Hi Carol,Answering yor questions--I have had a look at the MSI website and there are a couple of useful links and bits of info:
1) Memory tested to be compatible with that mobo is listed here. I would check your memory is actually listed as I found MSI to be picky about what it will accept.
THE RAM I HAVE IS GENERIC.2) The manual says you can put the RAM in any slot you like so it shouldn't make a difference. Personally if i only have one stick of RAM I always put it in slot 1 (the one nearest the CPU in this case).
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[color=red][i][i]I NOW HAVE ONLY THE 1 GB STICK IN DIMM 1.[/i][/i][/i][/i][/color]
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There is some confusion (IMHO) in the manual because there are only 2 memory slots but the maximum memory allowed is 2Gb in 4 banks. The 4 banks refers to the fact that it accepts double sided memory cards with 512Mb on each side. I am not sure what would happen if you install a 1Gb single sided card because the slots are obviously designed to take either 1 x single sided 512Mb card or 1 x double sided 1Gb card (with 512Mb on each side). Have a look at your 1Gb card - does it have chips on one side only or both?
THE STICK I HAVE INSTALLED IN DIMM 1 HAS CHIPS ON BOTH SIDES.If you haven't got a motherboard manual you can get one from here
I HAVE THE MANUAL THAT CAME WITH THE MOBO.The product website is here. Have you tried updating the BIOS? There is a Live BIOS uility with MSI boards (see the BIOS downloads section on the product webpage and read the Live Update instructions). Important: to use Live Update you MUST use Internet Explorer to access the webpage.
IF YOU THINK I COULD DO THIS WITHOUT COMPLETELY SCREWING UP I WILL GIVE IT A TRY.
I DON’T KNOW IF I HAVE “TOOL BAR PLUGINS WHICH MIGHT EFFECT THE NORMAL OPERATION OF MSI UPDATE ONLINE". I HAVE NOT USED IE IN SEVERAL YEARS. (I NORMALLY USE FIREFOX). HOW CAN I TELL IF I HAVE ANY TOOLBAR PLUGINS? WHAT WOULD I DO IF I FOUND ANY?
ON SEARCH SETTING WINDOW, SHOULD I SELECT “SEARCH FOR ALL AVAILABLE VERSIONS” OR “SEARCH FOR NEW VERSIONS ONLY”?
ON AUTO SEARCH WINDOW SHOULD I SELECT ALL (9) ITEMS OR ONLY CERTAIN ONES? WHICH ONES?
IN WINDOW WHICH SHOWS HYPERLINKS FOR SEARCH RESULTS, SHOULD I SELECT EACH OF THE (5) ITEMS SHOWN? IF NOT, WHICH ONES?There is another webpage about this mobo too (talk about a badly designed website) here with the following comment - which may or may not be relevant to the problem:
Quote
Main Memory
• Supports Four memory banks using two 184-pin unbuffered DDR333/400 DDR DIMM.
• Supports up to 2GB memory size.
• Supports 2.5v DDR SDRAM.
Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability.
Example: Kingston HyperX DDR500 PC4000 operates at 2.65V, 3-4-4-8, CL=3.
For more information about specification of high performance memory modules, please check with your Memory Manufactures for more details.
So you may need to set your memory timings manually in the BIOS - not trivial if you aren't sure what to do. This will be even more complicated if you are trying to use two memory modules with different timing specs, different chipsets etc. and really reinforces sticking with matched memory sticks or only one stick.
The voltage setting is particularly key - if the BIOS expect 2.5V memory (the stuff that was preinstalled is probably set to this since it is what is expected in the system) and you are adding 2.7V or 2.8V memory (quite possible - my Corsair memory runs at 2.8V) then to avoid frying the old memory it will default to the lowest value - the 1Gb stick then wouldn't have the correct voltage and could account for why Memtest freezes when you have two sticks installed. You can get the memory specs from the memory manufacturers website by looking up the part number. Having said that if you aren't sure what you are doing fiddling with BIOS voltage and timing settings can have serious consequences including physical damage to your system. You may want to get someone in the know to come and set them for you rather than damage the memory or your motherboard.
I’M NOT SURE WHAT THE VOLTAGE REQUIREMENT IS BUT, SINCE IT IS GENERIC, I WOULD GUESS IT IS 2.5 VOLTS.
I KNOW I AM ASKING A LOT FROM YOU BUT I REALLY NEED HELP FROM SOMEONE AND I CERTAINLY APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME THUS FAR.
BTW, HOW IS THE WEATHER OVER IN ENGLAND?BOB
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