Memory / motherboard head games

[Guest Staggerwing]

Why do they seem to enjoy making things as tough as possible to decide on what works with what ?! It might be better these days, but it never stops...I ordered a couple of Crucial 512mb pc-3200 DDR400 for my new ASUS P4c800-E Deluxe because I see Crucial recommended a lot in the forums.NOW, I see that "Crucial" is not on the ASUS list of qualified vendors!HOWEVER, when I go to the "Crucial" site and work it the other way, (putting my P4c in memory finder)they state NO PROBLEMAfter reading all Crucial had to say, I feel pretty good about using it with the ASUS board, I can't see a problem with it, but WHY do they have to play head games with us like this ? One of the items that make me feel better about what I ordered is that ASUS does approve of "Micron" brand memory.I find that Crucial and Micron are the SAME company and manufacture the whole DIMM not just assemble it from other parts...Just stupid to put people through such grief over these things.Okay, that's what is on my mind while waiting for my order to be shipped Monday. Costly mistake if Newegg.com won't exchange it for proper brand. I'll only have today and the morning to cancel it if I have to..Anyone using Crucial memory with their ASUS P4c800-E Deluxe ? Or any other ASUS board ?I don't need this grief :-)

[Guest American 390]

You know Tom, I think we're both on the same page here. I just ordered my new computer "upgrade" yesterday, Saturday, and my whole setup is exactly like yours. Ordered from Newegg.com :Asus P4C800-E deluxePentium 4/ 3.0C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512KB CacheSame Crucial PC-3200 DDR400 memory except I got 2 x 256 MBI need to save up for a new graphics card so I didn't go crazy holiday shopping :)Anyways, I rushed the order and ordered FedEx 2 day, hoping it'll arrive before New Years. I doubt there would be any problems with Crucial and ASUS mobo's, but we can confirm that once our packages have arrived :)

[Guest Staggerwing]

>You know Tom, I think we're both on the same page here. I>just ordered my new computer "upgrade" yesterday, Saturday,>and my whole setup is exactly like yours. >>Ordered from Newegg.com :>Asus P4C800-E deluxe>Pentium 4/ 3.0C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512KB Cache>Same Crucial PC-3200 DDR400 memory except I got 2 x 256 MB>I need to save up for a new graphics card so I didn't go crazy>holiday shopping :)>>Anyways, I rushed the order and ordered FedEx 2 day, hoping>it'll arrive before New Years. I doubt there would be any>problems with Crucial and ASUS mobo's, but we can confirm that>once our packages have arrived :)Hi Mike,LOL, I guess we ARE moving in parallel paths :-)Yeah, it was good to see Crucial list those DIMMs on their site for the P4c... that one had me up like an alarm clock this morning :-)I really wanted to get the P4 3.2ghz but that special on the 3.0 made a lot of sense.. don't think I'll miss the ".2" at all. Glad to get the "retail" version though as I think the 3 year warranty is worth it. Did that last build too.. but that was UP to the current 800mhz CPU and cost me $500+ LOL I decided that cutting back on the CPU and cutting back from the ATI 9800XT card to 9800pro allowed me to jump the memory up to 1G and I think that is a good compromise and will help overall. I went with standard shipping, but still feel there's a chance to get it before next weekend. I believe they ship from several states around the country. (going by their tax list) Could be wrong..Never ordered from them before (or even been to the site) so kind of strange feeling, but I've seen many others recommend them and the pricing was good. I get the same feeling each time I order from a new place I guess..Only thing I DIDN'T like was, as I added each high dollar item, they came up "free shipping"... great! That is, until I added a tube of heatsink grease, THEN they added $4. shipping for the grease :-lol Then had to have a new case and got hit with another $10. shipping.They also wanted another $3. if they were expected to move any faster than normal on the picking and packing (which I gave them) but then could not say it WOULD be any faster than normal :-) We'll see..Seems like they should/could just do all N/C shipping if you order that much stuff. I don't like to feel as though it was a trick featuring "free" shipping to get you into the order page etc. LOL, I've got an idea... how about over $1000 give the guy a free tube of grease ! Sheesh..Okay, off to post my next question to the forum :-) USB 2

[Guest American 390]

I spent close to $580 on those three (or four) components with newegg including the $2.99 rush fee and $11 for the FedEx Two-Day. As you can see, I'm like a big child, I cannot wait for my package to arrive :)It's funny how I am still missing components I need to upgrade - My 40 GB HD will have to go soon looking to upgrade to a 80 GB 7200 HD SATA/RAID ( Not too sure about this new Raid technology works with the motherboard ) Or I can go with a new case which I need. Looking at this neat Aspire X-Dreamer II case with blue lights :) For $50, it's worth it.Last but not least, sometime in Feburary or March, I'll look to upgrade my Geforce 4 TI4200 to GeForce FX 5900SE, 128MB DDR, or whichever I can find in that time frame.Gee, seems everything has to come out when I only wanted to upgrade CPU/Mobo/RAM. :(

[Guest Staggerwing]

Hi Mike,Just wondering if your "rush order" got your hardware to ship out yet?Just checked and mine is still marked "in warehouse" at step 2 of 5...Of course if you read the print below the box, it says that if it's in the "warehouse" phase then it's at step 4 LOL Don't think their live order status thing works very well :-)BTW, I forgot all about Thursday being a Holiday.. bet neither one of us see a carton before the first of next week. Perhaps your "2day" payment will do the trick for you though..Best,

[Guest American 390]

Tom,As you can tell by my new signature, I'm very eagerly waiting for these "goodies" so I'm on top of the shipping procedure. =)Was about to say I was at step 4 of 5, which told me "Your order has been packed and sealed" then below told me FedEx tracking number will be uploaded tonight at 6 PM PST but I reloaded the page, and I'm provided with the tracking number :)I have a little tip, if you haven't figured this out already. As you login to the order status page, it should say "For order detail, please click here", click that and around the middle of the page (found on the gold-ish background); it

