Issues with PCI-e drivers activating in XP Pro (system keeps crashing)

Question

Hi,
I've just put together a new system:
580W Hiper PSU
MSI X1950PRO 256MB
MSI K9A Platinum
2GB Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 PC6400 (Eased Latency Memory)
Athlon 64 x2 3800 am2
The problem I am experiencing is that I cannot get the ATI drivers to load into the OS without causing a crash.  After looking at the error code that XP spits out when the crash occurs it seems to happen right when the video card driver is loaded at which point it blue screens and gives me a memory error.  I know absolutely nothing about overclocking but I have tried everything I can think of with this RAM and cannot seem to figure out what the problem could be.  This is the second card I am on so I know it's not the video card.  I have tried the memory in different slots, tried one stick at a time, tried using different timings and no matter what I do I keep seeing this error.  In a fit I ran MemTest and found nothing wrong with the memory.  Has anyone else ever seen this happen before and if so what has been the fix?  Is it possible that the K9A and the memory just don't play well together?  Could it be some sort of timing issue?  I loaded Windows fine using it so I am guessing it's not.  I currently have it running at 800MHz could that be the problem?  Would slowing it down make any difference?  I did notice that although the BIOS does allow quite a bit of flexibility for overclocking that one of the things that cannot be changed is the memory voltage (which seems to be set at 1.90V).
If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it as I have lost about a week working on this now and have about $800.00 tied up in a completely unusable system.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Quote from: BOSSKILLER on 16-March-07, 00:24:06
hello, welcome to forum.
have you installed chipset drivers 1st, before VGA drivers?
list PSU details. (can be found into PSU sticker)
ensure memory sticks are located into 1st DIMM1 slot close to CPU socket and DIMM3.
go to BIOS "LOAD BIOS OPTIMIZED DEFAULTS", apply memory vcore to 2.0V or 2.1V.
get a copy of Memtest86 and test memory for errors.
Hi, thanks for taking my post BOSSKILLER.  The PSU specs are as follows:
Hiper HPU-4B580 PSU
  ATX 12V v2.2
  580W
  Dual+12V = Yes
  Output = +3.3V@30A,+5V@36A,+12V1@20A,+12V2@18A,[email protected], [email protected]
  Input Current = 10 A
  SLI and Crossfire certified
I've run MemTest x86 on the memory several times and did not fine any errors however I am now curious about the memory itself VS what the board can handle.  After going through all of the specs on the board (please bear with me here as I am "memory illiterate") it would appear the the board can only handle the memory running at 1.8V as this is what I see from the system specs for the board from MSI:
  Supports Dual DDR2 533/667/800
  - 4 DDR2 DIMMs (240-pin / 1.8V)
  - Supports a maximum memory size up to 8GB.
OK, so going with the fact that I know next to nothing about memory speeds and how voltages play a part in them I know that the last memory that I just sent back to NewEgg was a Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 2GB PC2-6400 Eased Latency DIMM Kit (PDC22G6400ELK).  It's timings for 800MHz were 5-5-4-9 with +1.9 for voltage.  I had everything in the BIOS for the memory set for AUTO and from what I could see it was being detected at 800MHz memory however if I am interpreting what MSI is saying about this board (and this is where I am really confused) it only supports 1.8V type memory?  If so then I am really in trouble as I just ordered some replacement memory which is Kingston HyperX and it's timings are (for 800MHz) 4-4-4-12 at +2.0V and (for 667 MHz) 5-5-5-15 at +1.8V.     If I understand this equation correctly it would appear that this board cannot handle memory running over +1.8V and it seems that (in spite of the fact that it claims to support 800MHz speed memory that is only if you can purchase memory that will run at 800 MHz while only consuming +1.8V (does that sound correct?)  The bottom line is that there was probably nothing wrong with that Patriot memory I just didn't know what I was doing.  I did notice in the BIOS when I looked at what it detected that it was running by default at 800MHz but the voltage was +1.9 vs. the +1.8 that the manual says it will support.  Could that be what all my problems have been with not being able to get these drivers working?  That the second the part of memory that the drivers need to access is "accessed" because of the difference in voltage that XP panics and immediately "blue screens"?  Let's just go out on a limb here and say that I'm correct then what I am really being told is that this board will not support either of these memory modules running at PC6400 and that I will have to drop the speed down to PC5300 (or 667MHz) in order to get the +1.8V that the board supports to make the system stable?   
How far off-base am I?  (Let me know as soon as you can as I am eager to know whether I just wasted more money.  Thanks!)