Ram 1 gb

  • Thread starter Thread starter George
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George

I added 1gb of memory to my pc and the computer shuts
down about once a day know. I removed one 512 and put in
the original 256 that came with the pc and one 512, the
pc worked fine. I switched the 512 with the otherone to
see if maybe it was a reject, but the pc worked fine. So
I reinstalled the other 512 to give me 1gb ram again and
the problem resurfaced. Anyone have any idea why this is
happening? Thank you
 
parity and non parity
How to tell the diffrence as a guide?
count the chips on the memory if there even numbers then its probably
nonparity (faster).
Parity would have an odd count mainly used in servers etc
 
George said:
I added 1gb of memory to my pc and the computer shuts
down about once a day know. I removed one 512 and put in
the original 256 that came with the pc and one 512, the
pc worked fine. I switched the 512 with the otherone to
see if maybe it was a reject, but the pc worked fine. So
I reinstalled the other 512 to give me 1gb ram again and
the problem resurfaced. Anyone have any idea why this is
happening? Thank you
Click to expand...

1. Some mainboards will support only a maximum
number of memory chips. If, for example, your
512MB modules each have 8 chips per side,
and your 256MB module has 8 chips, that
would be a total of 40 chips, which, possibly
could be too many. Check your mainboard
manual -- it should specify what any chip limits
are.

2. Maybe you have a bad memory slot -- unusual,
but it happened to me once.

3. Sometimes there's a limit on the amount of memory
the chipset will support, and your mainboard manual
may not mention it. Check on the chipset
manufacturer's website.

4. Check to make sure all your modules have *exactly*
the same specifications (excepting, of course, size):
Download "ctspd" from
http://www.heise.de/ct/ftp/ctspd.shtml
(the link for the download is in about the middle of
the web page).

5. It sounds like your memory is OK, but you might run
a memory diagnostic just to make sure: download
memtest86 from http://www.memtest86.com. You
should get zero errors.

-- Bob Day
 
1) Try swapping which one goes in the first slot. Then test for locks ups.

2) Also, confirm in BIOS, that your CAS Latency is not set too stringently
(assuming you've already determined that your memory sticks are not
incompatible). Most sticks these days will run fine at 2.5 CAS... but some
run as fast as 2.
You can get sticks with different CAS defaults to work together easily, but
you have to use the CAS latency setting of the slowest stick to do it. You
cannot average them out, or force a slow one to run faster, just because you
think 'it should'.

3) There are a handful of other BIOS settings that can trigger memory lock
ups, when you install a new stick. (This simply means that the settings you
used before worked great for the machine as it was - but with the new stick,
an adjustment needs to be made). Skim your manual for details. Go
incrementally when editing you BIOS settings. Don't try making a bunch of
changes all at once.... if the machine doesn't boot, you'll not know which
setting did it.

4) One area to consider, after you have eliminated the above, and the
suggestions in the other posts, is to consider bringing up your RAM voltage
slightly.... say from 2.5v, to 2.6, or 2.7. Again, I stress that this need
only be considered you have determined that the sticks *should* be fully
compatible, AND you have tried the other suggestions first. While it is
generally safe to increase RAM voltages, it is not ever the first thing to
jump on, when troubleshooting lock-ups. But it does work. You just need to
apply it when appropriate. Always run at the lowest voltage you can get
away with that keeps the system fast AND stable.



Good luck,
-Lawrence in Seattle
 
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