gonlaz

Yes, 64 meg's only, yes SDRAM. I have this "system" that I got for free from work when they upgraded back in December '04. . It's a Pentium II 333 mhz. It is simply used for home internet browsing and word processing, etc. I should note that it works fine, I have all the latest patches, etc. and I don't even think about gaming on it or downloading streaming video, etc BUT I decided to buy a memory upgrade today and installed it. The "system" began rebooting over and over. Okay, fine - I figured it didn't want the momory for what ever reason. So, I removed the memory stick and everything's cool now.
What gives? Thanks in advance :)

jgvernonco

The very first thing to do is pull out the older stick, put in the newer stick, and see if it will run on that one, alone.

Let us know.

gonlaz

Okay,

The RAM count, under 'my computer/properties' was 135010 KB RAM BEFORE I did this...I removed ONE of the old strips (there are two "64mb" strips in place and one empty landing for another strip) and installed my new strip, computer rebooted fine BUT: The RAM count, under 'my computer/properties' was 63,000 KB RAM. So I removed the strip I bought and reinstalled the original 2 strips and I am back to 135,010 KB RAM...

Aren't the 3 landings all for memory? or is it a fair guess that all 3 strips are bad?
Thanks again!

Chevy

Two issues here:

Memory Speed - Is original SDRAM PC100? How about the new?

CAS Latency - Is the old SDRAM CL2/2.5/3? What about the new?

All memory sticks take their cue from the one in the first slot. So, you want your slowest stick as the lead.

If the original sticks are both PC100 CAS X, and the new stick is PC133 with the same CAS rating, then putting the fastest (the new one in this case) last should work. IT will also work if the new stick has a better (lower) CAS rating than the original.

However, if it is faster RAM with a worse CAS rating, it will not work. The Speed and CAS levels can adjust to a slower level, but not to a higher one.

If your new stick has a slowes CAS rating, check out your BIOS. You may be able to manual set the CAS rate their. Set it to 3 and you may be ok.

gonlaz

That was very informative, thank you for the time, if I may:

Question about what you wrote, example:

"Two issues here:

Memory Speed - Is original SDRAM PC100? How about the new?

CAS Latency - Is the old SDRAM CL2/2.5/3? What about the new?"

1) How would I be able to know that? Where do I go to get that info? Is it in 'my computer'?

2) You mentioned I should check out my BIOS to set that rating to 3. I am confident I can find that ok, but there is still the issue of the new stick in last and the computer just rebooting over and over, and what about the total RAM count? It went from 130kb to 63kb once I put it in first?

sorry about all that, if you would be so kind as to answer 1 and the first half of 2...

thank you very much for the assistance!
Enjoy your weekend

Chevy

To check your system (original ram first)

download Belarc Advisor from download.com

Run it, and check the memory section.

Then, shut down, and remove both stick, add the new one, boot and run it again.

If it comes down to manually changing the CAS rate in the BIOS, shut down, put in the sticks in this order ORIGINAL ORIGINAL NEW, boot, go into the BIOS, adjust the CAS to 3, save and reboot. This may be all you need to do. In fact, you can try this option first.

whodat

just a quick note --some boards dont like the pc133/100 even though the ram is backwards capable.
and some boards require a cmos clearing on a ram alteration.

gonlaz

Okay, so I did two things:

first:
I ran the 'advisor' program and checked out the memory section. It stated that I had 128MB RAM installed. (question here is why doesn't my computer show that under 'my computer/properties' it only shows I have 135,010kb RAM)

Second:
I added the third (new) strip and left the first two in their slots. the PC just did the enternal reboot. It gets to the "Windows starting up" screen, then goes blue for a split second then goes black and reboots over and over. while in the starupt screen I noticed that the system recognized that I had 192 MB RAM installed. Question here is, what the heck happened that it won't stop rebooting over and over but seems to recognize the strip I added. I guess the strip isn't bad after all.??

