Memory issues
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I bought some RAM yesterday (512MB DDR PC2700). Plugged it in with my other RAM (1 stick 256MB, 1 stick 512MB DDR PC2700). PC turned on, but no video. Pulled out one of the old sticks, and it worked. Pulled out the other old one, put the first one back, and it worked. Then I noticed the 256MB was PC2100.:confused: If the speeds were an issue, how could either 512 and the 256 work together. All three brands are different too. Now I have 1GB installed (the 2 512 sticks) and have to figure out how to trade-up my 256. Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
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I bought some RAM yesterday (512MB DDR PC2700). Plugged it in with my other RAM (1 stick 256MB, 1 stick 512MB DDR PC2700). PC turned on, but no video. Pulled out one of the old sticks, and it worked. Pulled out the other old one, put the first one back, and it worked. Then I noticed the 256MB was PC2100.:confused: If the speeds were an issue, how could either 512 and the 256 work together. All three brands are different too. Now I have 1GB installed (the 2 512 sticks) and have to figure out how to trade-up my 256. Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
It turns out that board only handles up to PC2100 RAM.:confused: Now I have to prove my sanity and check both 512 sticks again. I MAY have checked the same one twice last night.:~ The system may be running, but not recognizing the new stick. Of course, it came in that bubble-pak that you need to annihilate to get into. X| Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
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I bought some RAM yesterday (512MB DDR PC2700). Plugged it in with my other RAM (1 stick 256MB, 1 stick 512MB DDR PC2700). PC turned on, but no video. Pulled out one of the old sticks, and it worked. Pulled out the other old one, put the first one back, and it worked. Then I noticed the 256MB was PC2100.:confused: If the speeds were an issue, how could either 512 and the 256 work together. All three brands are different too. Now I have 1GB installed (the 2 512 sticks) and have to figure out how to trade-up my 256. Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
If it is not a speed-related issue, you might verify whether the modules have to be installed in pairs or not.
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I bought some RAM yesterday (512MB DDR PC2700). Plugged it in with my other RAM (1 stick 256MB, 1 stick 512MB DDR PC2700). PC turned on, but no video. Pulled out one of the old sticks, and it worked. Pulled out the other old one, put the first one back, and it worked. Then I noticed the 256MB was PC2100.:confused: If the speeds were an issue, how could either 512 and the 256 work together. All three brands are different too. Now I have 1GB installed (the 2 512 sticks) and have to figure out how to trade-up my 256. Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
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It turns out that board only handles up to PC2100 RAM.:confused: Now I have to prove my sanity and check both 512 sticks again. I MAY have checked the same one twice last night.:~ The system may be running, but not recognizing the new stick. Of course, it came in that bubble-pak that you need to annihilate to get into. X| Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
It turns out that board only handles up to PC2100 RAM. It is highly unlikely that this is the case even though the documentation may say so. How old is the board? PC2700 may have not existed yet... In most of the cases (99%+) PC2700 will run fine at a slower speed PC2100 or PC1600. Where you get into trouble is when you try to run PC2100 modules at PC2700 speeds... It works sometimes and in some motherboard / memory configurations but definitly not gauranteed to be stable. What type of board do you have? Do you have to install modules in pairs? John
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I had a similar problem - turns out it wasn't the memory speed that was the problem, but how many "sides" of memory I could use. All the memory I had was double sided, and my board would only take a maximum of 4 sides of memory :(
This is actually quite common, although there is not a lot of discussion (at least in the hardware forums) about it. With PC2700 and higher a lot of mobos will not work with more than 2 dimms in a single channel if any of them are double sided. As it turns out most memory today is double sided so you really can not fill all the slots and run at full speed in these cases... John
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I bought some RAM yesterday (512MB DDR PC2700). Plugged it in with my other RAM (1 stick 256MB, 1 stick 512MB DDR PC2700). PC turned on, but no video. Pulled out one of the old sticks, and it worked. Pulled out the other old one, put the first one back, and it worked. Then I noticed the 256MB was PC2100.:confused: If the speeds were an issue, how could either 512 and the 256 work together. All three brands are different too. Now I have 1GB installed (the 2 512 sticks) and have to figure out how to trade-up my 256. Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
Increase your RAM timings most likely culprit. top secret
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See some screenshots -
It turns out that board only handles up to PC2100 RAM. It is highly unlikely that this is the case even though the documentation may say so. How old is the board? PC2700 may have not existed yet... In most of the cases (99%+) PC2700 will run fine at a slower speed PC2100 or PC1600. Where you get into trouble is when you try to run PC2100 modules at PC2700 speeds... It works sometimes and in some motherboard / memory configurations but definitly not gauranteed to be stable. What type of board do you have? Do you have to install modules in pairs? John
The board is an Asus P4B533[^] I verified both 512 sticks are PC2700. Each will work with the 256 stick alone, not all 3 together. I will sell the 256 stick, and use the 1GB as is. Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
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The board is an Asus P4B533[^] I verified both 512 sticks are PC2700. Each will work with the 256 stick alone, not all 3 together. I will sell the 256 stick, and use the 1GB as is. Mine is not to question Why, but to shake my head and sigh.:sigh:
My colleagues have Asus P4S333 motherboards, which according to the manual can accept PC2700 memory - but only in the first two slots out of the three. Presumably the third slot is too far from the memory controller and suffers too much noise if run at that speed. Oddly, I think your motherboard is newer! Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder