Stuck on 384 ram

Wallbanger · 05-29-2009, 05:12 PM

My puter is having a problem recognizing new ram that I added.

I have changed my amount of ram from (3) 128mb PC 100 (actually one PC133 and two PC100) to (2) 512mb Pc133's.

"My Computer" reads I only have 384mb.

I have switched modules around and used other combinations-512+512+128; 512+128; 512+512 all = 384.

The system requires me to have the first two (adjacent) slots populated so it can't be checked one stick at a time.

Strange, but ocassionally in the boot-up screen I see 696mb reported but then the boot-up only goes so far and I have to reboot and enter "set-up" and restore all my settings back to default to get a sucessful boot.

This board's expansion capabilities are similar to most modern boards in its 5/2/1 design. This translates to 5 PCI slots, 2 ISA slots, and 1 AGP port. Also, there are three 168-pin DIMM sockets. However, DIMM slot number 3 is only 256Mb of memory, then, accoring to AOPen, the board memory capcity is 512+512+256 or 1.28 gigabyte of main memory.

Configuration of the AX63 is effected totally within the BIOS submenu "Chipset Features Setup".

Within this menu, we may: adjust the clock frequencies, choose clock multipliers, and adjust the processor's core voltage. Finally, a pair of jumpers (JP23 and JP29) permits the user to choose the range of clock frequencies available in the BIOS menu. Choices available include: automatic frequency adjustment by the system, 66Mhz to 83Mhz, 90Mhz to 124Mhz, and 124Mhz to 155Mhz. Within the BIOS, it is also possible to adjust the memory speed to that of the front side bus and to add or subtract 33Mhz from that frequency. For example, you can set your processor to operate at with a FSB of 133Mhz, and subtract 33Mhz from that frequency in order to employ PC100 memory.

As mentioned, the processor's core voltage is also adjustable via a BIOS function. The processor's voltage can be set to a level between 2.0 and 2.2v.

Available clock frequencies, according to the user's manual, include: 66/75/78/81/83/90/95/100/105/110/112/113/115/117/118/120/124/126/133/135/137/138/140/142/144/150 and 155Mhz, with clock multipliers available between 1.5X and 8X in steps of 0.5X.

Suite: Additional Features

Appreciate any help,
wallbanger

**wrench97** · 05-29-2009, 05:40 PM

Is this an Aopen AX63? I remember them having 4 ram slots?
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=AX63

Wallbanger · 05-29-2009, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrench97

Is this an Aopen AX63? I remember them having 4 ram slots?
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=AX63

It is a AOPEN AX63 pro--with three slots

Wallbanger

PS here are some additional features:

Additional Features

The AOpen AX63 Pro mainboard

Thursday, November 11, 1999

The Features (suite)

Additional features that we find with the AX63, include: Wake on LAN, Wake on Modem Ring, PS/2 connectors, USB connectors, RX/TX connectors for infrared, start-up from the keyboard or from the timer, Suspend to Disk, overcurrent surge protection, and Power Faliure Recovery. Hardware monitoring of fan speed, CPU temperature, and environmental temperatures are also standard features. The AX63 is also compliant with PC99 standards.

Below, a photo of the AX63 provides a good view of its components layout.

Note: Click here for detailed specifications of this motherboard.

Installation

As most things can be accomplished from the "Chipset Features Setup" menu, installation of this board is rather simple. In fact, there is no real need to change jumpers JP23 and JP29, as the default setting provides most the frequencies typically used in Overclocking, except those that exceed 124Mhz.

The Software Bundle

The installation CD contains the 4 in 1 patch pack for the VIA Apollo Pro133 chipset, Norton Antivirus, Norton Crash Guard, the hardware monitoring utility, the system quality test utility, and numerous other minor utilities.

Suite: The Test Results

Key Features

Support Intel Pentium II, Pentium III & Celeron CPU
Support 1X / 2X AGP mode
Support PC133 & VC133 (Virtual Channel Memory) DIMM
Jumper-less
CPU clock ratio from 1.5X to 8.0X
32 sets of FSB clock from 66MHz to 155 MHz
CPU Vcore adjustment through BIOS setting
Support Ultra DMA/66 HDD (UDMA/66 Cable included)
Over Current Protection Circuit
CPU Thermal Monitoring
System Voltage Monitoring
CPU and Housing Fan monitoring
Zero Voltage Wake On Modem
Wake On LAN
Wake On RTC Timer
Wake On Keyboard
Wake On Mouse
AC Power On Auto Recovery
Resetable Fuse Providing Short Circuit Protection for Keyboard and USB Device
PC99 color coded I/O connector
ACPI Suspend To Hard Drive
Year 2000 compliant
AOpen Bonus Pack CD (Norton Anti-Virus included)

All products, logos, brand names or companies are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Specifications subject to change without notice. We keep refining our products. The specification listed may not apply to what you purchased earlier.

