PC133 RAM problems - advice please.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ian Roberts
  • Start date Start date
I

Ian Roberts

Hi

I bought some new RAM ( 2 x 256 PC 133) last week and have had trouble
trying to get it to work on either of two PC's.

In one system, with an ASUS P2B motherboard, it seems that only one
half of each stick is being accessed. If I try them individually or
together I'm only getting half the RAM I should have i.e. one stick =
128Mb or two sticks = 256Mb.

In the other system, with a Fujitsu-Siemens D1170 board, the system
refuses to boot up at all - with lots of BIOS POST beeps! (Haven't
been able to find out what the beep code means. I think it was three
quick beeps repeated twice.

I double checked that the chips were correctly fitted. I removed them
and refitted them a number of times and tried them individually in
different RAM slots. None of these attempts made any difference.

This is most unusual as I have never had this problem before. Both
the system boards I tried these chips on have been happy using mixed
brands of either PC100 or PC133 RAM. It would appear that for
whatever reason
this RAM is incompatible.

Does anyone know why these chips are causing so much trouble?

**The sticks arrived in two separate jiffy bubble packets. When I
opened them I was very surprised to find that the sticks were not in
anti static sleeves. I thought it was
risky putting them inside standard clear bubble packs, rather than the
pink anti-static bubble wrap. I always take special care when handling
components and did not open the packages until I was at my workbench
which has an anti static mat
and I was wearing an earthed wrist band. So if they have suffered
static damage it couldn't have been from me.

Would I be entitled to a refund?

I bought these mail order and paid extra for recorded delivery. I'm
not all happy that I will have to pay for the return postage as well
as putting up with the aggravation and delay!

Thanks for any info.

Ian
 
In both instances, I believe you need to keep re-seating the memory. The
constant beep code is indicative of memory not seated properly. Memory not
being identified correctly is the same deal. At least, with those older
boards. I've had to stand on the damned things, before. But, then again,
it could be bad memory as well. Keep re-seating, harder, and harder.

-
Ian Roberts stood up, at show-n-tell, and said:
 
Go to crucial.com and see what they specify for your
boards. The symptoms you have on the Asus are that
the RAM is too high a density, the Fujitsu may just
not like PC133 memory or it also may not deal with
the high density chips.
 
10-4 The memory must be *properly* and FULLY seated.

Rotary Phone

| In both instances, I believe you need to keep re-seating the memory. The
| constant beep code is indicative of memory not seated properly. Memory
not
| being identified correctly is the same deal. At least, with those older
| boards. I've had to stand on the damned things, before. But, then again,
| it could be bad memory as well. Keep re-seating, harder, and harder.
|
| -
| Ian Roberts stood up, at show-n-tell, and said:
|
| > Hi
| >
| > I bought some new RAM ( 2 x 256 PC 133) last week and have had trouble
| > trying to get it to work on either of two PC's.
| >
| > In one system, with an ASUS P2B motherboard, it seems that only one
| > half of each stick is being accessed. If I try them individually or
| > together I'm only getting half the RAM I should have i.e. one stick =
| > 128Mb or two sticks = 256Mb.
| >
| > In the other system, with a Fujitsu-Siemens D1170 board, the system
| > refuses to boot up at all - with lots of BIOS POST beeps! (Haven't
| > been able to find out what the beep code means. I think it was three
| > quick beeps repeated twice.
| >
| > I double checked that the chips were correctly fitted. I removed them
| > and refitted them a number of times and tried them individually in
| > different RAM slots. None of these attempts made any difference.
| >
| > This is most unusual as I have never had this problem before. Both
| > the system boards I tried these chips on have been happy using mixed
| > brands of either PC100 or PC133 RAM. It would appear that for
| > whatever reason
| > this RAM is incompatible.
| >
| > Does anyone know why these chips are causing so much trouble?
| >
| > **The sticks arrived in two separate jiffy bubble packets. When I
| > opened them I was very surprised to find that the sticks were not in
| > anti static sleeves. I thought it was
| > risky putting them inside standard clear bubble packs, rather than the
| > pink anti-static bubble wrap. I always take special care when handling
| > components and did not open the packages until I was at my workbench
| > which has an anti static mat
| > and I was wearing an earthed wrist band. So if they have suffered
| > static damage it couldn't have been from me.
| >
| > Would I be entitled to a refund?
| >
| > I bought these mail order and paid extra for recorded delivery. I'm
| > not all happy that I will have to pay for the return postage as well
| > as putting up with the aggravation and delay!
| >
| > Thanks for any info.
| >
| > Ian
|
| --
| You, probably, thought you weren't going to die, today...SURPRISE!"
|
| -The main character in Postal 2
|
|
 
Ian Roberts said:
I bought some new RAM ( 2 x 256 PC 133) last week and have had trouble
trying to get it to work on either of two PC's.

In one system, with an ASUS P2B motherboard, it seems that only one
half of each stick is being accessed.
Click to expand...
In the other system, with a Fujitsu-Siemens D1170 board, the system
refuses to boot up at all - with lots of BIOS POST beeps!
Click to expand...
**The sticks arrived in two separate jiffy bubble packets. When I
opened them I was very surprised to find that the sticks were not in
anti static sleeves. I thought it was
risky putting them inside standard clear bubble packs, rather than the
pink anti-static bubble wrap. I always take special care when handling
components and did not open the packages until I was at my workbench
which has an anti static mat and I was wearing an earthed wrist band.
Click to expand...

Some anti-static bubble wrap has no color tint, but it's usually not
as white as the standard material.

If each module has fewer than 16 chips on it, then the problem is
probably just compatibility with the P2B board because it can't fully
address any chip bigger than 16Mb X nn (nn is usually 8 for these 256M
and 128M modules). Almost all 256MB modules with 16 or 18 chips on
them use 16Mb x 8 chips, but a few use 32Mb x 4 chips, which will also
look like 128MB modules. If the memory is claimed to be PC100
compatible as well as PC133 compatible, it should have the correct
16Mb x 8 chips on it.

I don't know what the problem is with the Fujitsu-Siemens board, but
you may want to run the BelArc Advisor on it, available free from
www.crucial.com, to see what chip set it uses. A few very old
motherboards with DIMM sockets can't use SDRAM, only EDO DRAM in DIMM
packages.
 
Pen said:
Go to crucial.com and see what they specify for your
boards. The symptoms you have on the Asus are that
the RAM is too high a density, the Fujitsu may just
not like PC133 memory or it also may not deal with
the high density chips.
Click to expand...

Pen, right on the money. Higher density PC133 chips have flooded the
market. On some m/bs these will not post and on others they show at half
density. If there is only 8 chips it's high density (64x64) if there's 16
chips it's low density (32x64).
Of course the memory could also be bad memory but with no beeps I bet high
density. RMA the memory, Kingston right?

OT. It's a shame vendors ship this stuff without labeling the memory as
high density. If you didn't buy the chips locally the RMA shipping costs
make these chips more expensive than desired.
 
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