adding ram, system crash

im trying to add a 512MB stick of Pc133 SDRAM to my sluggish computer, got 2 sticks of SD 256MB right now..

when i add the 512MB along with the 2 - 256MB i get a system crash.

if i use the 512MB alone without the others im stable.

motherboard or BIOS mabey not handle more than 512MB?

dont even know what type of motherboard/bios this PC has, was given the motherboard and slapped it together with some parts i had of my own...

im sure i need to give more detail of motherboard/bios, where do i look to find this out?

 

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium IIIE, 733 MHz (5.5 x 133)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT82C693A Apollo Pro133
System Memory 512 MB (SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award (05/12/04)

Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel GTL+
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz
Effective Clock 133 MHz
Bandwidth 1066 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties:
Bus Type SDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz
Effective Clock 133 MHz
Bandwidth 1066 MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties:
Bus Type PCI
Bus Width 32-bit
Real Clock 33 MHz
Effective Clock 33 MHz
Bandwidth 133 MB/s

CPU Properties:
CPU Type Intel Pentium IIIE
CPU Alias Coppermine, CuMine, A80526
CPU Stepping cB0
CPUID Revision 00000683h

CPU Speed:
CPU Clock 731.41 MHz (original: 733 MHz)
CPU Multiplier 5.5x
CPU FSB 132.98 MHz (original: 133 MHz)
Memory Bus 132.98 MHz

CPU Cache:
L1 Code Cache 16 KB
L1 Data Cache 16 KB
L2 Cache 256 KB (On-Die, ATC, Full-Speed)

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 05/12/2004-693-596-W977-6A6LGD4FC-00
Motherboard Name Unknown

Chipset Properties:
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT82C693A Apollo Pro133
Memory Timings 3-3-3-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

SPD Memory Modules:

DIMM1: Micron Tech. 16LSDT3264AG-133B3 256 MB PC133 SDRAM (3.0-3-3-6 @ 133 MHz) (2.0-2-2-5 @ 100 MHz)

DIMM2: Wintec dd2 512 MB PC133 SDRAM (3.0-3-3-6 @ 133 MHz)

BIOS Properties:
System BIOS Date 05/12/04
Video BIOS Date 04/24/04
Award BIOS Type Phoenix-Award BIOS v6.00PG
Award BIOS Message (Release 4.3) AwardBIOSUpgrade Provided by eSupport.com



hope i got the right info, this is with 1 - 256MB stick of RAM and 1 - 512MB Stick....

Also yes the PC will boot to windows with 2 - 256MB sticks and 1 - 512MB stick but 45seconds after bootup i get a blue screen of system failure.
with only 2 (any combo of 2) it is stable

 

What is the make and model number of your machine?

 

Motherboard ID 05/12/2004-693-596-W977-6A6LGD4FC-00

Motherboard Chipset VIA VT82C693A Apollo Pro133


is that what you need? im new to this really, i got lucky enough to get this machine up and running as is

also noticed with only the 512MB stick in, Everest says i only have 256MB under Motherboard/Memory/Physical Memory

 

HP Pavilion?
Dell Dimension?
eMachines?
Compaq?

 

Its coustom machine i dont belive it has a make like any of those.

I had an older tower/ DVD Drive/Floppy and Hard-drives.

My father built a newer PC a year or so ago and gave me his Motherboard/Ethernet Card/ Creative SB Live! Sound Card and GeForce4 MX 4000 (128 MB) Video Card.



mabey ive missed something somewhere and dont realize the make??
if there is a key location for me to look for a brand name i'll start searching

 

Seems to be an Epox motherboard, but cannot find out about RAM limitations or other specs.

 

Try this.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/SIW_System_Info_d4387.html

On the left, go down to Hardware and click on System Summary.

 

would it seem right for a motherboard to limit each slot to only 256MB of RAM?

the 512MB stick doesnt seem to register fully. only half

 

ok heres what i got:

Property Value
Machine Type AT/AT COMPATIBLE

Disk Space Disk C: 83 GB Available, 93 GB Total, 83 GB Free
Disk E: 232 GB Available, 298 GB Total, 232 GB Free

Physical Memory 256 MB Total, 46 MB Free
Memory Load 82%

Virtual Memory 1003 MB Total, 484 MB Free

PageFile Name \??\C:\pagefile.sys
PageFile Size 768 MB
In use 293 MB
Max used 431 MB
Registry Size 3 MB (current), 66 MB (maximum)

Profile GUID {de0ca8c0-3fe0-11df-9227-806d6172696f}

The system clock interval 10 ms

 

ok i got the PC running right now with all 3 sticks of RAM (slot1 - 256MB, slot2 - 512MB, slot3 - 256MB).
did nothing different. powered off, removed then replaced the RAM.
no change to speed whatsoever.

still see a problem....

Everest is telling me i have 543MB of Physical Memory. not nearly the 1GB i have in.

if i check the tool suggested by hrlow2 (system information tool for windows) i can see that all 3 sticks
are recognized but not being utilized as seen by Everest (and by just watching load-times not changing)

Everest also tells me under the chipset category:
DRAM Slot #1 32 MB (SDRAM) this is 256MB
DRAM Slot #2 256 MB (SDRAM) this one is 512MB
DRAM Slot #3 256 MB (SDRAM) and this one is also 256MB

even if im reading them backwards #2 should still be 512MB and the 32MB line should be 256MB.


ummm.....