Specifications

CPU
Intel Pentium II
Intel Pentium III
Intel Celeron slot1

CPU Table

ASIC
VIA Apollo Pro 133 (VT82C693A/VT82C596B)

Architecture
2 ISA slots + 5 PCI slots +1AGP slot

Max. Main Memory
Max. 1.25GB SDRAM or VCM for 168pin DIMM*3

DIMM Type
8/16/32/64/128/256/512 MB

BIOS
Award Plug and Play 2MB Flash ROM BIOS with ACPI support for PC98 / Windows 98

On Board I/O
2 Serial Ports (UART 16C550 Support)
1 Parallel Port (SPP/EPP/ECP Support)
2 Channel E-IDE (Mode 4 and Bus master Ultra DMA 33/66 Support)
1 Floppy Drive Connector (1.2/1.44/2.88MB)
2 Channel Universal Serial Bus Ports
1 PS/2 Mouse Port
1 PS/2 Keyboard Port

Battery
3V Lithium Battery

Green Function
Yes

Connector
IrDA, Wake On LAN, SB-LINK,
Wake On Modem

Board Size
202mm x 305mm, ATX Form Factor

**wrench97** · 05-30-2009, 02:29 AM

Crucial is saying the pro is limited to 256Meg per slot which is in line with the problem your having> http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...del=AX63%20Pro
Unfortunately it appears the manual is no longer available from the Aopen site> http://usa.aopen.com/download.aspx

Quite a few Slot 1 boards claimed support for 512 sticks which at the time were not readily available and as they became common it turns out not all do.

What Bios version are you running the latest is from 2004 and there are quite a few from 2000, however none of them list any memory code updates.

Wallbanger · 05-30-2009, 05:33 PM

Wrench, I appreciate your help but I got to mention that another possible cause of my problem might be with the cheap memory I bought--512mb for $11. Furthermore, I don't think they are matched sticks.
I am going to go to the store that custom built this dinosaur and get the correct memory, three sticks of 250mb unless they can convince me of more ram.

Bios: "Award modular Bios - v4, 60PGMA"

By the way, did you see the AOPEN specs in my previous post that shows "main memory"
at 1.25 gb max?

Thanks again Wrench,
Wallbanger

**wrench97** · 05-30-2009, 05:51 PM

Yes I saw that but remember at the time that board was made there were not any 512 sticks on the market and windows ran like a champ on 64 meg. I'm starting to see a little of the same thing again with boards that advertised support for 16 meg 2 years ago and now that 4Gig sticks are on the market the board won't run it but at this point i have no idea what you would need with 16 meg on a desktop pc, but guys are trying it:)

**blah789** · 05-30-2009, 05:57 PM

-- Edit --
Never mind... next post overrides this one. Some mod delete, thanks.

**blah789** · 05-30-2009, 06:01 PM

Someone said the manual wasn't there anymore, but I did a search anyway and got this:
http://download.aopen.com.tw/userdow...3520&Model=209

**blah789** · 05-30-2009, 06:15 PM

There's some really strange stuff in the manual about RAM, including stuff I never knew about SDRAM.
page 17 says you should use SDRAM sticks with less than 16 chips.
page 18 has stuff about 2-clock and 4-clock DIMMs (never heard of)
page 128 confirms you can have a bus clock speed of 133MHz.
page 83 and 87 probably have the relevant info on how to set things. The table's next to last row prob has the numbers you want (but for some reason they seem to list 133MHz as overclocking).
page 15 has the jumpers info if you want to set them manually

**blah789** · 05-30-2009, 06:16 PM

A disclaimer: I don't know much about RAM. You should probably ask a regular whether it's safe to run things at 133MHz, or whether it's possible to run PC133 memory at 100MHz.

**wrench97** · 05-30-2009, 06:22 PM

That's for the AX63 he has the AX63 Pro, Yesterday I got File not found:)
But today they found it if you don't have it already > ftp://asftp.aopen.com.tw/pub/manual/...63pro-ol-e.pdf

An interesting note on ram on page 18 seems it needs sticks with less then 16 chips on them.

Thanks Blah789

Wallbanger · 05-31-2009, 07:28 PM

I sure appreciate all this input--I'm learning so much from you people.
Thanks for the link to the manual.
Better than going to class -- this is hard, hands-on, kind of experience that sticks (no pun intended) with you.
Thanks Wrench and Blah.