[Guest Staggerwing]

Glad to hear it Mike.. you'll have a good weekend after all :-)Of course I checked my order just now (again) and see that it has NOT even left the last stage yet... not only didn't giving them the extra "rush" money help, it now could go even another day without moving. ??To boot, it lists my "ship from" as CA ! Now I'm just in Ohio and it really should be shipped from NJ also as that's only 500 miles away.Odd, considering it's the same items YOU ordered.Oh well, you'll get yours first and can get all the problems solved by the time I start :-lolBest,

[Guest American 390]

Tom,Sorry I haven't responded yet; have been busy with New Years. Received my packaged as FedEx estimated, on Wednesday, the 31st. Tomorrow (Friday) I will install the components and let you know how it's working out. Hope you get your package soon and Happy New Year! :)

[Guest Wichita]

TomI wouldn't worry about it,whether you buy Crucial or Corsair you can't go wrong. It'll work when you stick it in. One thing you might do is download a DOS based memory tester program. I have it on floppy and used it to check 512mb of Crucial that I installed on a system I built for my daughters a couple of days ago before Windows was ever installed. I let it run through the battery of nine tests which took a couple of hours or so and it came out perfect--0 errors. At least then you'll know if any problems arise it won't be with the memory.David

[Guest Staggerwing]

Thanks David, After reading everything on the Crucial website I got over my worry totally. Nice site and seems like great company..Decided to add a couple more case fans so a bit of a hold up while I make changes but should fire it soon.Best,

[Guest American 390]

Hey Tom,I finished installing everything and things seem great. This motherboard really runs amazing - Haven't overclocked it(not really sure how even if I wanted to) but there are many neat features on the board.I was hoping for those new "rounded cables" but these are good enough - Have to deal with the wire clutter. The wire labels ASUS provides are nice to have.Bought a nice, aluminum case that is keeping my computer cool. Two blue and red Coolmaster case fans, and a pretty neat blue case "strobe" light. The Mobo is running 37C, and CPU is at 33C idle, but not that much under use. Guess it's okay - Much better than my old case :(Installed FS9 - Loaded Default C182 at SEA - Really impressed with how the sim runs now. Locked my FPS at 25 and I get around 21 on the ground and a steady 25 in the air. Very glad the sim runs smooth with PMDG737 - Couldn't get my old system to run it well.In a couple months, Yet to spend more, I'll look for a nice ATI 9800 Pro and new SATA/Raid HD. But overall, i'm really glad I did this upgrade - Everything, so far, is running great no problems. When you get everything back up, let me know hows its going =)

[Guest Staggerwing]

Mike,Yeah, got mine up and running... I guess you might have read of my other problems with HD recognition in another thread :-)Things are running just fine so far and temps are matching yours and others. ONLY thing I need to check on now is that even though my memory (2x512 Crucial PC3200 DDR) seems to check out fine with Bios boot screen and WinXP, and I've not seen first problem.....Bios DOES beep three times on boot up that translates to "memory read/write error" but proceeds with WinXP boot without any problem.So not sure what's up with that.. I'm downloading a memory tester to run on it now.What's yours Asus/Crucial doing on boot up ? Any beeping ?Best,

[Guest American 390]

Tom,I haven't seen that problem here but what you should do is check to make sure the memory sticks are in the correct place (This dual channel ram requires one stick on one side, the other on the opposite). I doubt this is the problem because the computer would most likely not boot up but just double check. You can also load up the CD they sent you with the motherboard, and install the BIOS update utility. Really makes flashing the BIOS simple.Check for the latest update ( I believe it's 11/26/03 ) and see if that cures it. Try loading the default settings too. With this mobo, It automatically checks for installed Raid HD's, which I don't have. Takes about 15 seconds for that to complete; although it's not really important, I would like to disable that. I believe there is some kind of jumper on the board but I'll keep checking. Other than that, glad everything is looking good on your side :)

[Guest Staggerwing]

Mike,So if you flashed the Bios already, could you tell how many points the new Bios had progressed from what came with the MB ? That is, version numbers. Also, what did it say it addressed in the latest Bios ?Asking because I have yet to get the new system connected to the Internet and don't really want to D/L on this old system and then transfer. Yes,I believe my memory is correct, at least it reads in every on screen area it should as 1024. I have it in both blue slots (A1 & B1)... both blue or both black or ALL filled seems to be the choices. Couldn't find anything in the Bios to change for amount of ram installed, looked automatic.I do notice that the initial boot screen shows that it's in "linear" mode and not real sure about that as I can't find reference to it in manual.I also use a couple of racing sims and installed one of them as first graphic card/system/controller test...Looks great, but I am crashing Windows to reboot after a short while so have to look into that... COULD be memory I guess, changing graphics within the sim does not help (so far).Finally had to go to CH Products site and D/L their drivers so I can use the Flighstick Pro and Pro Pedals with WinXP, so will be able to try that soon I hope. That was a surprise to see that WinXP didn't have the selection of controllers that it had before. Seems to like USB controls better than MB game port I guess. I'll have to get a USB converter and see what that does for me. Have to do some reading and see what others are doing about it.Not sure EVERYTHING was an improvement over the old Win98 :-)Best,

[Guest Staggerwing]

Nope... it's 4 beeps, I turned up the "beep" volume..It says four beeps is "MB timer not operational" now I'll have to figure that one out :-) But still boots without problem.. not sure just what the MB timer does, I'll need to study more.I HOPE I can have some fun with it Sunday instead of just work..