Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[gilbertman]

hi there, i finished building my new pc to run puppy linux but there seems to be a problem with putting 2X sticks of identical SAMSUNG 512mb DDR2 ram onto the new motherboard as doing so the mobo bios would not load at all and the pc would also always automatically restarts after exactly 5 secs of doing nothing.



the mobo ia a P5KPL-AM-SE, i chose it for its high compatbility with linux and old hardware, even though it really sucks even as a low-end mobo, just take a look!

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Int...t_775/P5KPLAM/

my friend says that 2 sticks of DDR2 ram won't work together because the mobo only has 2 slots for ram, he says that i should have bought another mobo with 4-6 slots for it to work, is he right?

could it be that i've overloaded the power supply?

the power supply says [ input = 230V AC50hz ], however the label inside says that its maximium power is 350Watts, i'm so confused!

currently running on the following:


1X PentiumD 2.0ghz E2180
1X SATA II HDD 160gb
1X samsung 512mb DDR2 ram
1X cd combo drive from 2008 (data cable plugs to sata slot on mobo)

1X intel cpu fan
1X chasis rear fan

No PCI-E graphics card nor any PCI components of any kind

both ram tested to be 100% working, but if the 2 of them are running together then the mobo won't boot, it just spins the fans and stays in idle mode for 5 secs and then it restarts.

please help me! thank you so much!


edited: is there a significance between volts and watts? because i don't live in North america region, my old desktop from canada has a really tiny switch in the back of the PSU that allows it to alternate between 120 power (canada) and 230 power (where i live now)

My new brandless PSU:
outside the label reads "input 230 Volts
inside another label reads "Maximum 350 Watts

[Flash]

If the computer will boot with just one stick of RAM, then I don't think two sticks will overload your power supply. RAM uses very little power, especially if the computer is just sitting there essentially doing nothing. So the problem is probably not in your power supply.

I'm a little unclear on whether the computer will boot with either stick of RAM in either slot on the motherboard. Is that correct?

[p310don]

Hi gilbertman,

I don't think your power supply is to blame there. 350w should be heaps for that rig you've got, and one stick of RAM isn't going to affect much anyway. To me it sounds like you've got something wrong with your motherboard itself, or one of the ram sticks is buggered.

Have you tried booting with one stick in, with each different stick? If one doesn't work, there's your answer.

When you boot with the two in, does it beep when you turn it on? Is it just a single beep? Beep codes are different types of errors..

I don't think your friend is right, I have two stick of ddr2 in my pc and it works fine.

To answer your question about power supplies and watts and volts and stuff...

The input voltage of the PSU is what it connects to the wall with. 230V AC is what comes out of your wall outlet. 50hz is the frequency at which the power alternates, as it is AC, alternating current. All computer power supplies put out a steady 12 volts DC and 5 volts DC regardless of the input.

The wattage rating on the PSU is the Power that it can handle. This is the total power consumption of the component in your PC. Without checking into the details, at a guess, your rig would not pull much more than 100watts, so your 350watt power supply will easily handle it.

For the purposes of a PSU, the volts and watts aren't related. In a science classroom they are though!

Hope you get your PC up and running

Paul

[gilbertman]

[8-bit]

One thing that was not asked is if the motherboard supports the amount of memory you are trying to use.
Also, you might want to do a search for BIOS beep codes since those two beeps might be trying to tell you something.
I went and checked and the two short beeps you were hearings sometimes on starting are the motherboard BIOS trying to tell you of a memory problem.

[Geoffrey]

It could be possible that the power supply is at fault, if it is it's more than likely to do with the filtering and when you add more load to it noise on the supply line increases, which can give the symptoms you discibe might pay to check the mother board also, the capacitors on it could be faulty, the way to visually tell is look at the capacitors that have an X imbedded into the top of them, if they look to bulged upwards then they are faulty.

Generally mother boards aren't repaired but if you know anyone that is proficient with a soldering iron capacitors can be replaced.
the pic shows faulty capacitors, they should have flat tops

[Flash]

It's true that capacitors shouldn't be bulged, but don't get too excited if they look like the ones in the picture. Aluminum electrolytic capacitors can be bulged and still work fine for a long time. I'd say that if the computer is working at all, the power supply is probably working well enough that it's not worth worrying about.

Probably the BIOS either can't handle that much total RAM, as 8-bit said, or the motherboard just doesn't like that particular brand of RAM.

[rjbrewer]

That motherboard will take 4Gb of ram.

