Problem after mixing Single sided with Double sided DDR ram

  • Thread starter Thread starter JD
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J

JD

A friend wanted to upgrade his P4 system from 256MB to 512MB DDR RAM. I
bought a near identical Samsung stick of ram for him, only to find out later
that it is double sided, while the older one is single sided (the model
number is off by one digit I think). He installed his new memory only to
find out his machine won't boot. The screen is blank but the fans and hard
drive appear working. Removed the new memory, no luck. Removed the old
memory and replaced with new memory, still no luck.

Anyone know what might be wrong? Is it not alright to mix double sided with
single sided ram? Could it have damaged both sticks of ram and motherboard?
He doesn't have another computer with him so he can't troubleshoot.
 
JD said:
A friend wanted to upgrade his P4 system from 256MB to 512MB DDR RAM. I
bought a near identical Samsung stick of ram for him, only to find out later
that it is double sided, while the older one is single sided (the model
number is off by one digit I think). He installed his new memory only to
find out his machine won't boot. The screen is blank but the fans and hard
drive appear working. Removed the new memory, no luck. Removed the old
memory and replaced with new memory, still no luck.

Anyone know what might be wrong? Is it not alright to mix double sided with
single sided ram? Could it have damaged both sticks of ram and motherboard?
He doesn't have another computer with him so he can't troubleshoot.
Click to expand...
Have u tried clearing cmos and re-configuring the bios? It may be just
some parameters changed and are causing your "no-boot" prob. HTH & good
luck, sdlomi
 
You don't mention what MB is being used.

If it's one of the newer MB's that support dual-channel ram, then it's
common that if you install an odd number of sticks of ram, the system will
run in single-channel mode. If you install an even number of sticks of ram
(in the proper slots) then it will support dual-channel ram. HOWEVER, if you
are installing ram in pairs in a dual-channel configuration, then both
sticks in each pair must be the same.

Always check the MB manual to confirm how many of what types of sticks of
ram in what combination is supported.
 
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