Memory upgrade problems for old emachines

Hi!

(I have read all the posts in the thread http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=212614.)

My buddy has an old emachines T1120 (1.2GHz Celeron, Winxp sp2, 256 MB RAM)

It uses PC133 memory, and has one available slot. He bought a 256MB stick online, I installed it, and the computer did not recognize it. So he sent it back, and they sent him one that was guaranteed, which he had to pay a little more for. (I forget which company it was). I installed it, and - again: nothing. I tried it in both slots, and would not be recognized by the system in any of the possible combinations.

Then I tried it in another old computer he has (!) which has two 128MB sticks of PC100 ram. It worked there, and his emachines recognized the memory from the older computer, but not the new one! By this time it was late and cold and I was frustrated so I went home! :cry

I gave up on the whole thing, but now he has some other issues, and he definitely needs more memory to get that thing to run (With AVG in the background, Windows and Firefox has that thing on its knees even before he tries to do anything!)

Anyone has a clue as to what might be going on here?

Thanks!

 

As much as I like Firefox (it's my default browser), it's probably is a poor choice on a system with only 256MB of RAM; Firefox has a bad habit of using more memory than other browsers. The Chrome browser from Google or the Opera browser would be better choices. Likewise, AVG is generally recognized as getting a bit bloated as it has progressed up through recent versions. Avast Anti-Virus or Microsoft Security Essentials would probably be better choices on a system running with marginal amount of memory. Even if he gets 384 or 512MB working in that computer, a change in these applications may be helpful in improving performance.

Regarding the RAM, I'm curious about where he got the memory that has not worked in his computer. PC133 is more expensive than newer types of memory. I'd be reluctant to invest much money in upgrades for that machine. Having said that, here's a very reliable supplier: http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=T1120. Here's a source with lower prices but I know nothing about this source; I simply found it via a Google search: http://www.memorystock.com/orderitem.asp?it=631ms-029&MnfId=&MdlId=25817. Of course, he should try to rectify this situation with the supplier of the RAM he's already bought before going to another source.

One question on your experimenting with memory in the two computers: Did you try the 256MB module by itself in the T1120 computer or did you have it installed with one of the 128MB modules?

 

One of the painful aspects of upgrading old systems is that computer technology doubles pretty much every 18 months. So if you have a computer that is 6 years old, that's four generations ago... and backwards compatibility only goes so far.

Have you tried updating the BIOS?

I'm also curious about the answer to this question from usafveteran:

 

It could be a density issue make sure your using 32x64 configuration, this 'should' work in that machine.

I had to get a 256meg pc133 bar for someone the other day and got it off ebay for £1 with free post,
it's not worth spending to much on old low capacity memory.

 

well check manual to see supported ram types
maybe it is doubled sided