Abit motherboard killed RAM (Abit IT7-MAX2)
A bug in the BIOS, or a hardware problem, I got lost in the possible causes. In the end it did kill my memory.
The motherboard set the memory bus at 178Mhz, while it supports PC2100 memory, but PC2100 memory can't handle that speed, PC2700 even has problems with it.
I had 2x 512MB PC2700, and then, one died. So far for the auto-detect options of the motherboard.
Cold boot was impossible, I had this issue once before and then they advised me to replace my PSU, that worked last time, although it must have been coincidence because it was a memory issue.
The motherbord displays an A7 and AF error on it's led when it stops booting, and this is offcourse undocumented by Abit, only forums help. There I learnt it was a hardware issue, allong with all the details.
Solution? Go into the bios and remove the auto detect options and set everything manually.
H/W Strap should be set to Low 1:1, PCI to Fixed 33Mhz, and your multiplier and FSB to whatever is needed for your CPU.
One problem though, if I can't boot, I can't change anything in my BIOS. :(
So, off to the store it was, bought myself 2 x 512MB PC3200 and everything is working again. The old memory module is dead.
So far the worst part, motherboards killing memory. Now more of the undocumented stuff.
I had one module of 512MB still here, so I tought, 1.5GB of ram, nice!
I insert 3 x 512MB, and what does the BIOS see? 1GB...
I switched modules around, inserted them one by one to make sure none were damaged, but my motherboard refused to see all three of them.
The website states it supports up to 2GB of ram, and it has 3 memory banks.
But now for the undocumented part: the motherboard only supports 4 sides, so you can have 2 dual-sided memory, or 1 dual-sided and 2 single-sided. But you can't have 3 dual-sided modules. But guess what, almost all ram is dual-sided. Solution? You have to buy 2 x 1GB, which is expensive.
It seems Abit likes to sell, but when it comes to helping they believe their products are flawless, while they are not.
My advise: Don't but an Abit motherboard, I sure won't but them anymore. Take an Asus or something.
Here is a 11-page thread about this problem, that show the true nature of Abit.