Memory problem

[mashley278]

Ok finally got everything together. Booted up and I was looking at all the goodies on the post screen, then I get a beep (says something about the wrong speed). I go into the BIOS to adjust things and it locks up after a couple of minutes. I reboot, then I get continuous beeping a "C1" code on the board, and no video. I tried clearing the CMOS but nothing. Got any ideas....C1 is a memory error by the way.

athlon xp 1900 AOGOA
epox 8k3a+
Mushkin pc3000 512mb (just out of the bag)
GeForce 4200Ti Golden Sample
Maxtor ata133 40gb

[techs]

If you have already tried reseating the video card, cpu, memory(and tried a different memory slot) removed all other add in cards, removed all ide and floppy drives and tried without the keyboard connected (yes, a bad keyboard can halt post) I would make absolutely sure you cleared the bios. Try removing the battery for ten minutes (don't forget to unplug the machine). If it doesn't boot check the clear cmos jumper, set it to clear cmos (and wait at least 5 minutes). You can also try holding the insert key down when you boot. On some machines that clears the cmos. If it boots and you get into the cmos use Setup Defaults. On high performance settings many Athlon systems fail because of a video card setting. Better yet see if you have an old PCI video card and try that. Otherwise it's rma the Mushkin.
PS- Sometimes with high quality memory like cas2 larger sticks like 512 or multiple sticks like two 256 won't work unless you manually back off some memory settings. That's what happened when I added a second 256 of Mushikin to my MSI board even though either stick will run at the higher settings.

[mashley278]

Ok. I booted the machine one last time, heard a pop then I smelled something burned. Contacted Mushkin, they told me one of two things. The board is not grounded correctly or it was a bad MB. There are burn marks on the DIMM slot and on the memory. Mushkin is replacing my memory and the board has been RMA'd. I've built probably 20 PCs and never had a grounding problem. This is also the first time I used the brass mounts. Do any of you guys have suggestions on how to avoid the possible grounding problem in the future. Suggestions on mounts etc. By the way, the V/C is fine, the fans seem fine, but I don't know about the processor. I can't test it because I don't have any other socket a boards lying around. You think it just hit the memory? The board still worked after the POP.

[Johnny Blaze]

Didn't happen to put the RAM is Back Asswards ?? I've seen that cook DIMM Slot and RAM before.I know it's hard to do but not impossible. Just had to ask.

[mashley278]

Nah, it actually went in smoother than any other board I have used. It never registered an then on the 5th or 6th boot...POOF