2K RAM woes

[Midnexus]

I got a new stick of 512 RAM matching all necc. specs and tried running w/ME with no success. Learn from PNY tech support that ME won't take more than 512MB total, and I've got that much with the two 256 sticks I already have. Tried to upgrade to 2K Pro with similar crashes using all RAM, did different installs wound up reformatting, etc... On a stable 2K install now still getting errors when more than 512 total RAM being used. IMPORTANT: this is if the two 256 OR one 512 is being used, so it's obviously not the sticks themselves.

Help! My motherboard is postitively compatible with 1 gig RAM and all sticks are matches, I think there's a BIOS switch for high-density RAM set to OFF, but I'm not certian. I can post save dump data from bug checks in the event log or whatever. I don't know how relevant any of that stuff is anyway.

 

[JohnWill]

Well, W2K has no issues with more than 512mb of RAM, so I'd suspect that you have some incompatibility between the RAM that you're using, rather than an O/S issue. I know that you have to limit the VCACHE on W98 for more than 512mb of RAM, and I don't really know much about ME, I avoided that like the plague.

 

[Jeerajat]

Ok I would suggest downlaoding the latest BIOS update and flashing your bios, this hould solve the problem. Unless the memory u have got differrent.

 

[Midnexus]

Thanks for the replies.

The last known BIOS update for my motherboard (FIC/FA11) is dated 4.4.01... far before I even purchased my PC. How can I ascertain that I do in fact have the most up to date version? (Will probably figure this one out on my own within minutes of this post.)

There's no [vcache] settings in my current 2K system.ini file, and my presumption is that it's irrelevant with 2K.

The presence of more than 512MB ram is correlated with a persistent crashing that records the same bug check code every time...

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000007f (0x00000008, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000).

Once again there are no spec mismatches b/t the RAM and what my motherboard is compatible with; all sticks are 133 SDRAM. 3 motherboard slots accepting a max of 1.5Gig. The BIOS will recognize and test the whole gig when it's there. All of the RAM is also recognized by system\properties\general as well.

johnwill, did you mean incompatibility b/t the sticks themselves? Like the first 2 just don't like being in there with the new one? That'd be ridiculous.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

[Rockn]

Why would that be rediculous? Sounds fairly logical to me. You need to make absolutely sure that the memory you bought is compatible with the motherboard. Did you buy ECC or Non-ECC, is the timing correct, is the speed correct for the memory bus? If you never had memory problems prior to installing this memory then the problem is with the new memory. And the PNY people that told you WinME won't address more that 512MB of memory are full o crap.

 

[wedor]

Originally posted by Midnexus:


johnwill, did you mean incompatibility b/t the sticks themselves? Like the first 2 just don't like being in there with the new one? That'd be ridiculous.

No that would be accurate and highly likely as the cause of your problem

 

[Midnexus]

Please pardon my PC ignorance.

I was told by the tech support @PNY that the stick was a perfect match for the motherboard/chipset. I have also determined with certainty that I am running the most up-to-date version of BIOS for my motherboard.

I have a total of three sticks of RAM. Two are 256MB and one is 512MB. Both are 133. Timing and ECC are mystery to me at the moment, but as I've stated before: I can run either the single 512 or the dual 256 and get NO problems whatsoever. This fact makes me certain that the sticks themselves are entirely compatible with the motherboard.

The problem lies with either,

A.) mixing the RAM

or

b.) running more than 512MB

or

c.) something else

 

[JohnWill]

I was referring to the fact that you're mixing the two RAM types. There are some motherboards that take exception to mixing the RAM, depending on the actual chips and the addressing on the RAM module. I don't know this to be the case, but it appears to be what's happening.

BTW, you mentioned the fact that the "hi-density" option was disabled in the BIOS, did you try to enable it? I think the 512mb module may well be considered "hi-density".

 

[Midnexus]

Originally posted by johnwill:
you mentioned the fact that the "hi-density" option was disabled in the BIOS, did you try to enable it? I think the 512mb module may well be considered "hi-density".

It wasn't hi-density as I had thought, it was 'DRAM timing tuning' with options for high and low, with low being the present setting. It states that high should be selected 'for heavy-loading' ram. I don't know what this means...

There's also BIOS options for DRAM timing on the three individual banks. They're all set to 'fast' but there's also normal, medium, turbo, and SDRAM 8/10 ns.

Also have 'SDRAM cycle length' & 'DRAM clock' settings, both set to auto.

I've pretty much given up at this point and will probably return the new stick soon, maybe try PNY tech support again before I do, see what they have to say now. If anyone sees an opportunity to work with these BIOS settings by all means inform me, but otherwise thanks again for the replies.