I have an MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR mobo with an AMD Athlon XP 2700+ (333MHz FSB/2167MHz) and one 512MB DDR400 DIMM by V-Data. All was bought off Newegg.com. I overclocked the CPU FSB to 180MHz (effective 360MHz) and everything worked fine. I then gradually moved up to 200FSB, wt which point the DDR400 (which should have supported that just fine) stopped working. I know it is the RAM because my MSI mobo came with a diagnostic LED bracket, which stops at the light pattern for "initializing memory". Anybody know if this is just a crappy brand or if I managed to get a bad memory chip or another way to fix it short of returning? I already tried reseating it and it didn't work. TIA for any help.

PC Chips M848ALU
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ 333Mhz FSB / 256KB L2
512MB PC3200/DDR400
128MB Radeon 9200SE
Polaroid BurnMAX40 ATA33 40x12x48
Iomega ZIP100 ATAPI
Western Digital 20GB ATA100

Check V-Data for its supported DIMM voltage levels. It may need a little more juice. Some manufacturers are like that.

My only other comment is buy a quality RAM stick next time. Mushkin, Corsair, Kingston, Crucial, and even Geil would have been better.

MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!

I never heard of V-Data before, but if it's PC3200, it should run at 200mhz. I'm not convinced it's the RAM though, regardless of what your LEDs tell you.

Is your CPU unlocked? If so, are you lowering the multiplier? 2600mhz (13 x 200mhz) is quite an overclock. Did you increase the CPU voltage at all?

If the multiplier is unlocked, set it to 11x & the FSB to 200mhz...that'll put your CPU at a more reasonable 2200mhz & your RAM "should" work. It your system is stable with these settings, it wasn't the RAM holding you back, it was the CPU. Then, if you wanna clock your CPU higher, you can experiment with raising the multiplier & CPU voltage

Heropsycho: I would think that the RAM should run at the default voltage. If a non-techie person had bought a motherboard that defaulted to 200(400)MHz FSB with a 3200+ and that RAM, they wouldn't have been able to turn the system on the first time. I already cleared the CMOS on my mobo, and it still won't boot. I would try to take the battery out, but it's in one of the flat sockets, and I'm not sure how to take it out.

Jam: I had thought the CPU was unlocked being a '03 week 37... Turns out it's only multiplier unlocked in the down direction, so I can go only up to 13x. What I've been doing previously is just rasining the FSB and Vcore. I know the proc is fine, otherwise power wouldn't come on the the two hard drives, cd-rw, and dvd. Everything was running fine at 180MHz...

Never again will I buy a RAM chip that is not by a well-known brand.

PC Chips M848ALU
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ 333Mhz FSB / 256KB L2
512MB PC3200/DDR400
128MB Radeon 9200SE
Polaroid BurnMAX40 ATA33 40x12x48
Iomega ZIP100 ATAPI
Western Digital 20GB ATA100

Corrections:
My memory is made by "A-Data Technology". The sticker on my RAM says V-Data, and two of newegg's items under "A-Data Technology" brand also have V-Data in the name. Not sure as to the reason of that. It is 64M x 64 -Bit. It also has a "Lifetime Warranty". I should be able to return it for refund and get a good chip, if I can't figure out how to fix it.

Newegg's product details say it runs at 2.5V. That is what my mobo is set to. I might try setting it higher, if I could get the thing to boot.

PC Chips M848ALU
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ 333Mhz FSB / 256KB L2
512MB PC3200/DDR400
128MB Radeon 9200SE
Polaroid BurnMAX40 ATA33 40x12x48
Iomega ZIP100 ATAPI
Western Digital 20GB ATA100

Well, if your CPU is unlocked, clock it to 2200mhz (11 x 200mhz) & raise your RAM voltage to at least 2.6v.

If you're trying to run your CPU at 2600mhz (13 x 200), I'd be willing to bet that's your problem...especially if you haven't boosted the CPU voltage.

I did boost the CPU voltage (was set to 1.675v at 180MHz FSB, will probably have to raise to 1.7-1.75 for 200MHz), and the CPU is running just fine. The fact that the drives power up is proof of that. I am returning the memory and buying 1GB of dual-channel Geil. I've checked other forums and Geil is good at overclocking, and it's a well-known brand, unlike A-Data (Sticker on RAM says V-Data, newegg says it's V-Data, but newegg says the manufacturer is A-Data. I assume that means that there are two different product lines, the V being for Value, in other words cheapo). Had my processor running at 2327MHz before the memory decided to fry itself. If I can get FSB to 200 while staying at 13x multiplier, I'll have an Athlon 2700+ 2600MHz along with the DDR running at full speed. I doubt I will go beyond that, the main reason I'm o/c'ing is just to see how far I can push my system. AS I said earlier, I found out that my multiplier is only unlocked in the down direction, so I've got a choice of 13 or lower. I may buy a mobile just because they're completely unlocked. My mobo has a maximum FSB setting of 233, so if memory can handle it (which is likely can according to other forums) and my processor can take it while staying at 2V or less (which is AMD's recommended maximum voltage) then I could have a 3026MHz Athlon 2700+, which'd be really cool, especially since I am running air cooling. I doubt I could put it under any serious load, though, as the temp would probably be running pretty high already, and when I play Unreal Tournament (the original version from 1999) it raises the temp by 13C... But if it could run that fast at 70C unloaded, then it'd be very close while playing UT but still under the 85C cap :) Now I'm babbling...