Probably best to have power unplugged and reset the bios
clear jumpers prior to installing the ram.

Look up the p5kpl on google; there is a pdf users manual
available.

[Aitch]

From the look of the specs for that mobo, it was recommended as a gamers mobo not long ago

http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5KPLAM_SE/

What COULD be happening is that the timing of the memory hasn't been set up right in bios

That mobo will take 2x2gb DDR2 memory at up to 1600mhz in overclock mode, or 1333mhz, normal FSB, but it can also use 1066 or 800, so timing will be critical - don't mix DDR2/800 and DDR2/667, or different latency sticks (see manual note about older memory ODT, there's a good list of modules)

Please also check the processor against this list, as the choice will also affect memory use

http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-ASUS/P5KPL-AM_SE.html

Best advice, read the mobo manual for setting up the memory timings, and make sure both memory sticks are the same make/type, or there will be conflicts/problems

http://static.highspeedbackbone.net/pdf/E4236_P5KPL-AM%20SE_u.pdf

In my experience, 350W is ample for that mobo, unless you add extra PCI cards, or more hard drives

Also check the video settings, as it has a PCIe slot for videocard

Update the bios

good luck

Aitch

[gilbertman]

thank you so much everyone for the detailed replies i really really appriciate it! thank you!

the online PDFs are so much more detailed and interesting because my hardcopy instruction manual says nothing about beeps at all, it just goes on and on about specifiations and brand compatbility info in 8 different languages. (korean, english, spanish, japanese, french...etc), it didn't even say what the green port is other than the word "COM", though i wish they'd added a DVI port instead, and for some reason they even threw in a brand new IDE cable in there.

the capacitators on the mobo looks dandy fine so i guess its a good sign that the power supply is working as it should?

well believe or not it seems that the 1 stick i've been using these past 2 days have failed yesterday when my screen suddenly goes black and my pc reboots on its own and exibited the exact symptom as when i had plugged 2 sticks of ram to the mobo; black screen with nothing and in idle mode. i then remove the ram and insert the other one in and the pc boots fine.

i guess i should have mentioned that my pc was running extremely slow and most if not all programs takes extremely long to load and the pc freezes constantly although at the time i thought it was the HDD.

the sticks are identical, i bought 2 of the same brand and model. guess its time for new ram!


thanks everyone for your help! thank you!

[gilbertman]

i thought i should let you folks know that my new pc....isn't exactly completely new, i mean the chasis/powersupply/motherboard are all brand new but i actually salvaged the old pentium CPU, HDD and the 2 sticks of RAM from my custom rig that actually fried wayy back in 2006 due to overheating, because the parts are so old they're not compatible with any mobos at all except for this really low-end ASUS mobo, so yes i was trying to save money when i built this hunk of junk that's why there are so many problems with it...

[tech_jnke2]

gilbertman, don't feel bad about salvaging old parts from another computer, i've done it and yes had some problems too. on older equipment or new you just don't know anymore how long this stuff will last. the quality just isn't there like it used to be.

just glad it still works, and it's a simple fix. and also you know it wasn't puppy that was doing it.

hope you have fun with your new toy and run it like hll with puppy.

[rocket7777]

Remove the ram that is working and see if 2nd one alone in same slot works.
If it does, try placing first ram in other slot.

To see powersupply is marginal Also disconnect hard drive and see... HD uses about same power as ram. If there's builtin video and video card, remove video card too.

Other than that, if rams are not identical see there's some sort of option for not allowing dual channel.

Also, test 2nd slot alone too to see if there's problem with slot... (dust or broken)

[starhawk]

Man, I just typed up a whole long post about the RAM, and then I actually went and looked up your motherboard on Newegg (a retail site with extremely trusty info, both in reviews and on product pages)...

That page is here --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131369

...whoever told you that your CPU was compatible with your motherboard was, to put it bluntly, lying. That board can only take three types of CPU and Pentium D is NOT one of them!

While it is probably POSSIBLE to make that CPU work, it's gonna have so many behavior problems that it's not worth it. Think "really fat kid having a temper tantrum in a shop selling lots of fragile items" trouble.

At this point, you really have two choices: (1) go on eBay and get a motherboard that works with your CPU, or (2) go on eBay and get a CPU that works with your motherboard. CPUs are cheaper to ship, but motherboards are usually cheaper to buy, but then I don't have anything even as advanced as you, so I may very well be talking from my seatbones

BTW, just a tip when it comes to electrical stuff... volts times amps equals watts.

[Aitch]