Computer freezes within few minutes of booting with Dual Channel..2GB corsair pc26400

I recently built a new rig (only saved the hard drive and the cd/dvd drive). I spent hours and hours and HOURS trying to install windows vista and it kept freezing in the same or around the same areas. The mouse would freeze, the keyboard and everything else would stop responding, and the computer would shut itself off after about 5 minutes of it just sitting there locked up.

After a few days of troubleshooting i discovered it was my ram. I left one stick in and installed windows, and had high hopes that the problem would be solved after I installed mobo drivers, but nope. The problem persisted, freezing at the windows loading screen after I placed the second stick back in. When I place the two sticks in single channel, they work. But just like the windows installation, the computer will freeze anywhere from the loading screen of windows to the first minute of the desktop and will turn off after a few minutes.

my specs:
2GB Corsair PC2 6400 (DDR2)
Abit FP-IN9 SLI by Fatal1ty (Nforce 650i)
Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
Intel Core Duo E6750
EVGA 8800GTS Superclock
120GB HD
Five Case Fans
600w Power Supply


I've spent hours looking on different forums, messing around with bios settings, adjusting voltages, etc. My friend's computer who has 2gb of the same ram let me put his ram in his computer to test it out and it worked flawlessly. I think i'm going to try a different brand of ram tomorrow, but i'm afraid that it won't make a difference =\

It just really sucks, everything is brand spankin new...any help would really be appreciated =]

 

The ram may be playing with you because unless it is defective, which would be the first time I have ever seen that with Corsair, I think it sounds like dying hard drive indicating problems.
You can download and run memtest to test the ram and be sure:
www.memtest86.com
Brand of hard drive? Can I guess Maxtor?
Also the fact you don't mention brand of psu scares me....never build a system like this without a top notch brand name psu because generics and no names will not produce the power they are rated at for long periods.

 

the power supply is eXtreme power, and the box i bought it from looks legit... its not a no name

ive tried it out with two different hard drives, still freezes.

and no, it's a western digital. EVERYTHING works perfectly fine except for dual channel so I don't see how it could be the hard drive...but hey, i don't know much about dual channel

 

Dual channel has absolutely nothing to do with that.
What I thought also that is a really cheap promo Cooler Master which is crap psu sorry to say and will; most likely never run that system right..

 

any other opinions?

 

The ram may require a higher voltage then the usual default 1.8v.
Check the manufacturers specs for the ram and check the voltage required and adjust as required

 

the ram is supposed to run at 1.9v. I've tried everywhere from 1.8-2.2 and still no good

 

flashing the bios did the trick. Haven't tried it with any games, but at least i'm typing this on dual channel,

how annoying, but i'm so glad it's over =]

thanks guys

 

Yes we should have asked that as well.