I have an OpenSUSE 12.1 Linux computer that had 1.5 GB of RAM and I upgraded it to 2 GB about a week ago. When I tried to boot it, it comes up with the green OpenSUSE screen then just locks up and sits there until I power it off. I don’t know what the problem could be. I went into the BIOS and it recognizes all of the RAM. I also went into the BIOS and did a memory test and it said it passed. I also removed the new RAM and put the old RAM back in and it still won’t boot. The only thing I can think of is the Linux distro. Could I have somehow screwed something up and just need to reformat? I was pretty sure it wouldn’t matter if I reformat or not but I have tried everything else that I could think of. Does anyone have any ideas of what could be wrong or could someone help me please? I have never posted on these forums so if I am reposting something I apologize. I am hoping my motherboard isn’t bad because I just bought it a month ago off ebay. These are the specifications of the Linux computer…
Motherboard: Intel D915GAG
Processor: Pentium 4 2.8 GHz LGA 775 Single core CPU (I want to upgrade the CPU but won’t if it doesn’t work)
(Old) RAM: 2 x 512 MB, 2 x 256 MB modules
(upgraded RAM) 4 x 512 MB (2 different brands. 1 channel of Ram is Thermaltake and 1 channel of RAM is Infineon. Both DDR400 (currently operating at DDR333)
200 GB HDD
500 watt PSU
Yeah one of the first things I tried to do was boot from a Linux live cd/dvd. It locks up on all cds when it tries to boot. I can’t reformat either because when I select Installation on the menu on the live CD it freezes. Which that kinda worried me. I looked before in the motherboard documentation and it said that the Memory slots were labeled (from left to right) Channel A DIMM 0+1 then there is a gap, then Channel B DIMM 0+1. I have another Intel Socket 775 Motherboard… Tempted to switch motherboards and to try and get a refund on ebay. (if possible). But if theres something wrong with my hardware I don’t want to move it to the other motherboard and risk messing something up.
I remember the Intel 915 motherboards well. I built many systems using them when they were “state of the art”. They are a very good and durable board.
My thoughts:
First, most boards of that vintage, and that board in particular, were sometimes very fussy about which socket the modules were placed in. When you put the old modules back in did you get them back in exactly the same order it came out? If not I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that the board is bad yet. After all it worked before you played with the RAM and didn’t afterwards. It’s much more likely you changed something critical than it is that the board happened to pick that moment to die.
Second, if you’re not experienced there’s a possibility (a very slight one to be sure) that you damaged one or more of the sockets on the motherboard during the changeover.
Third: In any case you need to make sure that all the installed RAM is identical with regards to freguency, timing and the chip maker (not so worried about the brand of the module, but the brand of the chips). Also, that was a board that did not support ECC type RAM at all. (I remember that several times during the months I was using 915 boards my supplier sent me ECC by mistake, and I had to send it back for non-ECC.)
Here are the Intel specs for memory for that board:
The boards have four DIMM sockets and support the following memory features:
• 2.5 V (only) DDR SDRAM DIMMs with gold-plated contacts
• Unbuffered, single-sided or double-sided DIMMs with the following restriction:
Double-sided DIMMS with x16 organization are not supported.
• 4 GB maximum total system memory. Refer to Section 2.2.1 on page 55 for information on the
total amount of addressable memory.
• Minimum total system memory: 128 MB
• Non-ECC DIMMs
• Serial Presence Detect
• DDR 400 MHz and DDR 333 MHz SDRAM DIMMs
Table 6 lists the supported system bus frequency and memory speed combinations.
Table 6. Supported System Bus Frequency and Memory Speed Combinations
To use this type of DIMM… The processor’s system bus frequency must be…
DDR 400 800 MHz
DDR 333 (Note) 800 or 533 MHz
Note: When using an 800 MHz system bus frequency processor, DDR 333 memory is clocked at 320 MHz. This minimizes
system latencies to optimize system throughput.
>
> I remember the Intel 915 motherboards well. I built many systems using
> them when they were “state of the art”. They are a very good and durable
> board.
