[priceline]

I am novice in HTPC building..


I initially built my PC with 3x1GB RAM. later i upgraded to 4x1GB, from there pc is not booting up. It is working fine with 3x1gb in any combinations (including the new stick).


I unplugged the computer, took out the battery and rebooted. It gave me sevaral options, including F1 to contue booting.. None of the other options are working. If I say F1, it is booting up fine that time. Again I get the same problem when I reboot the system. Any idea on what to do?


Another problem is with the display. It is only occupying 90% of the TV screen, rest of the screen on all 3 sides are blank. It is showing 100% if i connect it to computer monitor. what to do with that?


Here is my setup:


Antec Fusion Black

Samsung 750GB Internal Hard Drive

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

4GB Memory

AMD Athlon 64x2 6000+ 3.0 GHz socket Dual core

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600

DVD Burner

Windows Vista Ultimate

 

[nm88]



Quote:
Originally Posted by priceline /forum/post/14202968


I initially built my PC with 3x1GB RAM. later i upgraded to 4x1GB, from there pc is not booting up. It is working fine with 3x1gb in any combinations (including the new stick).

Four sticks are usually problematic. You may have to manually enter timings in the BIOS to meet the lowest common denominator among the sticks. Or just stick with three, since with Vista 32 bit you'll get, at most, 0.5 Gb out of that last stick.

Quote:
Originally Posted by priceline /forum/post/14202968


Another problem is with the display. It is only occupying 90% of the TV screen, rest of the screen on all 3 sides are blank. It is showing 100% if i connect it to computer monitor. what to do with that?

Use the correct resolution to match your display.

 

[Sizam]

Yea if you don't have Vista64 don't bother with 4GB, assuming you do are all 4 sticks the exact same ram (size/speed/company/etc), if not you will have problems, for sure.


Also what kind of TV do you have and type of connection to the TV?

 

[jdcrox]

What are you using for a power supply? Failure to cold-boot, then running fine once up and going, is a classic symptom of a weak or failing power supply. The initial start-up surge is just too much for it to handle, and that one extra stick of ram pushes it over the edge.

 

[priceline]

I am using antec fusion black(it comes with 430W Power supply). I doubt my setup comes close to 430W. And OS is Vista 64 bit.


When it is working with 4x1gb sticks, it shows the total memory as 3.8G or something.


I am connecting it to Panasonic plasma (1080i) 50" TV through HDMI cable.

Use the correct resolution to match your display.

Where to choose the correct resolution?

You may have to manually enter timings in the BIOS to meet the lowest common denominator among the sticks.


Can you explain how i can do it? or link would be appreciated. Thank you very much.

 

[mcnabney]

You are going to have to fiddle with the resolution. Computers tend to not like sending interlaced signals and the native resolution of your display is 1080i. You can try to send 1920x1080 to it, but it may not know what to do with the progressive signal. Otherwise you could try 1280x720 which is 720p and the display will automatically convert that to 1080i. It might look odd though.

Also, do be careful leaving static images (like the desktop) on the screen for too long. Plasma technology has gotten a lot better, but a few years of the same desktop frequently being displayed is going to unevenly wear, especially the taskbar.


For the RAM issue I would recommend looking-up your motherboard at the manufacturer's website and checking what RAM is approved in the 4x configuration. You will most likely need to manually slow the timings or even adjust the voltage on one or both pairs of RAM. The other solution is to sell/return the RAM you have and buy a pair of 2GB sticks.

 

[Matt Natale]



Quote:
Originally Posted by priceline /forum/post/14202968



I unplugged the computer, took out the battery and rebooted. It gave me sevaral options, including F1 to contue booting.. None of the other options are working. If I say F1, it is booting up fine that time. Again I get the same problem when I reboot the system. Any idea on what to do?

Normally when the BIOS senses a change in hardware it will ask you to go into the BIOS again and adjust the changes. Try going into the BIOS on boot (normally pushing the delete key when booting) and just go to save changes and exit. This will normally take care of the boot screen you are running into.

Quote:
Originally Posted by priceline /forum/post/14202968


Another problem is with the display. It is only occupying 90% of the TV screen, rest of the screen on all 3 sides are blank. It is showing 100% if i connect it to computer monitor. what to do with that?

You need to go into the NVIDA control panel and adjust the overscan of the display to fit your monitor. This is pretty normal.

 

[nm88]



Quote:
Originally Posted by priceline /forum/post/14204638


I am connecting it to Panasonic plasma (1080i) 50" TV through HDMI cable.

Use the correct resolution to match your display.

Where to choose the correct resolution?

Which Panasonic 50" plasma? The cheaper ones are 1366x768, meaning you should choose 1368x768 or 1360x768 resolution. You can do this by creating a custom resolution in the Catalyst control panel.


The more expensive, recent models are 1920x1080 (1080p), which is a standard resolution you should be able to pick right away through Catalyst or Windows by right clicking desktop then going to Display Settings.


Do NOT pick 1080i (1920x1080 interlaced) unless you're absolutely sure that's the right resolution for your plasma, since it almost certainly isn't.

Quote:
Originally Posted by priceline /forum/post/14204638

You may have to manually enter timings in the BIOS to meet the lowest common denominator among the sticks.


Can you explain how i can do it? or link would be appreciated. Thank you very much.

Look here for instructions. Go into the BIOS, Press Ctrl+F1, and look in the M.I.T. section for memory timings.


See whether these are changing when you put in four sticks versus three, since by default it will attempt to automatically determine settings.


Also try loosening the timings (you don't specify your memory, so it's impossible to say to what, but 5-5-5-18 as in the picture in the link is a good starting point), or increasing memory voltage from the default of 1.8v to 1.9 or even 2.0.


This might make the memory more stable, and cause you fewer problems when booting.


In the future, avoid configurations with four memory sticks, as they always tend to cause problems. Newer BIOSes will sense that something is not working when you try to boot, and refuse to boot, causing the issues you are having.

 

[priceline]

Here is my update:


Display problem went away afer I changed the scaling options in Catalyst Control center. I gave up on trying with 4x1GB RAM. for now, i am using 3GB only.. when i get a good deal, will update to 2x2gb.


will post my further questions/problems in new thread. Thanks,