RAM problem

lukin

Hi,
I recently bought a gig of RAM for a friend's machine but it turned out to be incompatible.
I ran a program before I bought it to tell me stuff about the motherboard and the RAM that is already in it but it didn't tell me much.
The proggie was called cpu-z and was pretty basic.
I just want to know is there any absolute fool-proof way of knowing the exact right RAM for a machine?
Y'know a program you can run or a website you can go to?
I don't want to be caught out again.
I know there's probably been loads of threads on this before so I did a search but that search facility is crap, it returned nothing (sort it out boards people).
Thanks for any replies

challengemaster

when you ran cpu-z there were several tabs, find out what motherboard was in the pc, go to a computer parts site - eg. komplett.ie , overclockers.co.uk etc, find the motherboard, see what ram is compatible.

Ruu_Old

Crucial.com have a memory scanner program on their website. Link.

lukin

Cheers, thanks.

Stephen

Are you sure the RAM is incompatible? I had serious problems getting 2x1GB Corsair DDR2-667 sticks working in my new Abit AB9 Pro/Intel E6600 system. It turned out the motherboard wasn't reading the correct timings by SPD, so I had to set them manually. A BIOS update then fixed the problem anyway.

lukin

Stephen wrote:

Are you sure the RAM is incompatible? I had serious problems getting 2x1GB Corsair DDR2-667 sticks working in my new Abit AB9 Pro/Intel E6600 system. It turned out the motherboard wasn't reading the correct timings by SPD, so I had to set them manually. A BIOS update then fixed the problem anyway.

Well it's not my machine y'see. I bought it for someone else and he installed it himself.
It's in an internet cafe and the machine is the one they do all the billing on so it can only be opened up when the shop closes.
Could be the BIOS is wrong but they only want to pay for RAM and not any further upgrades.
Here's the link to where I bought it incidentally:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/New-1GB-PC2700-DDR-Memory-RAM-DDR333-for-EMachines-4020_W0QQitemZ140020847139QQihZ004QQcategoryZ74942QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

(The stick I received looks nothing like the one in the pic by the way)

lukin

challengemaster wrote:

when you ran cpu-z there were several tabs, find out what motherboard was in the pc, go to a computer parts site - eg. komplett.ie , overclockers.co.uk etc, find the motherboard, see what ram is compatible.

That tab didn't give me the manufacturer or model (see attached)

Fanny Cradock

That doesn't really help. Try pressing the pause| break key during the boot up process. Pause it on any motherboard details and post it here.

:::EDIT:::

This programme, Sandra IX from Sis software, will give you more details about your hardware. Download the light version (free) and check what is model listed under the hardware tab.

lukin

Just what I was looking for, great stuff.
That Corsair link looks like it might do the job for me.
I had that Sandra Sis Software already silly me, but thanks for reminding me anyway about it.