RAm Upgrade question
 

OK my 2 sticks of 1GB 400Mhz RAM came today.
It is 1 GB High Density 400Mhz RAM, my Mobo supports this type of RAM

It is Legacy Industries RAM

I also bough it off of ebay. Now berfor you body slam me for that I am feeling stupid already.
The guy said 100% new answered my questions as to what type and it arrived very quickly.

Now I took out my old RAM which turns out to be 400Mhz RAM too so I could have put the new stuff in along side.

Anyway I put in the new ram, PC boots sees there is 2048MB of RAM during the POST screen and then proceeds, except it gets as far as a black screen.

OK not the GFX card as I put back my original RAM and here it is working fine.
Now the RAM looks new but before I give any feedback maybe I am installing it wrong. I doubt it since I was able to put back my old RAM and the PC is working.

Help a chump out and go easy on him, the wife is already giving me a hard time.

RAM has to be an exact match in order for your system to run it. Is the original SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, EDO, FPM ? Go to http://www.crucial.com/ and scan your system there to identify the actual RAM your system needs. :D

It could be the RAM is damaged (either via your handling, or the guy who sent it to you).

RAM is super sensitive to static discharge so much so that the slightest amount of static buildup in your body can render the RAM useless if you touch it. I've know alot of friends who have tried to upgrade their own ram and fried the RAM they bought by handling it incorrectly. Even proffessionals will mess up from time to time even when installing it properly (with the anti static wrist band attached, etc)


Another possibility is you don't have the RAM set up properly in the bios, this sounds like a good possibility as that would render all the RAM unusable by the computer (but it may still be able to count it, just not access it)

Also what TDK said :)

XabbaRus,

Sounds like a bad stick of RAM, the new RAM is incompatible with the old RAM, or the motherboard & CPU cannot handle 3 sticks of RAM.

I noticed from your post that you had three 1 Gig sticks in the computer when you booted it up. However, you report seeing 2048 MB of RAM. That's only 2 sticks of RAM, not 3. It's missing one stick somewhere.

You can try:
1. Read your motherboard's manual to make sure of which DIMM slots are used. For some motherboard's they have 4 DIMM slots, but for 2 sticks of RAM you have to use slots 1 & 3, not 1 & 2. If RAM sticks are not put in as per the manual, the PC may not start or it may function abnormally.
2. Put in the new RAM, and only the new RAM, as per the motherboard manual. Turn on the PC. If it works and sees 2048 MB, great your done. The new RAM is good.
3. Put it the old RAM in a different slot than you had the first time. See if it works.

The your motherboard make & model would be helpful too.

No. 2 sticks of 1 GB RAM to replace the 2 x 256MB sticks of DDR SDRAM.

I think the sticks are bad too, since it was ebay I can't do anything as it could have been damaged in transit. I know how to handle RAM.

Oh well scratch money gain experience.

My Bad.

I take it you have tested each stick by itself.

The good news Xabba is that RAM right now in the UK is dirt cheap. I bought a 2gb matching pair of Corsair Dominator memory 18 months ago for near £200. Now I can get a better 2gb kit of Corsair high spec ram for less than £50. :cry:

Not DDR SDRAM where did u get yours?
What about leaving feedback for the guy. I assume he sold it in good faith and the stuff arrived quickly.

Well you could always try buying on http://www.crucial.com/uk/
Excellent customer service and very very fast shipping.
Had I known them before I would have bought my ram always from them.

ANd make sure you aren't trying custom settings in your BIOS in addition to testing one RAM stick at a time. If they both work individually, it is a dual channel non matched RAM problem. If this is the case, simply look into your motherboard manual and find out what slots to put them in for non dual channel mode. They will work fin in single channel and the performance increase for dual channel is un-noticeable anyway. RAM at 400 MHz, 3200 GB/sec works fine. Barely will it become saturated. 6.4 GB sec never becomes saturated, so single channel DDR2 will always work fine.

-S

PS. I just figured out why the guy ebayed it - he figured out it won'[t work dual channel!

Another treasure of info that will get lost to archives and be almost impossible to search out.

Just another Prob, Diagnosis, Cure, And Fix to add to my files.

Thx All :up:

OK tried each 1 GB Stick individually no luck.

When I go into BIOS straight after boot up it sees the RAM eg DIMM A Slot 0 1024MB

After boot I just get a blank screen with no HD movement.

So either I have incompatible RAM, bad RAM or it got damaged either in transit or handling.

Guess I will have to stick to 512MB for the now.

Sod's law though prices on crucial for 1 GB stick of PC3200 DDR400 RAM has just dropped to what I paid for each stick individualy on ebay :damn::damn::damn::damn::damn::damn:

@ Xabbarus : maybe your new ram requires a little bit of overvolting ?
Have you thought about this ? High performance ram generally is not compliant with standard memory voltages, so if your motherboard via the bios is incapble of delivering higher than normal voltage then thats most probably the problem.
This or try relaxing the spd settings.

How do I change SPD settings I can't see those in my bios?

My current RAM is the same type DDR-400 just 2 x 256MB sticks.

I guess I'll just have to do some more research.

What bios are you using ? Even intel boards (known for their no or very poor overclocking) let you see memory settings, such as voltage, type of memory, cas, ras and other settings.

What the model of your motherboard, lets see if there is a manual. Maybe the ram is double sided and your motherboard doesnt' support it. Without some specific information its very difficult to pinpoint the problem.
I just wouldn't assume the ram is faulty just yet.