xw6600 Workstation 213 inconpatible memory modules......... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

[Al2025]

I have a HP workstation 6600. It was working great, I then opened a corrupted
files and now I am here after weeks of trying to sort it out for myself, the only tool
I have left to use is my hammer, hence the question.

My PC started running like a snail, so I dragged everything off I could and did a windows
10 restore keep files.... it worked but my machine had 100% HD use in the systems manager, so
was again snail pace. I then opted to restore windows 10 "wipe the lot" fire bomb approach........
then I ended up in a doom loop as it never worked right, so it would
stat but it couldn't complete and needed to restart over and over, so now I was in a pickle.....

I figured I would remove the HD, connect it to my other PC and do a wipe the drive....... ( i think I wiped HP files I need????? from a partition.   DOH!)
I wiped and formatted everything back to ZERO. Then I put the now blank original HP Hard disc into my none HP
working PC along with a windows 7 boot disc loaded win7 on and it worked great. Removed it from my working PC took it to HP machine put it
in switched it on and now all I get is a "error 213" incompatible memory Modules...... well they have been compatible for over 2 years.....

OKay I figure one may have gone bad, so I took all 8 out did different combos of ram 1
stick , 2 stick, 4 stick and back to 8 (all in the correct slots as per the book) also tried several different stick as just 1 stick...... same 213 error.

I cant access Bios, I cant access setup, I did for a brief time have a boot message with 4 options........that no longer comes up anymore.

I downloaded the latest bios put it on a USB BUT my screen seems to suggest my machine will only recognize HD or optical discs.

Does anyone have a clue WTFudge is going on,
Did I delete files required on the HP HD partition?
If so is there a way to put them back on whist the HD is in another PC?

Or should I in the words of mel Gibson "swing away" with my aforementioned Hammer?

That is about as brief but detailed as I could make it.

Thanks in advance for any advice that helps.

Al...... England....... Sober...... with a streaming running nose to boot......... it least that will boot, I wish it wouldn't.
cheers

[DGroves]

the HP xw6600/8600 use unusual ram modules (FBDIMM) which were available in two different memory speeds with these workstations spec'd by HP to use the 667mhz modules, but 5300

FBdimms came in 512k  1/2/4/8 ( and i think 16gb in limited release)

however you need to pay attention to the memory modules "rank" besides the speed/capacity you can not mid dimms of different rank in a memory channel, for example 8gb dimms were available in single and dual rank and are not compatible with each other

https://www.oempcworld.com/support/singlevsdualram.html#:~:text=Generally%20Single%20Rank%20Memory%2....

the correct load order of dimm-memory slot is also important this is printed on the side cover of your xw660 and in the user manual

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/436998/Hp-Xw6600-Workstation-2-Gb-Ram.html?page=87

i recommend you download the drivers/latest bios from HP as they will be removed soon as this is a very old system

[Al2025 · Accepted solution]

Hi DGroves thanks for the reply.

I will look at all the info and find out if any of the ram is different.

I have seen the correct loading of the dimms in the manual and the inside of the case thank you, I have also downloaded the bios but I cant even get to the bios screen before I get this error pop up ad the PC locks up.

I have tried running the PC with 1 stick of RAM (using several different sticks) in just position 1 of the motherboard so there is no other memory to conflict with or be different too....  and still the same ERROR 213 code.  Unless I am missing the meaning of the PC warning?

Again thanks very much for your inks and help, it's much appreciated.  As I am in the deep end here and not much of a swimmer like a lot of your guys and girls.

Al......still sober

Just taken all RAM back out, all HP and all...................................  HOLD the phone.......

HP 4GB 2RX4 PC2 5300F    4 stick that do NOT say 667 they are 5300f and PC2 and somehow they were running in the PC before I wiped it, now I feel stupid BUT VERY happy as with only one stick of RAM my paperweight is now a running PC again.  Thanks again DGroves (MVP).  I am smiling for the first time whilst think of the machine for 2 weeks, you saved me £££.

Cheers again from Al, UK sober.

[Al2025]

I had a fully working machine (then the HD died, kinda long story which eventually led to me formatting it......)  I removed everything from the disc.
I figured like any PC........... i could wipe the disc get the windows disc and start the PC back up and just reinstall windows in 30 minutes...........  well all I get is a message telling me that no PS is detected.  If I go into the boot section and tell it to boot form the optical drive it tells me there nothing there to boot from.

I assume my issues are because this used to be a server machine and they must work differently, any help and suggestion are welcome as I am struggling to say the least.

At one point i took the HD shoved it into another PC installed it to the HD and then put it back into the other workstation....... I stared to load but said it was broken.... (it wasn't i had it run several times in the machine i installed it on initially)  so windows tried to repair and then i ended up in another death loop, cant fix, try to repair....cant repair, try to load, try to repair cant repair......

[Al2025]

For anyone in the future.

I changed the HD several times no change also they all ran fine in different pcs so they wern't the problem.

The optical drive was really struggeling to read from the windows disc, so I clean it a best as I could and tried over and over again.  I end up in a windows 7 death spiral.  I entered f10 and changed the SATA settings in the bios from RAID to IDHE or vice versa it doesnt seem to matter just alter it.  Suddenly the machine was finding things that it had not seen before, I am sure someone knows why but I have no clue why.  Then I started trying to insall again and hours later windows 7 was on the PC.

If you have memory 213 issues..... boffins out there can make the machine run on different RAM, however if you delete the machine you will not be able to do that.  remove all the RAM and instal a bit at a time after it starts to run again, I am back to 8 strips but that machine now only recognizes 4........  at least I have a working PC today.

I am a moron and I have managed to get this old system working again, it took ages but, shes working again

[DGroves]

the xw6600/8600 workstation systems will install a windows OS in approx. 20-40 min and they can run all windows os's from XP to windows 10 (win 11 24h2 will not be compatible most likely)

your issues are most likely ram related,

they range from wrong FBDimm speeds (should be 667mhz not 533) wrong dimm "rank" to wrong dimm load order

bios should be set to defaults, and the Intel chipset and RTe drivers need to be installed

for RSTe use the "F6" method to install during the windows initial install/setup