 

wow ok more info..

so i thought i'd experiment with the position of the RAM 1 last time.

this time i put the 512MB in the far right slot (should be DRAM Slot#1 if im not mistaken).
and the 256MB sticks in slots #2 and #3...

now Everest tells me i have a total of 767MB of Physical Memory.

under the Chipset/ Memory Slots i now see:
DRAM Slot #1 256 MB (SDRAM)
DRAM Slot #2 256 MB (SDRAM)
DRAM Slot #3 256 MB (SDRAM)

still not fully using the brand new 512MB RAM but i am a little closer i guess.

 

awesome info thanks Digitalocksmith!

none of that really makes sense to me haha, especially the last line
"8 banks up to 1.5 GB DRAMs (256Mb DRAM technology) "

so i should be able to go up to 1.5GB of RAM?

looks like im maxing out at 767MB...

just dont understand why slot#1 is capping out at 256MB even with a 512MB stick in it


i am definately see improvement in the added 256MB. wish i could get the other 256MB to register.

mabey i have something set wrong in my BIOS?
i get weary of changing those values

 

Whoa, red flag...! Do my a favor, if you don't mind, m3i0x3? Count the black chips on your memory and tell me how many you have on each? Do you have 8 per 256MB and 16 on the 512M, for example? Count and add up both sides of the module, and try to check under the labels if you can.

Don't remove the labels! Very, very, bad idea to remove memory labels!

Basically, with 256Mb technology you will have 8 chips per 256MB memory stick. That was the standard when your motherboard was made and that's what it was built for. Today's standard is 512Mb technology for PC133, so you'd only have 4 chips per 256MB part, and your new 512MB will most likely have 8 chips on it. If it does, that's your problem. Your motherboard gets seriously confused when you mix two 256Mb parts with one 512Mb part. It looks at your new memory module, sees 8 chips, and since it assumes they are 265Mb technology, just like the other ones that are installed with it, it jumps to the (incorrect) conclusion that the new module also is 256MB.

Your solution is to either stop mixing densities, which means buying more parts of either density, or to hope that a BIOS update can un-confuse the thing. I really don't recommend a BIOS update unless you know for sure what the make and model of your motherboard is, since installing the wrong BIOS has roughly the same effect as running high power through the motherboard, but with less sparks and smoke -- it bricks it.

That is, if I'm right and the chip count confirms my theory anyway. Yay for technological progress... Let us know how many you count on each memory stick, please?

 

Sure thing Mimsy,


i count 16 black chips on both 256MB sticks
and 16 on the 512MB stick.

the 256MB sticks (on one side) have 4 black chips, a one inch gap then 4 more black chips.. 8 per side

the 512MB stick has no gap but the same amount of black chips. 8 per side

 

Just a fair warning that I am way, way, too tired to do any more math in my head for this (work sent me to a full day of "motivational seminars"... Not. My. Thing. uke).

The chip count verifies my theory from earlier though, but with different MB and Mb numbers. The same number of chips on a 256MB and a 512MB memory stick means that they have different chip density. The 256MB is low density. The 512MB one has twice as many megabytes on the same number of chips => high density. From the looks of the rest of the thread you have a motherboard that can use either one of those. If it couldn't, the 512MB wouldn't work on its own. However, your motherboard gets really confused when you mix densities, and it looks like it's at least smart enough to "convert" the 512MB one to a 256MB.

Here's the good news: Your 512MB stick of memory is 256Mb technology, the type your motherboard can handle.

That should tell you how tired I am. I got the math wrong in my last post, and when I noticed I had lost my edit ability. :-o I had to look it up for this one. Don't worry though, aside from getting the numbers and math all jumbled I do know what I'm talking about. RAM support is my day job.

If you can find more 16-chip 512MB sticks you can use three of them, for a total of 1.5 marvelous gigabytes of memory. There is also a possibility that a BIOS update will make your motherboard capable of mixing densities, but then we're back to the problem of not knowing more about your motherboard...

 

guess im off to find more memory, lets see if my wallet wants to murder me,

i guess now i just need to find out more about this motherboard


i'm grateful for all the help from all whom posted for me.

i'll post back with results of new RAM.

 

Start on the board itself. Most manufacturers will silk-screen the model number on it somewhere, usually between the PCI slots. If you see any labels, get all the visible numbers on them and post them here and we'll help you interpret them. Helping out and answering questions is what we're here for.

 

ok been a bit busy laately.
found 2 more sticks of 512 SDRAM, exact replicas of what i got already (thanks newegg)...

still looking at a total of 767MB of Physical Memory...

also had some time today to call my Father who owned this motherboard first. he found a manual in his closet (forgot to give with motherboard),
he tells me the cover of the manual says "System Board CA61 Rev.B+"

hope this is what i needed.

 

http://www.itox.c0m/pages/products/mothers/commercialmb/ca61.php

Looks like it caps out at 768MB.

 

wow yea your right, im screwed for buying that RAM

any reason for me to update the BIOS then?

found a page with what i would need if i do need to update "DFI Page"