ram problems..

Kali

Right im after getting a stick of generic pc133 ram from komplett.

Basically the PC doesn't post when it turns on.. (this is actually a returned item .. first one was the same).. was I mistaken in thinking that all pc133 memory will run at pc100?

It'll boot when I put the stick in the second bank (with the pc100 in the first), but gives a memory error shortly after (this was the same with the first piece I got from komplett).

Basically wondering whether its the motherboard (its only a bog standard gateway with a p3-600e) or I've received another piece of ****ed ram... in which case it'll be returned (again) and hopefully replaced for a pc100 stick.

deckie27

When to computer doesn't post
1.does it give out a few beep
2. is this with de pc100 in the second slot

When it does post does it count up the right amount of memory at the start in the bios test?

Deco

Kali

Originally posted by deckie27
When to computer doesn't post
1.does it give out a few beep
2. is this with de pc100 in the second slot

won't beep or turn on the monitor at all if the pc133 is in any of the slots on its own... nor if its in the first slot and the pc100 in the second or third.

When it does post does it count up the right amount of memory at the start in the bios test?

yep.. then gives a memory failed error and win2000 proceeds to hang halfway through loading

TacT

have you tried changing your ram timings in bios (if it allows you considering it's a gateway)

jk2001

Hi,

If you've bought the (cheapest) standard memory it is probably CAS3 (memory latency) - - most Gateway systems require CAS2 memory. The same is the case for Dell systems.

Try and see of you can change it for CAS2 and I'm sure it'll work fine.

jk

Quigs Snr

Had a similar problem with a few machines I was putting together myself.

Some sticks were faulty, but mostly they were just crap cas 3 stuff. Now this was RAM I bought from ebuyer, I couldn't get one stick to work with these particular motherboards (MSI), however they were fine with others (Abit). So it does seem to be a bit of a lottery.

However, I did buy also the cheapest of the cheap from Jaguarcompsys.ie for those machines and that worked fine. Good performance too.

po0k

I haven't time to read the above posts.
Something you *may* be over looking is to put the fastest DIMM(clockspeed takes preference over latency here) in the first slot (slot0), the second fastest in slot1, 3rd in slot2 etc.

Also, if you do manage to get her booting turn the CAS latency from 2 to 3ns.

po0k

From http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=78 >
This means for a BX chipset, it will not be able to handle a double sided DIMM that is larger than 256MB: 8 x 128Mbit chips on both sides of the DIMM.

The second factor to consider is the organisation of the RAM cells inside each chip. There are a number of configurations available for the organisation of a single chip. Take the 128Mbit chip as an example. It can be organised as 8mbit x 16 cells, 16mbit x 8 cells, or 32mbit x 4 cells. The last configuration is classed as high density.

Much of the very cheap RAM that you see today is in the form of the final organisation (?? x 4). No Intel chipset is compatible with this RAM, regardless of the overall Mbit size of the RAM chip. VIA Apollo and K?133/266 chipsets ARE compatible with this type of RAM.

Might be something to think about.

Kali

well its all pointless cos i sent it back again, for a refund this time ..

didn't realise those last two points made though (thanks).. but just to answer them relating to my paritcular case:

- it was a 256mb cas3 pc133.. i had used cas3 on the pc before (pc100 however).

- on the double-sided issue.. it had 8x32Mb chips on one side iirc.