Third:
I removed the first two and plugged in the new strip to the first slot. The PC didn't even boot up at all.

Finally, I didn't see anywhere on the 'advisor' profile what type of memory I had, like you suggested it may be:

Memory Speed - Is original SDRAM PC100? How about the new?

CAS Latency - Is the old SDRAM CL2/2.5/3? What about the new?"

I am at a loss here.

In BIOS where do I go to get to change that CAS rating?

Fingers crossed
thanks!!

whodat

under advanced settings in your bios, you should find memory settings.
did you clear your cmos? might be very important with your board. if you dont know which jumper to move, unplug the machine and take out your button battery for 15 min.
your board might be very picky with memory..possibility is that it might not work with 100/133
you might need flat out pc100.
but clear your cmos first..and see if you can tell us what the timings are in your bios.

gonlaz

Could be that I have a motherboard that is even older than the rest of the parts. Under 'advanced' in BIOS, there was no 'memory settings' options, only 'memory cache' enable/disable...I looked everywhere. Also, canot find anywhere to clear out CMOS. Could be I am just stuck, but I have 128MB RAM currently that this computer only sees 135,010 KB of.
Too weird. I know, if I just went and bought a new system I wouldn't have this problem but I cannot afford one right now. I still don't know if it's pc 100/133. How on earth will I know that?

whodat

can you see the board battery, should be a round button battery, usually a little release tab pops it out. of course do this with the machine unplugged. cmos clear ..blah blah -- you heard it already...

gonlaz

Well this is nice,

I am on my work computer. I removed the battery, waited 15 minutes and reinstalled it. I turned it back on and after the initial screen where it checks itself, I got a password notification in DOS type format. I cannot do anything now, can't even get into BIOS. Nobody at my old work will help me, so I have this computer that, while may not be a "current technology" fast as lightning PC, still wokrs and I can't see just throwing it away. Any ideas?

whodat

sorry for the delay
can you get into safemode? tapping f8 as she is booting up?
sometimes it takes more than one try.
once in safe mode perhaps you can do a disk check. then restart in normal mode, hopefully.

gonlaz

I don't think I can, BUT I will try. so, going into safe mode, where/what do I type to do that? Is that the ole chkdsk?

The IT guys here at work have suggested that maybe I get the serial # off the back and go to the micron website and try to find out where the clear CMOS jumper is.

Nobody has ever heard of a password being activated when the battery is removed. I also hought it was supposed to clear everything out, including the passwords.

whodat

yes, also i havent heard of the password being activated in bios by removing the battery either. the jumper is usually right near the battery, but you have to make sure. usually i need a magnifing glass.. did you try to google the motherboard make, or locate the homepage for the schematic?

gonlaz

No, the first thing I do when I get home though, is to try and get the motherboard info. I have no manual so I don't know how easy it will be to do that if I cannot get into even the main setup menu. I wil update this tomorrow. Thank you again for the time!

whodat

just a quick thought, that motherboard might be limited in regards to memory size per slot .. along with memory brand. it would be great if you could get the motherboard specs.
good luck

gonlaz

Good day,

I guess I am SOL. I got the serial # and went to the micron website. The serial # I have isn't recognized by their system. I did write down what I am seeing on the screen before it asks me for a password:

This is the opening screen where it runs through it's startup. It's the black screen with the micron logo, etc...

the last part of it reads:

System Configuration updated
Event Log Messages, Enter setup to view
ERROR
0271: Check date and time settings
ERROR
0251: System CMOS Checksum bad, Default configuration used
Press <F1> to RESUME <F2> to SETUP



This is where I enter either option, f1 or 2, and get the password prompt. After 3 attempts the system is disabled. Any ideas? Furthermore I have no idea how to see who made the motherboard, etc

gonlaz

didn't want to leave this hanging out here...

figured out everything, I cleared the jumper controlling it all and all's well now. Thanks for the input guys