i bought a new system about a month ago. now i'm trying to add an addition 1gb of ram to it but it just won't boot. here's the specs: ECS P4M800PRO-M2 Ver2.0 Intel celeron 336+ 2.8ghz (clocked @ 3.4ghz with stock cooling) 1ghz kingston 667mhz DDR2 ram these are the items migrated from an old PIII system : 160gb hitachi hdd 20gb maxtor hdd LG dvd-rw 18x ATI 9550 128mb agp card Initially, after assembling the new pc, i did a repair installation and it work great. till just a few days ago i bought an addition 1ghz(kingston) and try adding to it, the pc just boot to the screen where there are options to boot with safe mode, last known good configuration...etc. after i select any of it, it'll just reboot and repeat everything again and again... i did tried both ram slot with the "old" and new stick, they work alright, alone, but just don't seem to like the present of each other. Note : i refer to the user manual and found that kingston 1gb ram is not on the supported ram list. could this be the problem? if yes, then why does it work when either stick is fitted on, but not both?

my apology. the header should be "can't boot to windows with 2 gb of ram" as the BIOS does recognise 2048mb of ram when both stick fitted.

I suggest you temporarily disable your overclocking and try again. Overclocking can stress hardware and not all hardware reacts the same way.

I doubt it has anything to do with your overclocking. You're working with a crappy board & a weak CPU though. At least the board supports dual channel mode...you should have a matched pair for best performance & compatibility. Are both sticks the same volatge? Same timings? Both either single or double sided? Make sure you manually configure all the RAM settings in the BIOS. Are you running the CPU:DRAM ratio at 1:1? Your RAM may be designed to run at 333MHz, but your CPU is only designed for 133MHz. You have it overclocked to roughly 162MHz, but that's still only 1/2 as fast as your RAM's capability. If possible, underclock your RAM to 162MHz (DDR333) to match the CPU...if it's not, run the RAM as slow as the BIOS will allow. FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

haroldw, i'm not at the pc right now, but i'll try it out later. thanks. jam, "Are both sticks the same volatge? Same timings? Both either single or double sided? Make sure you manually configure all the RAM settings in the BIOS." yes, 1.8v. i'm not sure about the timing thingy, but both are the same model : KVR667D2N5/1G. on the packaging, it state : 1GB PC2-5300 CL5 240-Pin DIMM??? And both are double-sided. As for the ram setting, i don't see much option that i can fiddle with in the bios. Under "CPU PnP setup" ===================== Manufacturer : Intel CPU over-clocking Func. : Enabled CPU Frequency : 162MHZ DRAM Frequency : Auto (ranging from 200 or 333 to 533, if i'm not wrong.) Memory voltage : 1.8V (1.8V and 1.9V) CPU voltage : Normal (with increment of +0.01 to +0.03) Under "Advance Setup" ===================== DRAM timing : Auto ( with option of Turbo, Ultra...???) "Are you running the CPU:DRAM ratio at 1:1?" there's no such, or similar option in the BIOS, so i'm not sure either...is there anyway i can check from windows? "If possible, underclock your RAM to 162MHz (DDR333) to match the CPU" how do i do this? thanks.

Check www.crucial.com and make sure that you purchased the appropriate RAM for your MOBO. Life's more painless for the brainless.

"there's no such, or similar option in the BIOS, so i'm not sure either" It's not necessarily a BIOS option...it's something that YOU have to do by manually configuring the settings to "create" a 1:1 ratio. I'm downloading your manual now.... FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!