computer Ram

[arceyered]

Tried to increase the RAM on my ageing computer today
Mother board is a MSI 6390 "V1.X" micro ATX "Tiny"
The Pdf on the board states that I can Insert 2-1GB pc2100/DDr266 moduals but no beep on boot ,it can't see them.
The Moduals in at the moment are a 256 and a 512.
It will not post beep unless the 256 is in?
If the 256 is in and the 1GB it still reads the 1gb as a 512 ?
Any Ideas?

 

[hareng]

Branded ram from reputable producer?

Have had loads of brand new ram even branded that have that problem.

Have a look at the bios settings as well, even that old it should recognise.
Does it boot with 512 stick in?
Could try 1 stick of 1gb in appropriate slot if no boot swap for other stick. Unlikely but still feasible both no good and had it twice.

 

[mike os]

sounds like either faulty or incompatible ram

will it POST with just the 512 in? (either slot should work)

 

[PTvor]

Where did you get the memory from and what did the supplier say about compatibility with this board?

It might need to be exactly the right type and some apparently right memory just won't work.

Do you need a BIOS upgrade to get it to work?

I've found Crucial are pretty good, they've been around for a long time, they are helpful and not much dearer than unbranded.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.aspx

It looks as if these days they have a downloadable program to scan your system and tell you which memory to get.

 

[arceyered]

sounds like either faulty or incompatible ram

will it POST with just the 512 in? (either slot should work)

No it wont post in any configeration unless the 256 is in one of the slots, there are only two slots.
That's what is throwing me if I put the 1GB in with the 256 it will Boot and show 736MB

 

[Dev]

The old and new RAM sticks maybe be different clock speeds. Use the system scanner or memory chooser on the crucial website to ensure you have the right sticks, just because they fit in the slot is no guarantee.

 

[mike os]

dies it register 1gb with just the 1gb in?

 

[rikrobson]

Try just the new ones. There is probably a mismatch. Not all ram is equal. There are differing speeds and channel widths. The new ram may be dual channel. This wilp not mix well with single channel. Swap them abaout to find out what works

 

[arceyered]

dies it register 1gb with just the 1gb in?

No it will only read the ram if the 256 is in one of the slots ,
I did a diagnostic scan and the bios as not been updated since 2002,
I think it is the clock speeds that may be different. the bus speed at the momment is 133megahertz
It will read a 256 MB PC2100 DDR 266 CL25
but not a 1GB pc2100 DDR 266 CL?
But not worry such is life and cheap chips I will get there in the end.
Thanks for your Advice

 

[mike os]

that old it could have any number of incompatibility issues....& lifes too short

 

[graffian]

Single sided and double sided ram?
If it's showing the sticks as half the capacity it's expecting double sided.

 

[the snooper]

Just a thought, I notice under the description of the mother board you put (tiny) is this the brand of the computer ? if so they went bust in 2001 and they would not have had pc2100 ram back then, did you get the pdf from the web and not with the machine ? if so its possible that its the wrong document

 

[Robotstar5]

Had a look at Mr Memory which I use a lot, here's a link to the info for your MB

 

[arceyered]

Had a look at Mr Memory which I use a lot, here's a link to the info for your MB

Thanks for the link .
I have tried there scanning tool, but it won't display any results for some reason it,s not seeing the Ram ?The ram they suggest is the Ram I have but not to worry I can Live with the speed of a strikeing slug

 

[pedrobedro]

Some twin slot motherboards will only accept a single memory module if it is in the correct slot and identical modules if both slots are used. Memory is backward compatible as long as it is still of the correct type, if it is a higher speed than your board can read it will read at a lower speed usually but may need same size and speed to read both.

 

[normspanners]

Slugs have a good reason for striking slowly, it has to do with them having large testicles--- or is it tentacles? ---------- HUM I knew I should have taken more interest in biology at school!!

 

[grandads_shed]

could be a bios problem ,, goto the mainboards site and see if they still have it listed in the support/download section ,, some bios on old comps need to have a flash before they will work with bigger ram ,
if you have never flashed a bios before, then read and reread the instructions on thier site and flash it by the book or you could kill the comp altogether.

 

[rikrobson]

Probably a good time to upgrade the mobo/processor/memory/graphic..... Computer!!!

The last BIOS update was 10 years ago

If you are having these issues with the memory it will probably only work with out of date memory. You won't be able to buy this new.

from the msi site

Main Memory

• Supports four memory banks using two 184-pin DDR DIMMs
• Supports a maximum memory size up to 2GB
• Supports 2.5V DDR DRAM DIMM
• NO support ECC Function.

therefore the max size of a dimm is going to be 1GB

 

[PTvor]

Probably a good time to upgrade the mobo/processor/memory/graphic..... Computer!!!

The last BIOS update was 10 years ago

Yeah,

I reckon that realistically you get 5 or 6 years out of a computer upgrade. After that it starts to get unreliable, it's too slow to run modern software (software bloat) and the fairly new hardware, shifting towards the bottom of the price list, is much more capable, and not dear.

Some of the older stuff, like parallel IDE drives, is going off the market, or getting expensive, or you are mucking about with S/H.

In any case, if this machine is over ten years old, you can find computers five or six years old being junked or sold cheaply.