ga-7n400L + dual channel ocz pc3200 probz

[Triplefour]

seems if something could go wrong, im gonna go thru it.

i bought this system for a friend...
athlonxp 2500+ (which turns into a 3200+ no prob)
gigabyte ga-7n400L
OCZ chrome pc3200+ cas2 3 2 5
gf4 ti4600
80gig HD

at first all appeared fine...it boots at 2500+
i install windows
nforce drivers
gfx drivers
directx 9
and then try to run unreal tournament 2003
the first level in the benchmark is anatalaus or whatever...the outside lever with the pretty grass and trees and etc.
it runs perfectly...

the level closes and then ut2k3 opens to do the second part of the benchmark..the level thats kind of inside some building or whatever.....
it runs like total CRAP
which doesnt make sense cause i feel like in a smaller level with more closed environment it should run faster if anything... but it kind of runs really fast for one second then SLOOOWS DOWN for like 6 seconds...then jumps ahead really quick..then slows down again...keeps doing that and takes forever to finish the benchmark...
the next level goes outside again and runs perfectly... the last one is inside the building and runs like crap...

i tried all kinds of differnet bios configurations..nothing seemed to work until i took out one of the ram modules.

then everything was beautiful... but i want my 1gig in dual channel mode, whats going on?

is there some kind of magic words i have to say to get the dual channel working?

i tried running dual channel in my other system that has the same motherboard and it totally wouldnt boot windows. and after a few times of switching ram modules, my bios got fried. dead. (that really sucks btw but that board was alraedy giving me problems saying the temperature was too high when it wasnt). maybe it woudlve worked if i installed from scratch...but then i bet the same slowdown problems would be present.

ive never used dual channel before...and i never worked with 1 gig of ram before so maybe its something obvious (to everyone else)

oh the other thing i tried to run it just 1 gig but not in dual channel mode and that wouldnt work either. im thinking of sending this ram back unless i can figure it out.
thanks in advance if anyone can help me

 

[3sixes]

First step is to mem test the ram.
You look like a strong candidate for needing to check out this gigabyte faq
Gigabyte New Owners Guide

When you installed the drivers, did you install the nvidia sw ide driver?

By your own acct, you seem to have a flaky stick of ram, and that youre never gonna know untill you memtest both sticks.

Laterz,
dafanman

 

[Triplefour]

yeah i think it is flaky i just asked the retailer for RMA
but i am interested to "memtest"

what is that?

more importantly where can i get it

thanks

 

[Triplefour]

i was reading that faq link you sent me to:

8)What is the recovery option that I see during startup?
The recovery option creates a hidden partition on your HDD for recovery. There have serious been problems reproted related to this feature, such as WinXP being unable to boot, and inability to access either BIOS, unless the BIOS is reflashed.


thats exactly whats happening to me

btw im triplefour and your triplesix?

 

[TGHI]

This may sound stupid, but did you put the RAM in the right slots? If it's not in #1 and #3, then it's not going to work (or 2 and 4, if applicable).



TGHI