VIA C3 GigaPro 733MHz
256MB PC-133 CL-3
ECS P6VEM2 mobo
Iomega ZIP-100 ATAPI/EIDE
Polaroid 40x16x48 CD-RW
Windows ME
Debian/GNU Linux 3.0r2

Dude, you're missing the point! If you clock your CPU properly instead of trying to push the hell out of it, I think your system will be stable. Your RAM is designed to run at 200mhz. Your CPU is NOT designed to run at 2600mhz. Humor me & try these settings...you can always change them again:

11.0 x 200mhz @ 1.65v, RAM voltage @ 2.6v

BTW..."The fact that the drives power up is proof of that"...all that proves is that you have power to the drives, nothing more....

And this statement, "if it could run that fast at 70C unloaded, then it'd be very close while playing UT but still under the 85C cap" is just plain crazy! You should always strive to stay below 60C under load! If your idle temps are going into the 60s or higher, something's not right...either your temp readings are WAY off, your HSF is installed incorrectly, or your entire cooling configuration is woefully inadequate!

Um... I believe I said earlier... AMD's website says it can go up to 85C and 2V just fine.

I cannot change the settings, as I can't boot the darn system. The CPU is just fine. The memory is crappy taiwanese %@#%.

Power to the drives and the sequence of what gets power is determined by the processor. Please do your research before trying to answer a technical question.

I cannot change settings, as I cannot get past "Initializing Memory". I have no other memory until I buy more, so I cannot boot to BIOS to change any settings.

In case you didn't realize, a system can't boot if the RAM isn't good.

VIA C3 GigaPro 733MHz
256MB PC-133 CL-3
ECS P6VEM2 mobo
Iomega ZIP-100 ATAPI/EIDE
Polaroid 40x16x48 CD-RW
Windows ME
Debian/GNU Linux 3.0r2

"Please do your research before trying to answer a technical question"

I take offense to your comment(s)...you're the one who doesn't know what the hell he's doing & came to this forum for help.

You simply overclocked too high. Unplug the PSU & remove the motherboard battery for a minute or two...pop the battery back in, plug in the PSU, bootup, & go into the BIOS & reset everything...this time, try my settings

Again jam, I've already tried that (read the previous posts). The memory is definitely bad. I have already unplugged and removed CMOS battery and left it that way for almost an hour, and it still didn't work after that.

In case you care, I found out that the RAM I received from Newegg is not what I ordered. The sticker on the back of my stick does not match the sticker on Newegg's picture, they are different product numbers, and while Newegg says that the product is CL 2.5, the chip I received is CL 3. I am returning the memory for a refund and buying a different brand.

VIA C3 GigaPro 733MHz
256MB PC-133 CL-3
ECS P6VEM2 mobo
Iomega ZIP-100 ATAPI/EIDE
Polaroid 40x16x48 CD-RW
Windows ME
Debian/GNU Linux 3.0r2

The memory might be bad, but theres still no way you can expect the cpu to run at 2600mhz on air easily, it is doable but the temps would rocket...even if it did to 2600mhz on 1.9v - which i reckon it'd need at least.

as for 3000mhz on a desktop axp...have only seen this done with ln2 or a vapochill coupled with a very good chip.

also, the sensors often dont read the temps accurately...sometimes 10c under the actual temp.

the drives powering up would still happen if the cpu was fried.

are you sure the cpu is only lockekd in the downwards direction? i.e from 5-12.5 you can use? cos i'd expect the complete oposite to that given that the 2700+ has a 13x default and the board you are using doesn't, to my knowledge support a 5bit frequency id...other boards have 4bit so on those you can only set 13x or over if the default is 13 or over and 12.5 and less if the default is 12.5 or less..

there is a way to get around this though but its a bit of hassle.

when you set the fsb I reckon everytime it was sticking to the 13x multi.

"The memory might be bad, but theres still no way you can expect the cpu to run at 2600mhz on air easily"

Thank you....

"the drives powering up would still happen if the cpu was fried"

Thank you again....

"when you set the fsb I reckon everytime it was sticking to the 13x multi"

I had considered mentioning this too, but he insisted he knew what he was doing. I have a feeling the CPU is locked & although he changed the multiplier setting in the BIOS, it wasn't actually changing at all.

Gordon,

I suggest you you try one more time...make sure everything is seated properly. Put the RAM in the odd colored slot (2 should be the same color, 1 different). Clear CMOS again...there's no need to leave the battery out for an hour, a minute or two will do...however, you MUST unplug the PSU or the BIOS may not reset. Hit the case power switch a few times to discharge any residual energy. POp the battery back in & see what happens. If it'll boot, try going with default settings...that is, 13 x 166mhz @ 1.65v, RAM at 2.5v, although if you read the following, your RAM settings may need to be "tweaked"

From the MSI website:

"Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability."

Jam, please read this one sentence if nothing else:

I have reset the BIOS/CMOS by leaving the battery out ang psu unplugged for an hour and can still not boot.

Once I get my new memory (2x512MB of PQI Turbo series) I will be using all default settings (unless RAM needs higher than 2.5V). The entire reason I was raising FSB is because I just wanted to see how fast the system could go. Even if temp sensors were 10C under, my system was still under 65C.

MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR
AMD Athlon 2700+
512MB DDR400
128MB Radeon 9200SE

Now running fine on 2x512MB PQI Turbo PC3200 in dual channel. Also checked on my temp sensors. They are probably quite accurate, considering that they're Winbond. "Thank you" for all the "help".