-----Original Message-----
Brian - boot.ini is usually a hidden/system/readonly file on the primary
master's first partition. Small simple text file. Enable Explorer to
show all files to see it. Remove those attributes to edit with edit,
notepad, any text editor.
No pairs worked regardless of slots? No triplets, same story?
I'd talk to the mainboard maker's tech support desk; there may be some
simple setting adjustment needed, or maybe a board problem, if the
manual says those RAM configs are OK. Board jumper, something like that.
Manuals aren't always clear and unamiguous. Too often they're written by
the people who give you elevator instructions that can kill you in a
foreign land. Or written for a number of related boards, with
significant differences not adequately discussed. Tech support may have
seen this problem umpteen times before, they're the cleanup crew.
Hope this helps...
Now that I think of it, I suppose there's a chance that the board
controller drivers you're using are not designed for W2k. Check that
too, at the website and/or with tech support. Especially if you upgraded
your system from an older OS to W2k (by any method) without upgrading
the mainboard driver set as well. The chipset in charge of RAM transfers
across the bus may need a W2k driver. (A shot in the dark.)
Dan: Thanks for the help.
Actually, it worked with each stick individually but not
in pairs or triplets.
I can't find my boot.ini file so maybe that is part of the
problem. First I'll try to replace it and see how that
goes and if that doesn't work then I'll try clocking it
down a bit.
BTW, I looked in my mother board's manual before I decided
to do the upgrade. So, the RAM will work; it just seems
to be a windows problem.
-----Original Message-----
Brian - too bad no clues from that effort; I guess
you're
saying all RAM
sticks individually and in combinations are seen by W2k
singly and in
pairs but not in triplets, regardless of where placed.
I'm at a loss; can only suggest trying the RAM sticks
in
another
machine, or perhaps slowing down the system clocking on
that machine
since it really may be some sort of timing problem.
Could
be a
complicated artifact of mainboard design. But that's
headscratching
speculation. If for example W2k probes RAM to make sure
its accesses are
all within a very small window of response time, and
declares a stick
unreliable because its response falls outside that
window, and somehow
on the board one of 3 or 4 sticks will always fall
outside that window...
You're CERTAIN, from the board manual, that 3x128MB
sticks is an OK
configuration? (If you don't have the manual, check the
board mfr's
website.)
As far as the difference in reported RAM sizes goes,
that
is the result
of different methods of counting. Merely an ambiguity.
Some people
consider 1K to be 1000 bytes, others 1024 bytes. Scale
that up to MB and
GB and it's quite a difference. People write software
that way too. And
marketeers love it; what's on the HDD box blurb usually
is usually based
on the 1000 number, which is [technically] not correct
but is a bigger #.
(e-mail address removed) wrote:
Well thanks for the help anyway. I tried all 3
individually in different slots and then in pairs
(about
16
different combinations). No Luck.
What is really funny is that the BIOS will show 128+
for
each stick but the W2K System Properties or Task
Manager
shows still the same amount everytime 126512 no matter
if
the chip has more or not. I thought maybe this number
should show at least some variance.
Thanks anyway.
Brian
-----Original Message-----
Brian - even apparently identical RAM sticks from the
same manufacturer
can vary slightly (but enough) in characteristics like
timing to disturb
W2k, which is much more demanding of perfection than
BIOS. Particularly
if they are from different fabrication runs.
Try all 3 sticks one at a time. Then try them in pairs.
Do this in
different RAM slots as well. If W2k is satisfied by the
above, then try
all 3 at once, in different slot combinations. You may
discover that one
or two are a bit faster or slower than the other(s).
RAM response is a matter of nanoseconds. Bits travel
about an inch per
nanosecond. The RAM slots vary in distance from stick
to
processor,
hence which slot for which stick might make a
difference
that affects
W2k's decision that a stick(s) is good or bad.
Brian wrote:
I recently upgraded my RAM from 128MB to 384MB but
Windows
is still showing only 128MB. On the boot-up screen,
also
at RAM count up all 384MB are shown.
I let DocMemory run overnight and no problems.
Windows doesn't show all RAM under System Properties
or
Task Manager.
BTW, all RAM are from the same manufacturer and all
three
are identical.
How can I get W2k to show all the RAM present?
Thanks for the help if anyone knows anything.
Brian
.
.
.
