4GB RAM System fails to boot?

Question

I have an ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard, and 4 identical 1gb sticks of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800. I've tested each stick of RAM, and each slot, and they are all fine.

Heres the problem. When I try to run all 4 sticks of RAM, the system wont even boot. It turns on, but never does anything. If I try only 3 gigs of ram, the system will boot, and begin to start up, but once it reaches the Vista loading screen, it restarts. The computer runs fine with only 2 gigs of RAM. I need a solution, and none of the ones I've seen helped me.

My System

M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition

4x 1gb Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800

AMD Athlon 64X2 6000+

X-Fi Fatal1ty

Antec 550 Watt PSU

Answer 1

How far do you make it during the boot with 4 gig installed? Can you boot to a CD? If you can, your Vista CD has options for memory testing. Try this. If you don't have the Vista CD, you can get memtest86+ as a free download. Burn to a CD and restart with this. Your mobo driver CD may also have memory testing software with it. I'm not real sure beyond what you have already done. I don't see the power supply as an issue, but it may be. One last issue to check is your BIOS version. You can do this at the Asus site. Wish I could be more help.

Answer 2

Odd.

That motherboard should support 8gb of ram just fine.

I would go to ASUS's website and download the latest BIOS update for the board. That should solve the issue.

***EDIT*** Eva makes a good point as well, maybe your PSU is hitting it's limits.

That would explain why with 3 gigs it boots but then restarts once it hit's a windows environment and with 4 it won't even boot.

Each stick requires power, usually around 5 watts per stick. If your current setup is almost at the limits of your PSU's ability, then the extra power can cause voltage irregularities.

Now that I reconsider your setup, it looks like you could be pushing the limits, especially if you have other devices not listed.

Answer 3

maybe 550 watts are not enough power to run the dual core and 4 gigs of RAM? just guessing. do you have a bigger PSU you could test?

Answer 4

my quick guess would be that one the ram slots is bad. Try removing everything but the ram, video and proc and start up that way. Could be a dying PS...or over taxed PS.