Bought 2GB of RAM, doesn't work, need advice.

I recently bought 4 x 512 MB of Corsair Value Select (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=9821&vpn=VS1GBKIT400&manufacture=CORSAIR) to go with my ASUS P5GD1 motherboard.

After installing all 4 sticks, the computer would not load Windows. I would provide the exact error but it was over a month ago and I cannot remember. There was some kind of beeping during the memory test phase and an error like memory mismatch or something like that.

Anyway, I quickly removed 2 of the sticks and tried again. No problems there. Then I added another 512 stick, again, no problems. It's only after I add the fourth stick that the computer will not load.

So I open up my MB manual and read the 'qualified vendors list' only to find out that this particular type of memory does not support dual-channel with 4 sticks.

So, now that I've identified the problem, my question is what should I do next? Should I replace the MB, sell the 4 sticks and buy another 4, or sell 2 sticks and buy another 2 sticks of a different type.

If I replace the MB, will my version of WinXP become invalid because of the hardware change? And if I mix 2 different types of sticks in a dual-channel config, will there be a problem?

you will have to do a repair install of xp if you change out the MB and reactivate it, if it is a legit copy this is easy to do.

Well, the copy is legit, I actually bought it at the same time as the RAM. But it is the cheaper OEM version of XP and I read in the comments on NCIX.com that if you make a major hardware change it may become void.

Sell all 4 sticks and buy 2x1 gig sticks.

Page 12 of your manual says that you can have all 4 DIMMs in as long as they're identical. Flash your BIOS, perhaps that's all you need to do.

Corsair on certain mobos(yours included) will only work at 2GBs if you use 2 sticks of 1GB each, won't work with 4 sticks of 512MB!! Just the way it is, so basically Amadeus is correct...

BTW, although Corsair sells very nice ram, it is like this sometimes so always best to check 'Corsair's site' and your mobo's...

That's a weird quirk. Why would that happen?

That's a weird quirk. Why would that happen?
Donno why, but I have found this happens only with Corsair(so far) ~~~> I am assuming its how its circuitry is set-up at the 2GB level... If he had 4 sticks of 512MB Kingston; it would probably work...

My first experience with this issue is when I built my rig 2.5 years ago with the Asus P4C800-E mobo and had 2 sticks of Corsair 512MB ram which worked fine; then wanted to upgrade so I bought 2 more 512s and mobo would only recognize 1GB Ram total... So I searched(can't remember where exactly although I think it was the Corsair site) and found 2GBs only works with two 1GB sticks...