added more RAM and it's reporting less RAM

I have a P4B533-V. In the three memory slots I had

DIMM1- 512M
DIMM2 - 256M
DIMM3 - 256M
giving me 1G of RAM.

I was recently given a stick of 1GB 184-Pin unbuffered DIMM 128Mx64
DDR PC2700

I first tried it in slot one:
DIMM1- 1G
DIMM2 - 512M
DIMM3 - 256M

That didn't boot.

I then tried:
DIMM1- 1G
DIMM2 - 256M
DIMM3 - 256M

That boots but Windows says that I have 768M.

I didn't make any changes to the BIOS.

What is going on?

Walter

"Walter_S" wrote in message
...
I have a P4B533-V. In the three memory slots I had

DIMM1- 512M
DIMM2 - 256M
DIMM3 - 256M
giving me 1G of RAM.

I was recently given a stick of 1GB 184-Pin unbuffered DIMM 128Mx64
DDR PC2700

I first tried it in slot one:
DIMM1- 1G
DIMM2 - 512M
DIMM3 - 256M

That didn't boot.

I then tried:
DIMM1- 1G
DIMM2 - 256M
DIMM3 - 256M

That boots but Windows says that I have 768M.

I didn't make any changes to the BIOS.

What is going on?



Walter

What does it report if the only stick is the 1G ?

Eric

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Remove the dross to contact me directly

Walter_S wrote:
I have a P4B533-V. In the three memory slots I had

DIMM1- 512M
DIMM2 - 256M
DIMM3 - 256M
giving me 1G of RAM.

I was recently given a stick of 1GB 184-Pin unbuffered DIMM 128Mx64
DDR PC2700

I first tried it in slot one:
DIMM1- 1G
DIMM2 - 512M
DIMM3 - 256M

That didn't boot.

I then tried:
DIMM1- 1G
DIMM2 - 256M
DIMM3 - 256M

That boots but Windows says that I have 768M.

I didn't make any changes to the BIOS.

What is going on?

Walter



You are probably experiencing the same problem that has been around for
many years with memory. When a board is designed it is made for
currently available memory. Newer memory may have a design that the
board doesn't recognize correctly and only part of the memory is usable.
The newer DDR memory has a different geometry than the older memory
and may not work correctly with a lot of existing mother boards.

Walter

What does it report if the only stick is the 1G ?

Eric

With only the 1G installed it reports 256M. I guess the motherboard
doesn't support this memory.

Thanks

You are probably experiencing the same problem that has been around for
many years with memory. When a board is designed it is made for
currently available memory. Newer memory may have a design that the
board doesn't recognize correctly and only part of the memory is usable.
The newer DDR memory has a different geometry than the older memory
and may not work correctly with a lot of existing mother boards.

That appears to be the case. The 1G is PC2700 and looking at the
manual it mentions that it supports PC2100.

Oh well, my current 512 + 256 +256 setup has always been sufficient.
Except that I recently loaded Microsoft Virtual Machine to play around
with another copy of XP running in XP and it would have been nice to
try it with more RAM. But I have nothing I need to do that requires
more RAM.

I'm going to put together a new computer anyway once I figure out
what motherboard to buy -- so I'm reading this group to figure it.

Thanks

In article , Walter_S wrote:

You are probably experiencing the same problem that has been around for
many years with memory. When a board is designed it is made for
currently available memory. Newer memory may have a design that the
board doesn't recognize correctly and only part of the memory is usable.
The newer DDR memory has a different geometry than the older memory
and may not work correctly with a lot of existing mother boards.

That appears to be the case. The 1G is PC2700 and looking at the
manual it mentions that it supports PC2100.

Oh well, my current 512 + 256 +256 setup has always been sufficient.
Except that I recently loaded Microsoft Virtual Machine to play around
with another copy of XP running in XP and it would have been nice to
try it with more RAM. But I have nothing I need to do that requires
more RAM.

I'm going to put together a new computer anyway once I figure out
what motherboard to buy -- so I'm reading this group to figure it.

Thanks

You should be able to run that ram at the PC2100's 266mhz speed, instead of
the 2700's 333mhz speed

Walter_S wrote:
You are probably experiencing the same problem that has been around for
many years with memory. When a board is designed it is made for
currently available memory. Newer memory may have a design that the
board doesn't recognize correctly and only part of the memory is usable.
The newer DDR memory has a different geometry than the older memory
and may not work correctly with a lot of existing mother boards.

That appears to be the case. The 1G is PC2700 and looking at the
manual it mentions that it supports PC2100.

Oh well, my current 512 + 256 +256 setup has always been sufficient.
Except that I recently loaded Microsoft Virtual Machine to play around
with another copy of XP running in XP and it would have been nice to
try it with more RAM. But I have nothing I need to do that requires
more RAM.

I'm going to put together a new computer anyway once I figure out
what motherboard to buy -- so I'm reading this group to figure it.

Thanks

The page here, does show certain 1GB modules as being compatible.
If I was buying the memory, I'd want a module that uses 64Mx8 chips.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...model=P4B533-V

This is the Kingston information.

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/conf...sp?SysID=13275

You can see an example here, the recommended Kingston 1GB module. It
states it uses 64Mx8 chips.

http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KVR266X64C25_1G.pdf

In this archived page, you can see a vendor listing a couple kinds of
1GB modules. The one on the right, is super-cheap, but it uses 128Mx4
chips, and that exceeds the addressing capabilities of your chipset.
You need to use one of the more expensive products with 64Mx8 chips.
Note that, Ebay is a major source of the 128Mx4 crap, and when sold
it will usually have a "restricted chipset compatibility" warning
in the advertising copy. I don't really think the speed rating
is an issue, as PC3200 is backward compatible, and can run at
DDR400, DDR333, DDR266, or DDR200. So a faster RAM can be used
for a slower application.

http://web.archive.org/web/200404172...ory.asp?ID=285

So if you can find branded memory, with (16) 64Mx8 chips used to
make the 1GB total memory, that should work.

The other issue, described in your manual, is the "four bank limit"
of your chipset memory controller. Practically speaking, you can use
a max of two sticks of RAM. Two double sided sticks uses up the total
of four banks of drive signals, and you should consult the manual
on which slots to use. Thus, the max memory config, is two 1GB
DIMMs, plugged into the proper two slots. In the downloadable manual
for P4B533-V, this is documented in section 2.5.2.

http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...6_p4b533-v.pdf

While the motherboard has three slots, not a lot of people own single
sided memory DIMMs, to make a DS+SS+SS memory configuration useful.
As an example, Crucial has sold 512MB single sided DIMMs before,
in which case you could use 1GB DS + 512MB SS + 512MB SS. But it
is just as easy to shop for 1GB DS + 1GB DS, leaving the third
slot blank. Most people will acquire and own double sided memory,
meaning the third slot never gets used.

Paul

That older motherboard's BIOS is apparently unable to fully recognize and
use a 1 GB stick of RAM.

--
---------------------
DaveW

---------------------
"Walter_S" wrote in message
...
I have a P4B533-V. In the three memory slots I had

DIMM1- 512M
DIMM2 - 256M
DIMM3 - 256M
giving me 1G of RAM.

I was recently given a stick of 1GB 184-Pin unbuffered DIMM 128Mx64
DDR PC2700

I first tried it in slot one:
DIMM1- 1G
DIMM2 - 512M
DIMM3 - 256M

That didn't boot.

I then tried:
DIMM1- 1G
DIMM2 - 256M
DIMM3 - 256M

That boots but Windows says that I have 768M.

I didn't make any changes to the BIOS.

What is going on?

Walter