computer has ram issue

[keakar]

I need help diagnosing a computer that a guy gave me

he found it in the closet of a house he just bought and its a server style case and that's about all I know about it.

brand is unknown but mb says its an intel desktop motherboard dh55tc http://ark.intel.com/products/42408/Intel-Desktop-Board-DH55TC

cpu is intel i5 3.20ghz

ram is Kingston kvr133303n/2g and it has 2 sticks of 2gb for total of 4gb which are in the correct matching slots and I already tried swapping ram slots

operating system sticker says its win 7 pro


whats going on is it wont post with the 2 sticks of ram in the dim 0 slots but will post with the 2 sticks of ram in the dim 1 slots so does that mean the dim 1 slots are bad? as far as I know it shouldn't matter which dim slots are used as long as they are the same channels correct?

I just don't want to buy more ram for it if it has bad dim slots and cant make use of it

 

[jboydgolfer]

Can you downlosd and run cpuz?

Since u said it would post with a certain ram setup...i mean

1 stick of ram, reseat cpu? running 2 RAM stix @ once will just give you Dual channel, so 1, 3 or any number should be fine. my first step would be reseat the CPU...

 

[keakar]

it is also not wanting to let me reset/disable the password for it. it has a user password as well as supervisor password and doesn't seam to allow me to reset or disable the supervisor password.

I went into bios 3 times and changed the user password (didn't show any option to not have one) but when I restart, the password I entered and saved doesn't work and now i need to enter the password I created just to enter bios

I don't see any way to change the supervisor password unless I can enter the original supervisor password so i presume I am going to have to reinstall windows to remove the password, correct?

 

[keakar]

Can you downlosd and run cpuz?

Since u said it would post with a certain ram setup...i mean

1 stick of ram, reseat cpu? running 2 RAM stix @ once will just give you Dual channel, so 1, 3 or any number should be fine. my first step would be reseat the CPU...

yep, I plan to give it a good cleaning and reapply of thermal paste as well as put everything into a regular "normal" looking computer case for him but im trying to judge where it stands and if there is something not right with the board I wouldn't want to put any money into it.

thing is, I would expect it should post with any stick in any slot but I never dealt with a server so I don't know if they work differently even though the board did say it was for a desktop.

anyway, I cant do anything like running cpuz at this point because I am unable to disable or change the password to get into the operating system

 

[dorsetknob]

using the intergrated graphics or discrete card ????

 

[dorsetknob]

you need to start from scratch
put it on the bench case open
clear bios in powered down state using usual methods
download the motherboard manual
then start your diagnostic boot to bios

 

[keakar]

you need to start from scratch
put it on the bench case open
clear bios in powered down state using usual methods
download the motherboard manual
then start your diagnostic boot to bios

ok I forgot about clearing bios manually I pulled the battery since I can tell how to short the pins or if it even has them

I also have need to clear windows admin login and password too, can that be done without a reinstall of OS?

 

[dorsetknob]

I also have need to clear windows admin login and password too, can that be done without a reinstall of OS?

Yes as long as you use hirens boot disk and know how to use the password reset program on disk

 

[keakar]

Yes as long as you use hirens boot disk and know how to use the password reset program on disk

but when I looked it said I need to log in as admin in order to create the password reset boot disk but the problem is I cant get in to do that. so it looks like that is for resetting user account passwords and not admin account password. guess i'll just bite the bullet and do a fresh OS install

also, after resetting bois/cmos by pulling battery it still has a supervisor as well as a user password access in bios with supervisor password showing as "installed" and user as "not installed" so I don't know what to do with that stuff? while this isn't stopping me from doing anything and it can be ignored (im assuming) it is something I never had to deal with before so I don't know if its something to worry about.

sorry to be going in two directions at once with this but I have two separate password issues im trying to figure out even though the windows login is the only critical issue at the moment.

 

[dorsetknob]

set the Bios to boot from opitical drive/cd/DVD
boot to hirens boot disk ( if you do not have it download a copy and burn to disk on another PC )
use password reset program
reboot to windows
accounts you have removed password from will now be accessible

Some times (nearly always ) you need a fully accessible 2nd PC for downloads to sort out 1st PC

 

[keakar]

set the Bios to boot from opitical drive/cd/DVD
boot to hirens boot disk ( if you do not have it download a copy and burn to disk on another PC )
use password reset program
reboot to windows
accounts you have removed password from will now be accessible

Some times (nearly always ) you need a fully accessible 2nd PC for downloads to sort out 1st PC

ahh, ok I think that's where I got all confused with the steps they showed.

I started a new install already so either way the passwords are going to be gone now.

I still don't understand why the hell the bios has supervisor and user password settings and lockouts, but I guess that to keep employees from screwing around with the settings on server units.

I wonder if I could flash to a different non server bios (if there is one) to get rid of that????????

 

[keakar]

I tried some other ram in dimm 0 along with the dimm 1 slots being full and it works so im not sure why, but this mb seams to require the dimm 1 slots have to be used or it wont post

he is going to be stoked that he has a free working computer and just needs a case to put it in
anyway, thanks for helping

 

[newtekie1]

whats going on is it wont post with the 2 sticks of ram in the dim 0 slots but will post with the 2 sticks of ram in the dim 1 slots so does that mean the dim 1 slots are bad? as far as I know it shouldn't matter which dim slots are used as long as they are the same channels correct?

This was a common thing with the 50 series Intel chipsets. The two slots furthest from the CPU have to be populated before the two closest to the CPU.