RAM issues on Intel D845EBT mobo

Really does sound like a memory controller issue, either with Vista or general hardware problem.
Maybe it just doesn't like that kind of RAM, have you tried any other DIMMS?

I've tried both 512MB DIMMs that go in my personal machine. They are well tested (SETI@Home 24/7 for the last month) and they worked fine. So far both 1GB DIMMs cause problems; they are the same brand/model (Buffalo Select PC2700) and neither gave issues when tested on my P4 system (SiS 661 chipset). If I can only use 512MB DIMMs they'll be stuck at 1GB under Vista, but that's a world better than 512MB.

Have you tried two 512MB modules? 1 GB RAM is about the bare minimum for Vista.
What do they need Vista for anyways? Most people that I know who upgraded to Vista just went back to XP.

If not that would explain the errors, eh?

I'm personally interested in the answer to this Q, my wintel box is based on a D845GRG, be nice to be able to double my RAM to 2GB from my current 1GB. I must say though, 1GB for Win2k and XP seems to be adequate, but I can't vouch for Vista's requirements.

dan k

Yes, 2x512 is what I did with the 512's out of my P4. I know they are good and reliable so I wanted to do a test in the flaky system with them, and they did fine. I had told them to get a retail copy of XP, but the joker that did the upgrade went for Vista. He also has tried to sell them a satellite internet system instead of cable or DSL, because that's what he installs... I've heard more dirt about the guy and I've only met him in brief passing and already don't like the guy, a lot.

That's basically what I'm asking, and if anyone else has field exp. with doing so. Intel doesn't say no but they do say that it's possible but untested. Kinda like what Apple does about "official" RAM capacities vs what work in the wild.

Generally, the practical memory limit for 845-series boards is 1GB. We use a *lot* of Intel desktop and server boards at work, and I've probably used every model from the 815 series onwards. I wouldn't consider putting more than 1GB RAM in anything less than a 915-series board.

As you probably found, Intel's compatibility page for that board lists a max of 2GB, but with a "we haven't tested it with that much and can't guarantee it'll work" clause:

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d845ebt/sb/cs-008790.htm

Seriously, though, Vista on anything using a Socket 478 CPU is pushing it. I wouldn't run Vista on anything less than a dual-core CPU and 1GB RAM.

Yep, that's the page I had found on the RAM. I'll take your advice/exp. as validation of my suspicion of the RAM controller. It looks like I'll go ahead and keep the 1GB DIMM for my P4, give them one of my known good 512MB DIMMs, and make up the cost difference. I haven't really been looking for more RAM, but 1.5GB sounds nice if I decide to try Vista again. If.

FWIW, I had the second 1GB DIMM (that the 1.8 wouldn't POST with) run in my P4 for 3 hours and complete 7 passes of memtest86+, no errors, from when I started the topic. I put back in one of my 512MB DIMMs to get to 1.5GB and have been running SETI@Home since then and all appears solid. My remaining 512MB will get installed in the 1.8 soon, and they can enjoy Vista without booting up into an constantly swapping machine.

I have two of these boards, and have chewed over their specs a bunch.

The D845EBT motherboard needs PCI 2100 memory, not PCI 2700. The difference is FREQUENCY. PCI 2100 runs at 266 Mhz, and I believe that PCI 2700 needs 333Mhz. I suspect that this is the cause of your RAM related crashes. If you obtain a 1024 Mb stick in PCI 2100 type, it should end your troubles. Tiger Direct still carries them for about $60.00 per.

Hope this helps.

DDR RAM does down clock, by design. I've found other sources that suggest that the Intel chipset doesn't handle high-density RAM, similar to issues the older G3 Macs have. The D845EBT board I was working with operates perfectly on 512MB DDR400 DIMMs clocked at the slower bus speed of the 1.8 GHz P4, so I'm very sure the issue isn't down clocking from the rated spec of the DDR RAM.

Hi Jon,
You may be correct in assuming that PC2700 will down clock to 2100. I have not had good outcomes with trying that in the past. Typically, RAM boards will not show their full Mb capacity when trying such things, and other instabilities may result too.
I did note on the Intel page for this board that the list of tested RAM boards didn't include anything larger than 512 Mb, but the specs for the board say that max ram capacity is 2Gb. I have a Micron 1Gb board coming soon, so I will let you know how that works out for me.

Like Dr Webster, I have a lot of experience with Intel mother boards over a ten year period. We're talking about thousands of PCs.

Intel boards tend to be fussier about RAM than similar models from other big manufacturers (Asus, Gigabyte and MSI, in my experience). We usually buy Crucial RAM for them when performing upgrades, but we've also used Samsung and Kingston without problems. However, colleagues who have used non-branded RAM are a continual source of problems.

The hardware probes that XP conducts during installation are very aggressive and very effective at identifying sub standard components (RAM, ethernet cards, video cards). The installer doesn't provide any literal feedback, but if XP installation hangs or reports missing files during the text based setup stage, assume a RAM or ethernet problem. If it stalls during GUI setup, assume a RAM or video card problem.

I'm not familiar with the D845EBT, but we've run 2GB RAM in D845PTs (the first P4 DDR board from Intel) and in D845GRGs. In both cases we were fussy about the RAM that e purchased and installed a fully matched set.

We deliberately skipped 865 boards from Intel (poor performance) but have lots of D915GPTs and cousins. I still use one with 2GB every day at work as my main PC, and it works as well as you can expect Windows to work.