I still have a couple of those for test systems. It may just be the Dell
way of doing things, but at least one of the 915 based Dell Optiplex systems
I’ve used are limited to 1GB or so total memory - hardware just won’t
support any more no matter what the memory stick configuration is. I’m not
sure if it’s a BIOS issue or some creative layout configuration but there is
a hard (and short) limit to the memory you can stuff in there.
One point bothers me: you say that even the original configuration no longer
works but that the BIOS sees the memory OK? That implies that you’ve had
you hands inside so recheck all the connectors just in case you hit
something.
I remember running across a few of those Dell variants too. It was a long time ago, and my memory’s not perfect, but do recall that that particular board was so similar to the Intel board that I remember thinking it had probably been OEM’d by Intel, however they had a different BIOS. I’m pretty sure they were the boards that were really fussy about the RAM, and I do recall that they wouldn’t recognize as much memory as the Intel branded ones.
Ok thanks. I will check all of my connections inside the computer tomorrow and make sure they are the way they were before. I did think it was kinda weird that the bios says both of the memory configurations are perfectly fine but still won’t work. It even states that I have duel channel memory set up correctly. I did wonder if I may just need a bios update since its so old. I looked in the documentation and it said the only way to do a bios update is to use a floppy disk or to run a program in the OS. Right now I currently can’t do either. I have to find another floppy drive connector because the cable I have has a latch that prevents me from installing it on the motherboard so its in the case but not connected. I have never done a bios update before so will have to do some research on it. I will let you know tomorrow if it boots after I check it and check the memory configuration.
> remember running across a few of those Dell variants too. It was a
> long time ago, and my memory’s not perfect, but do recall that that
> particular board was so similar to the Intel board that I remember
> thinking it had probably been OEM’d by Intel, however they had a
> different BIOS.
That’s the one. Mine even have the Intel part numbers stenciled on and will
accept the Intel-supplied BIOS. Still barf on any significant amount of
memory
>
> Ok thanks. I will check all of my connections inside the computer
> tomorrow and make sure they are the way they were before. I did think
> it was kinda weird that the bios says both of the memory configurations
> are perfectly fine but still won’t work. It even states that I have
> duel channel memory set up correctly. I did wonder if I may just need a
> bios update since its so old. I looked in the documentation and it said
> the only way to do a bios update is to use a floppy disk or to run a
> program in the OS. Right now I currently can’t do either. I have to
> find another floppy drive connector because the cable I have has a latch
> that prevents me from installing it on the motherboard so its in the
> case but not connected. I have never done a bios update before so will
> have to do some research on it. I will let you know tomorrow if it
> boots after I check it and check the memory configuration.
Download a CD image of Damned Small Linux or Puppy Linux. Or for even more
to-the-iron access, try freeDOS - it’s available as a bootable image as
well. I keep those around as hardware debug tools as they are really basic
systems that don’t get all balled up on older hardware. You are almost
guaranteed to have APCI problems with any BIOS prior to about 2003 or so.
Ok Thanks. Sorry I haven’t responded in a while. Have been very busy with school starting up and the hurricane but about a week ago I opened it up and got it to work. I took the two ram modules that i tried to replace earlier and swapped them to see if I didn’t put them in the same slots they were in earlier. They were both in the second channel so figured it wouldn’t matter but was willing to try anything to get it to work again. It was still locking up during the boot process and I went into the bios and disabled the quick boot option. Now it works perfectly. I don’t know how I fixed it, but I guess all that matters is that it works great now. I only have 1.5 GB of RAM in it. I wish I had more and I do have more RAM modules in my closet but I am scared to death that if i try to upgrade it, it will no longer work again because the other RAM modules that I have are also from ebay. My older brother told me that when I get a job I should just buy 4x1GB modules from Newegg because i know I can trust Newegg. Also I am trying to figure out if I can put Windows XP on it. The person I bought the motherboard from on ebay took a screen shot of the OS and the specs and it tells the product key. Do you think I should try to install it using the same key since it is the same motherboard? Thanks very much for everybody’s help!
