[Kool_ZX3]

Well awhile back i bout some ram for this old beast. It requires pc100 sdram so that's what i bought, a 128mb pc100 stick. I put it in and it only read 68mb of it, so i have like 192 not 256. Anyone know what's wrong??

I think i am going to get some more but can anyone help me in why it only reads half of the stick???

[Casper]

Kool_ZX3,Jan 8 2006, 10:03 PM Wrote:Well awhile back i bout some ram for this old beast. It requires pc100 sdram so that's what i bought, a 128mb pc100 stick. I put it in and it only read 68mb of it, so i have like 192 not 256. Anyone know what's wrong??

I think i am going to get some more but can anyone help me in why it only reads half of the stick???
[right][snapback]163899[/snapback][/right]

Some older boards will not read dual-sided RAM. I had a motherboard like that once.... made it a pain to buy RAM. If your sticks of RAM have chips on both sides, there's your reason.

The only other reason is when the board can only read a certain amount of RAM in any given spot, or in total. Based on those numbers, though, I don't see this being a problem.

You could always see if there's a BIOS update available....

[scoobasteve]

I've also encountered motherboards that wont recognize high density ram chips.

IE: newer SD ram.

most older boards prefer dual sided ram, as long as all the memory banks arent filled.

[darkpuppet]

just in case.. and I know this would be ridiculously obvious...

Do you have onboard video? And if so, depending on the computer you may not see the ram that is set aside for it. Best bet is to see what your memory was before installing the new chip and double check.

otherwise, it's most likely an MB/RAM incompatability... if you could give us actual model numbers it would be easier to determine tho...

[NOS2Go4Me]

Yeah a mobo make / model and especially a BIOS version that you're currently running.

[nass]

not to be outspoken in this thread I'll add my 2 cents. You can try to put the double sided ram in the first slot. **sometimes** that helps.

[Kool_ZX3]

Well the Ram is azenram 128mb sd pc100 dual sided.

The motherboard is soyo SY-5EMA+ v 1.1

The other 128Mb ram chip in there is single side 128mb pc 133 IBM.

[Casper]

Wow, that really is old. Will hold a max of 3x256 chips. Max 550mhz processor.

http://www.soyogroup.com/products/proddesc.php?id=33

Latest BIOS is here:
http://www.soyogroup.com/downloads/selectr...Upgrade&col2=33

As for your particular issue, there's nothing in the manual that would lead to any problems. I would suggest JUST installing the new stick alone, in Slot 1 (closest to processor) and boot to see what happens, and if it reads it. If it does, then install the old stick in Slot 2. If its doesn't read properly, then you may have some dodgy RAM.

[Kool_ZX3]

I know you have to install the ram starting with dimm3 which is the farthest from the processor then 2 then 1 which is the closest for it to work, that's what the manual says so i dunno.

[Casper]

Should be the other way around, actually....

[NOS2Go4Me]

Casper,Jan 11 2006, 02:52 AM Wrote:Should be the other way around, actually....
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I agree. The manual is on space cookies. Try it the other way.