HELP! System won't POST when SPD enabled

Question

Here's my specs
P4 3.0ghz (800mhz FSB and HT)
MSI Neo2 Motherboard
512mb Kingston HyperX PC4000
Radeon 9800 PRO
2x 160gb Maxtor Ultra Series 8mb cache on Raid 0
I recently traded my HyperX PC3200 and replaced it (not added) with a HyperX PC4000-- before i switched out the ram, my PC3200 ran pretty smoothly. Now with the PC4000 in my computer instead, my computer will not Boot/Post when I have SPD enabled. Also it seems like 2.5 (or 2), 3, 3, 8, 4 are the settings that will actually let my computer boot properly.----- 3, 3, 3, 8, 4 will not. My voltage is set to 2.7, and its on Colonel for DOT, and Turbo for performance. Is there anything that will allow SPD to be Enabled? Is it a real problem? I literally have to reset my CMOS in order to get to the Bios to disable SPD and its kind of annoying.
My main questions are:
What does SPD do? and why doesn't my new memory allow it to be set on enabled? What are good timings to use?
oh, my computer also wont POST if I boost my FSB past 220mhz-- can anyone help me with that as well?

Answer 1

Please read Rules of the forum and Moan Guide, set up a full signature with ALL system specs.
The main problem here is that HyperX (please tell us part number or at least module size and quantity) PC3200 has CAS Latency of 2 (2.5 for 2 x 1Gb) where as PC4000 has CAS Latency of 3. Secondly, MSI 865 / 875 motherboards use MAT (Performance mode) to determine memory timings not SPD (or even manual in some cases) and even when set to slow, this can still affect your memory's ability to post. (For both of us it seems these mobo's will not allow CAS Latency =3 - set it manually and check with CPU-Z).
Try this:-
Frequency/Voltage Control
Dynamic Overclocking: Disabled
Performance Mode: Slow
CPU Ratio Selection: Locked
DRAM Frequency: 266 MHz
Spread Spectrum: Disabled
Adjust CPU Bus Clock (Mhz): 200
DDR Clock(Mhz): 400 (Greyed out)
Adjust AGP/PCI Clock(Mhz): 66.66/33.33
CPU Vcore Adjust: No
 CPU Vcore: 1.5250V (Greyed Out)
DDR Power Voltage: 2.70V
AGP Power Voltage: 1.55V
If you had to change Performance Mode to Slow, you will have to Save and Exit and then re-enter BIOS for all the following options to be available. If it was already Slow move straight to
Advanced Chipset Features
DRAM Timing Setting
Configure DRAM Timing by SPD: Disabled
CAS Latency: 3 Clocks
RAS Precharge: 4 Clocks
RAS to CAS Delay: 4 Clocks
Precharge Delay: 8 Clocks
Burst Length: 8 Clocks
Integrity Mode: Disabled
This effectively slows your memory right down and allows you to ascertain your CPUs maximum overclock. Raise the FSB and see how far you can go. Check stability with Memtest and prime95 and once you've found your sweet spot note it down. If you want to benchmark and then repeat the process for 5:4 ratio (Memory Frequency 333 MHz) and 1:1 (Memory Frequency 400 MHz). You can then try manually lowering your memory timing to get the absolute best performance, but FSB MHz is more important with the P4 + 865 / 875 chipset combo than memory timings. Technically, 1:1 ratio should give you the best results, but with the memory timing issues on these boards, my best performance comes from 5:4.
Hope this helps and Good Luck