I recently purchased 4 sticks of faster RAM (DDR2 PC5300 667 as opposed to DDR2 PC4200 533) and put it in. But when I tried to boot, it wouldn't work. One time I got an error message about the frequency being out of range or something weird like that. So I put in my old RAM again and it worked fine. Here is my system: Gateway GT5252 Motherboard: ~Welcome to First International Computer, Inc.~ The motherboard info shows that the RAM I bought should work. I even went to crucial's site (the memory brand's website) and it recommended either the pc4200 or pc5300 for my system. I'm stumped.
Straight from Gateway..Gateway Support - Specifications I think you have to stick with PC-4200/533 ...
That's weird, considering the motherboard supports faster RAM...I guess there are just things I don't get. My theory was maybe because my stock PSU (300W) is inadequate in light of my video card, sound card, and RAM upgrades. Once I put in my new PSU (550W), I was hoping the RAM might work by some longshot chance.
Any chance it's due to the timing/latency? Again, my motherboard specs show that it should support 667 RAM. The other sticks I bought (Crucial) had a latency of 5, but I'm looking at these now, which shows the same timing as my current, pc2 4200 RAM: 4-4-4-12: Newegg.com - GeIL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) System Memory - Desktop Memory Anyone know if this might solve the problem?
One or more of the sticks might be bad? RMA maybe? -Try to see if you can boot with one of them. If it won't boot try another one. Go through all of them if you have to. If one boots, try a second one in Channel 2 slot. If you have a good pair and you bough two pairs then you only have to RMA one of the packages. -If you bought a 4 pk. then don't even bother, just send them in.
I installed the GEIL RAM, and it definitely works! Of course, I don't see a noticeable difference from the PC2-4200 to the PC2-5300 (533 to 667 MHz). Oh well, at least it works.