The Mother Board

[rascard2007]

Hi Folks!

I have a P5-S800VM/S ASUS motherboard that uses to work with two 2 x 512 MB sticks of 400 MHz DDR RAM, 16 x 32 MB chips each one. I recently got two 1024 MB sticks of 400 MHz DDR RAM, 8 x 128 MB chips each one.

the board didn´t recognize them, no error beeps and no boot also.

I think that mobo could need a bios upgrading, I have just the 0103 version, but when i look for this I found some people complaining about that the /S in the mobo name stands for NEC or Packard Bell OEM so the standard bios in asus webpage doesn´t works with this OEM mobo.

is there any chance of finding a proper bios upograde to this mobo, and that the upgrading solves the memory issue?

here is the, I think, most relevant info that i got from PC wizard about the mobo:

PC Wizard 2010 Version 1.93
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> OEM Information
Fabricante : ASUS
Model : P5S800-VM/S
> Mainboard : Asus P5S800-VM

Fabricante : ASUSTeK Computer INC. (Asus)
Product : P5S800-VM
Versión : Rev 1.xx
Serial Number : MB-1234567890
Support MP : Yes, 1 CPU(s)
Versión MPS : 1.4

>> Sensor Information
Hardware Monitoring : Winbond W83627EHF/EHG

> Bios : American Megatrends Inc.

Fabricante : American Megatrends Inc.
Versión : 0103
Date : 03/24/2006 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Address : 512 KB
Copyright : (C)2002 American Megatrends, Inc
Motherboard ID : 63-0103-009999-00101111-032406-SIS661FX-A0542001
DMI Version : 2.3

>> Characteristics
Flashable : Yes
Socketed : Yes

> Chipset : SiS 661FX/GX

>> Información general
NorthBridge : SiS 661FX/GX
SouthBridge : PCI to ISA Bridge

>> NorthBridge Information
Architecture : Northbridge
Fabricante : SiS (ASUSTeK Computer)
Revision : 11
Bus Speed : 133 MHz
FSB Frequency : 532 MHz (QDR)

>> Memory Information
Supported Channels : 1
ECC Diagnostic : No


>> Información general
DIMM0 (RAS 6, RAS 11) : 512 (Double Bank)
DIMM1 (RAS 6, RAS 11) : 512 (Double Bank)

>> Memory Controller Information
Memory Controller : SIMM, DIMM, SDRAM
Number of connectors : 2
Max. Module Size : 1024 MB
Max. Memory Size : 2048 MB
Supported Speed : 70ns, 60ns, 50ns
Supported Voltages : 3.3v
Error Detection Method : No
Error Correction Capability : None
Current/Supported Interleave : 1-way/1-way

***** End of report *****

many thanks in advance

SAM
_________________
"I have only come here seeking knowledge,
Things they would not teach me of in college"
-Wrapped Around Your Fingers-
-The Police-

[Mr T]

It looks like a RAM density issue... What brands are they? and from what you said they appear single sided?
_________________
I have been programming on computers since the ZX81.
I am an apprentice trained Electronics Engineer with qualifications to back it up.
I have been repairing computers since 1996.
Yet to some people I still know nothing...

[rascard2007]

Well I think they are a generic brand or something, label only says:


DDR 128 x 8 400 1G 0611
A bar code and
ch in the bottom line

I don´t say they´re single sided, they have 8 chips of 128 MB each on the front side

the old ones had 8 chips of 32 MB each on the both sides

I agree on being some density issue

Thanks

SAM
_________________
"I have only come here seeking knowledge,
Things they would not teach me of in college"
-Wrapped Around Your Fingers-
-The Police-

[Mr T]

Have you tried a BIOS update, that model is listed on the ASUS website, so it is unlikely to be an OEM?
_________________
I have been programming on computers since the ZX81.
I am an apprentice trained Electronics Engineer with qualifications to back it up.
I have been repairing computers since 1996.
Yet to some people I still know nothing...

[evasive]

P5S800-VM/S

Definetely a PackardBell/NEC OEM board by the name of Santiago2. Asus bios versions start at 1001, this is a known version of PB/NEC (0106), latest version is 0216 which can be found here:
http://www.nec-computers.com/support2/pib.asp?platform=Santiago_bios_216&mode=default&source=2006
_________________
We hate rut, but we fear change.



System error, strike any user to continue...

[rascard2007]

Many thanks Mr.T and evasive.

I will try the BIOS update.

Are U sure it´s safe to do that?

Sam
_________________
"I have only come here seeking knowledge,
Things they would not teach me of in college"
-Wrapped Around Your Fingers-
-The Police-

[evasive]

If it's the wrong bios it will not update, there's a check in there.
_________________
We hate rut, but we fear change.



System error, strike any user to continue...

[rascard2007]

thanks again evasive, I was just worried about killing my mobo
_________________
"I have only come here seeking knowledge,
Things they would not teach me of in college"
-Wrapped Around Your Fingers-
-The Police-

[rascard2007]

I got the bios update from the NEC Computers page, but to be cautious (because ´cautious seldom err´, Confucious) I want to back up the actual bios of my mobo.

I used AFUDOS and got the actual bios in a file I named oldbios.rom BUT in order to recover the original bios if the flashing process goes wrong ASUS has the EZ Flash Utility that search in floppy or cdrom a BIOS file with an specific name

e.g. for the ´pure´ ASUS mobo EZ Flash serach for "P5S800VM.ROM" file

my question is:

What is the file name that uses the EZ Flash utility to recover the BIOS in my NEC OEMed model?????

many thanks in advance

SAM
_________________
"I have only come here seeking knowledge,
Things they would not teach me of in college"
-Wrapped Around Your Fingers-
-The Police-

[evasive]

Where did you find the information about the retail Asus board ROM name? That way I know where to look, inside the EZ-flash utility or in the ROM itself.
_________________
We hate rut, but we fear change.



System error, strike any user to continue...