2 part question:can i install ddr ram in an hp d4100e cto that has pc3200 ram in it?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Rvhabsburg, Jan 27, 2011.

  1. Rvhabsburg

    Rvhabsburg Guest

    I have an in an ASUS A8AE-LE installed in an HP d4100e CTO Pavillion PC that was "top of the line" in the+ $1500.00 range in 2005 when i bought it-(lightscribe technology was cutting edge at that moment! ) to replace a Gateway GM5620 with an intel processor ( that is now extremely fast but is crashed at the moment-cycling on and off and I accidentally changed the BIOS setting from 'RAID' to 'AHCI" It has PC3200 DDR2 ram in it :
    1) Can I take the pair of DDR2 sticks out of the Gateway GM5620 and put them into the HP D4100e CTO PC without any major problems- from what I read it seems the unbuffered/non-buffered designation on the PC-3200 sticks ( 1GB total) is the only issue.Pins seem the same#, and I have pairs of each type of RAM to install ( both MoBo's have dual core processor(s),the Hp has an AMD, and the Gateway an Intel).
    Otherwise DDR2 seems to be at least a lateral move, if not overclocking the MoBo..which i am willing to do.
    At one time ( i was living off the grid and was inverting solar and hydro but that shouldn't matter at all in my estimation). The HP d4100e was speedier than the GM5620. Now i am on the grid and have wireless networking but
    2:) The Gateway ( which is crashed at the moment- Cycling on and off and displaying the error "can't read harddrv,boot to floppy"- where no floppy is installed. I know the hard drive is still good , and nothing is really that wrong- i did accidentally change the setting, and would appreciate any remedies to how to get it not to cycle on and off and change the setting back to "raid"
    so i can get back in with a VCOM REcovery Commander disc , and then using a system restore point, roll it back to an SRP or' LAst Known Good Config.' as i have done before..i suspected the CMOS was finally dying after 5 years, and took it out, then waited 15 mins. For it to discharge memory and revert to factory settings but i may have installed it incorrectly as
    2B) THE GATEWAY gave me 3 beeps and never booted fully ( cycling on/off)..i didn't have time since to screw around with it, and set up the HP d4100e thinking it was faster and would save time...,MAN was i wrong!!the thing is they both had 1 GB Ram when off the grid, and the HP was far faster than the Gateway GM5620- i haDn't plugged in the HP until last week ( over 4 years!) and it is phenomenally slow..like dial up slow + 15 minutes to even boot up! Any ideas on solutions, or just the cycling problem would be helpful.ultimately i really want to get the gateway back ( 2 gb ram) to operational- it even outperforms this MAC Powerbook G4..by a bit.

    Thanks for any of your suggestions, and taking the time to read this ..
    Best regards,ritter v.h.

    (***disclaimer:i was mistaken at the time (2005)in thinking the amd dual core was better than an intel dual core processor because the gateway replacement gm5620 that the e-machines corporate office sent me -after loosing my gateway machine that kept crashing ,was sent in to their tennessee center for service..i was 120 miles from a city and my pc purchasing options were a wal-mart or a friend ordering a pc for me ..i know more now than i did then- thank the gods!)
     
  2. gman863

    gman863 MajorGeek

    Re: 2 part question:can i install ddr ram in an hp d4100e cto that has pc3200 ram in

    Here are the specs for the ASUS motherboard:

    http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00496280&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=&product=1831241

    Here are the specs for the Gateway:

    http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1014729R/1014729Rsp4.shtml

    The ASUS uses "DDR" memory; the Gateway uses "DDR2" - these are different pin/slot types and are not interchangeable.

    If you don't want to mess with fixing the Gateway now, my advice is to buy/add some DDR 3200 to the HP/ASUS.

    If you have 1GB in the HP now, this should be OK if doing basic stuff in XP. To check memory use in XP/Vista/7, hold down the CTRL and ALT keys and press DEL. Open TASK MANAGER and click on the PERFORMANCE tab - this will show you how much memory the system is actually using at any given time (you can shrink the performance box and look at it as needed when you open additional apps). If actual available memory is <30% at any given time adding more will likely help.

    If doing heavier processing in XP, 2GB is sufficient.

    For Vista or 7, 2GB is an absolute minimum.

    Remember that memory alone won't turn the PC into a speed demon. Although the Intel 2140 is a decent processor, it won't jump to i7 speed no matter how much memory is added.

    Hope this helps. :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2011

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