclock the ram to the lowest common denominator it's usually not a problem but always a possibility.

There's 3 things I can think of:

1) One of the sticks of ram is bad.. download http://www.memtest.org and first test your 2 1GB sticks then test your 2 2GB sticks since they aren't working all together at once, just do 1 or 2 passes.

2) Motherboard needs a BIOS update for improved memory compatibility.. most BIOS updates are for memory issues like this

3) Using all 4 memory slots is actually hard on the mobo, most will switch from 1T to 2T command rate to manage the timings with 4 sticks and sometimes rarely a mobo won't be very stable. I'd make sure the memory timings are set to auto in your BIOS, or possibly manually set them to conservative values.

Karmakazi

The only thing I can suggest that hasn't been said is take out your old ram and just put in the new ram and see if it works. If it crashes then you'll know one of your new sticks is bad in which case memory test will tell you all that.

VooDoo_Papa

you need to test your memory.  Also, check your bios to see if it has a log feature and see if your memory is faulting.

if you use windows 7, follow these instructions to test your ram:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/715-memory-diagnostics-tool.html

neonaka

Originally posted by Karmakazi

The only thing I can suggest that hasn't been said is take out your old ram and just put in the new ram and see if it works. If it crashes then you'll know one of your new sticks is bad in which case memory test will tell you all that.

Do this ^ it is called troubleshooting. It really works wonders.

Naturalist99

Thanks for the feedback guys, im gonna start troubleshooting stuff tonight and the next few days and ill tell you my results, and what works, and what doesnt, thanks in advance!