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Blur99
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RAM help

Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:41 pm

I added a stick of Kingston 1GB DDR2 533MHz to a Win XP system. The RAM seems to cancel out the other RAM on the system.
XP only shows the new 1GB.
The other stick of older RAM is also an identical Kingston 1GB. It's a 2 module RAM MOBO. I rearranged the order of the RAM and the same thing occurs.
BAD RAM?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Starfalcon
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Re: RAM help

Sat Aug 27, 2011 1:03 pm

Is it an OEM system? I know a lot of old OEM systems had bizzare memory limitations in the bios.
 
[SDG]Mantis
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Re: RAM help

Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:45 pm

I agree with Starfalcon. I would guess that it is a bios restriction.

What specific system are you working with? It is probably that we can find data online about the BIOS and max recognized memory.
Image
 
Blur99
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Re: RAM help

Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:49 pm

Starfalcon wrote:
Is it an OEM system? I know a lot of old OEM systems had bizzare memory limitations in the bios.

Yes.
Its the E-machines w6409.
RAM limit is 2GB.
I'm about to run memtest.

It likely is the new RAM since the old 1GB RAM works with the original 1/2 GB RAM in the 2 RAM slots.
However when I use the new 1GB and the original 1/2GB, only the 1GB is shown in XP.

The 4th line says 2GB.

http://www.emachines.com/products/produ ... prod=W6409
 
bittermann
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Re: RAM help

Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:57 pm

More than likely you motherboard only supports 2 single sided dimm's or 1 dual sided dimm, not both. It should probably work with 2 - 1GB single sided dimms. You can check Crucial's memory configuration tool on their website to see what is actually compatible with your mobo.
 
Blur99
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Re: RAM help

Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:06 pm

bittermann wrote:
More than likely you motherboard only supports 2 single sided dimm's or 1 dual sided dimm, not both. It should probably work with 2 - 1GB single sided dimms. You can check Crucial's memory configuration tool on their website to see what is actually compatible with your mobo.

I actually looked on Kingston' site prior to getting the module.
I got the bottom one seen here on Newegg.
So then the top one must be the right one?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... %204200%29
 
Blur99
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Re: RAM help

Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:14 pm

bittermann wrote:
More than likely you motherboard only supports 2 single sided dimm's or 1 dual sided dimm, not both. It should probably work with 2 - 1GB single sided dimms. You can check Crucial's memory configuration tool on their website to see what is actually compatible with your mobo.

I just looked at reviews of this on NEWEGG and another buyer has the same issue. He says exactly what you said.
The machine will only take 2 of each respective side.
I wish Kingston or e machines would have explained this.
Thank you, everyone.

"I already had 1GB of PC2-4200 memory in the machine. The machine will see either stick individually, but if both are installed, it will only see the Kingston RAM.

The Kinston memory is single sided. The one in the machine is dual sided (chips on both sides).
Neither NewEgg nor Kingston or a couple other sites I looked at say anything about x8 or x16 or single or dual-sided or dual channel"

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