Memory problems with Abit BX6rev2

[compudog]

I have an Abit BX6rev 2 mobo, PIII600 CPU and the latest BIOS. The board has 4 DIMM slots. When I fill all DIMMs with RAM (for example, four 128MB PC-100 DIMMs) Windows becomes unstable. When I take 2 DIMMs out (Back to 256MB) everything is fine. This is especially noticeable in D3D games, popping me back to the desktop. I have adjusted the Vcache settings in the system.ini and I still have the grief with 512 installed. Is it just a limitation of the mobo. (I know, I really need to upgrade and plan to do so this summer.... )

 

[tbalon]

Make sure your power supply is up to the task. Check the 3.3V line to be sure it is not dipping too low when you add the extra ram.

 

[boomerang]

According to the manual for that board it should support up to 1GB of ram which would of course be 4 256MB sticks. Are you certain that all the sticks are good? You say it's stable with 512, I assume you have swapped around different combinations to rule out a bad stick or sticks?

For what it's worth, I have 384MB in my BX6 R2 and I know that all three sticks are from different manufacturers. I may even have PC100 and PC133 mixed together. Which in itself should be no problem because I am running at 100FSB.

 

[compudog]

I installed a new Antec 350 watt p/s. I checked the 3.3V (through BIOS) and it seems much more stable than the Deer it replaced. I tried every possible configuration of DIMM's. It's only when I populate all four DIMM slots that it starts to get flaky. I tried 2 256MB (Bank 0,1,2,3) no problem, I tried 2 256MB (Bank 0,1,2,3) 1 128 in bank 4,5 ran fine. Again, it's only when I go to the four full slots (Banks 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7) that it acts up. And then, it's not consistent although it seems to act up more with D3D apps. Maybe this problem will be the boot in the a@@ I need to do my long overdue upgrade. Has anyone else had trouble with using all four DIMM slots?

 

[Ewu]

I also have a Bx6 R2 mobo, I remember reading somewhere that the only way you can fill all four dimm slots is by using memory with ecc and parity. But then most BX based boards don't have more than 3 dimm slots.

 

[Slikkster]

You're not alone with this issue. Here's a Google Groups page with lots of threads about it. If I were you, I'd try to find some cheap (but good) 256mb PC-133 SDRAM and populate 3 slots, like I have. I'm running 768mb with zero issues (vcache adjusted in Win98, XP running with all RAM).

The dreaded 4th Dimm Slot woes...