Got Some New Ram!

[Jockstar]

Bought 1G of RAM the other day from Ebay. I tried to install it yesterday. But when i switched the PC on it bleeped and stopped then bleeped again and so on. Basically it wouldnt boot up. So it took it out and tried to start the PC again. It didnt work. But after few attempts to get the PC going again. I finally did. But the problem is. How do i get my PC to work using my new RAM that fits in and to my knowledge is the same except a different brand. Had a Google and maybe i have found the problem. Maybe? Do i have to install 2 seperate cards of RAM at the same time? ie in my existing PC i have 2 x 516 giving me 1 G. These are slotted into the green ports. There are 2 purple ports left. So i thought i could just slip a 1 G into one of the remaining slots. Can I? Or do i have to have 2 cards installed. ie one in each of the purple ports? Thoughts and advice needed. Thanks in advance.

[jeffer]

Check the website of the motherboard you're using and see what they list for compatible RAM. Not all RAM works with all motherboards. Could be a voltage issue e.g. the motherboard can only supply 1.8v but your RAM requires something higher. You may be able to adjust in BIOS or you may not. If you bought it from eBay then is it some generic brand? Sticking to the big brands like Kingston, Corsair etc. is usually safe but even for them you should check their websites where you can enter your motherboard details to see what they guarantee to work. With RAM so cheap do you really save much by buying from eBay anymore? Looking for some notebook RAM the other day and 2GB of DDR2 Kingston was only 1300 baht in Fortune.

[Rice_King]

Or do i have to have 2 cards installed. ie one in each of the purple ports? Thoughts and advice needed. Thanks in advance.

Go to http://www.crucial.com and click on the START MY SCAN button. It will tell you what type of RAM you need, how many slots are open, how many are currently being used, configuration options, etc..

[dave_boo]

Bought 1G of RAM the other day from Ebay. I tried to install it yesterday. But when i switched the PC on it bleeped and stopped then bleeped again and so on. Basically it wouldnt boot up. So it took it out and tried to start the PC again. It didnt work. But after few attempts to get the PC going again. I finally did. But the problem is. How do i get my PC to work using my new RAM that fits in and to my knowledge is the same except a different brand. Had a Google and maybe i have found the problem. Maybe? Do i have to install 2 seperate cards of RAM at the same time? ie in my existing PC i have 2 x 516 giving me 1 G. These are slotted into the green ports. There are 2 purple ports left. So i thought i could just slip a 1 G into one of the remaining slots. Can I? Or do i have to have 2 cards installed. ie one in each of the purple ports? Thoughts and advice needed. Thanks in advance.

I'm assuming you're 1G of RAM is a single module and not dual right? The first time you stuck the memory in, did you try and leave your old memory in?

If both those answers are affirmative, you're looking at the problem right there. Your motherboard was looking for dual channel+dual channel, and you just had dual channel+single channel. Now your motherboard will work in either single or dual channel mode, but looks like it will flip out in mixed mode. Another possible issue was the speeds of the RAM. If your timings on the new RAM weren't as tight as the old ones, it may have crashed over that. And on the other hand if they were tighter than the old ones and the motherboard tried to apply those new tighter settings to the old RAM it could have crashed. Next time, make sure you apply dual channel, and before putting the new RAM in relax the timings of the memory sub-system.

But I would definitely get another 1G of single stick of RAM, put it in the purple slot and end up with 3G of dual channel RAM!

**as an aside**

I feel your pain. I had a whole bunch of 1 and 2 GB registered memory that I wanted to use up. First I had to find an LGA 775 motherboard that supported DDR1 RAM. And then I found out that unless I wanted to drop a really, really pretty penny on an industrial board I couldn't use the registered RAM. So I was stuck with a motherboard I had to buy RAM for. I didn't have that much money at the time, altough I had all the other parts, so I stuck in a single 512MB stick. Well, later I bought some RAM from Newegg.com and wouldn't you know it's really flaky working with the older RAM.

[Richard-BKK]

Some mainboard do not support a one memory module installment, that you already have 2x 512mb in a set of special colored slots makes me belief that you have one of this mainboards which can only work with 2 sim combination.

You can look in your BIOS setup if you can find something like a setting for memory like 2x64 or 1x128 (if have you need to select the 2x mode)

[Sakeopete]

I have had this happen a few years ago, what I was told then was that even if you buy the same memory but from different manufactures it may not work together. Since then whenever I do a memory upgrade I remove the old memory and purchase the full amount I desire at the same time from the same manufacturer.

[katana]

I had an old Compaq computer that was really picky about the RAM it took. Tried many brands at the local computer shop with no success. Luckily they took the RAM back without any fuss. Funnily enough one day I was walking in the street and found 2 sticks of 256MB RAM in an anti-static bag lying on the pavement . When I tried them in the computer, they worked first time. Funny how things turn out.