Wallbanger

05-29-2009, 05:12 PM	#1 (permalink)
Wallbanger Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 12 OS: XP professional	Stuck on 384 ram My puter is having a problem recognizing new ram that I added. I have changed my amount of ram from (3) 128mb PC 100 (actually one PC133 and two PC100) to (2) 512mb Pc133's. "My Computer" reads I only have 384mb. I have switched modules around and used other combinations-512+512+128; 512+128; 512+512 all = 384. The system requires me to have the first two (adjacent) slots populated so it can't be checked one stick at a time. Strange, but ocassionally in the boot-up screen I see 696mb reported but then the boot-up only goes so far and I have to reboot and enter "set-up" and restore all my settings back to default to get a sucessful boot. This board's expansion capabilities are similar to most modern boards in its 5/2/1 design. This translates to 5 PCI slots, 2 ISA slots, and 1 AGP port. Also, there are three 168-pin DIMM sockets. However, DIMM slot number 3 is only 256Mb of memory, then, accoring to AOPen, the board memory capcity is 512+512+256 or 1.28 gigabyte of main memory. Configuration of the AX63 is effected totally within the BIOS submenu "Chipset Features Setup". Within this menu, we may: adjust the clock frequencies, choose clock multipliers, and adjust the processor's core voltage. Finally, a pair of jumpers (JP23 and JP29) permits the user to choose the range of clock frequencies available in the BIOS menu. Choices available include: automatic frequency adjustment by the system, 66Mhz to 83Mhz, 90Mhz to 124Mhz, and 124Mhz to 155Mhz. Within the BIOS, it is also possible to adjust the memory speed to that of the front side bus and to add or subtract 33Mhz from that frequency. For example, you can set your processor to operate at with a FSB of 133Mhz, and subtract 33Mhz from that frequency in order to employ PC100 memory. As mentioned, the processor's core voltage is also adjustable via a BIOS function. The processor's voltage can be set to a level between 2.0 and 2.2v. Available clock frequencies, according to the user's manual, include: 66/75/78/81/83/90/95/100/105/110/112/113/115/117/118/120/124/126/133/135/137/138/140/142/144/150 and 155Mhz, with clock multipliers available between 1.5X and 8X in steps of 0.5X. Suite: Additional Features Appreciate any help, wallbanger

05-29-2009, 05:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,712 OS: Win7	Re: Stuck on 384 ram Is this an Aopen AX63? I remember them having 4 ram slots? http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=AX63 __________________ Power Supply and Selection

05-30-2009, 02:29 AM	#4 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,712 OS: Win7	Re: Stuck on 384 ram Crucial is saying the pro is limited to 256Meg per slot which is in line with the problem your having> http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...del=AX63%20Pro Unfortunately it appears the manual is no longer available from the Aopen site> http://usa.aopen.com/download.aspx Quite a few Slot 1 boards claimed support for 512 sticks which at the time were not readily available and as they became common it turns out not all do. What Bios version are you running the latest is from 2004 and there are quite a few from 2000, however none of them list any memory code updates. __________________ Power Supply and Selection

05-30-2009, 05:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
Wallbanger Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 12 OS: XP professional	Re: Stuck on 384 ram Wrench, I appreciate your help but I got to mention that another possible cause of my problem might be with the cheap memory I bought--512mb for $11. Furthermore, I don't think they are matched sticks. I am going to go to the store that custom built this dinosaur and get the correct memory, three sticks of 250mb unless they can convince me of more ram. Bios: "Award modular Bios - v4, 60PGMA" By the way, did you see the AOPEN specs in my previous post that shows "main memory" at 1.25 gb max? Thanks again Wrench, Wallbanger

05-30-2009, 05:51 PM	#6 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,712 OS: Win7	Re: Stuck on 384 ram Yes I saw that but remember at the time that board was made there were not any 512 sticks on the market and windows ran like a champ on 64 meg. I'm starting to see a little of the same thing again with boards that advertised support for 16 meg 2 years ago and now that 4Gig sticks are on the market the board won't run it but at this point i have no idea what you would need with 16 meg on a desktop pc, but guys are trying it:) __________________ Power Supply and Selection

05-30-2009, 05:57 PM	#7 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,329 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: Stuck on 384 ram -- Edit -- Never mind... next post overrides this one. Some mod delete, thanks. Last edited by blah789; 05-30-2009 at 06:02 PM.

05-30-2009, 06:01 PM	#8 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,329 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: Stuck on 384 ram Someone said the manual wasn't there anymore, but I did a search anyway and got this: http://download.aopen.com.tw/userdow...3520&Model=209

05-30-2009, 06:15 PM	#9 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,329 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: Stuck on 384 ram There's some really strange stuff in the manual about RAM, including stuff I never knew about SDRAM. page 17 says you should use SDRAM sticks with less than 16 chips. page 18 has stuff about 2-clock and 4-clock DIMMs (never heard of) page 128 confirms you can have a bus clock speed of 133MHz. page 83 and 87 probably have the relevant info on how to set things. The table's next to last row prob has the numbers you want (but for some reason they seem to list 133MHz as overclocking). page 15 has the jumpers info if you want to set them manually

05-30-2009, 06:16 PM	#10 (permalink)
blah789 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,329 OS: Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP3	Re: Stuck on 384 ram A disclaimer: I don't know much about RAM. You should probably ask a regular whether it's safe to run things at 133MHz, or whether it's possible to run PC133 memory at 100MHz.

05-31-2009, 07:28 PM	#12 (permalink)
Wallbanger Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 12 OS: XP professional	Re: Stuck on 384 ram I sure appreciate all this input--I'm learning so much from you people. Thanks for the link to the manual. Better than going to class -- this is hard, hands-on, kind of experience that sticks (no pun intended) with you. Thanks Wrench and Blah. Wallbanger