128 ram added 320 only registers 256

well the Ram is installed with a noticeable difference in internet webpage loading time.
however no matter what only 256 mb are registering wheras the total measured should be 320 mb !!
the memory test only counts to 256 mb and the same
number shows up in Norton Utilities System information.
the new (3rd) ram chip is labelled 128 mb.
the new ram chip seems to be in tight
a diagnostic program called aida32 lists the ram chips as follows:
a)dram slot # 1 64 mb (sdram)
b)dram slot # 2 128 mb (sdram)
c) dram slot # 3 64 mb (sdram)

the 3rd slot is the new 128 mb ram stick
it is only registering 64 mb out of the 128
I haven't tried messing around with moving around the ram sticks.
Is it a problem of placement, loose or defective ram ?
Any ideas ?

thanks

 

probably a motherboard limitation no matter how much ram you stick into it it only will recognize the max it was designed for.

bubba169

 

motherboard specs

Bubba169,

thanks for your rapid reply
the machine works faster but it would be even better if...
the manual for the motherboard lists

- supports up to 384 mg ram of memory
-either 168 pin dimms x 3 or 72 pin x 2

the listed banks as follows,

dimm 1 dimm 2 dimm 3

8 8 8 8
16 16 16 16 x 2
32 x 1 32 x1 32 x1 or 32
64 64 64
128 128 128

any ideas ???

 

One of three guesses

slot A.... 64 mb chip is shot.
-(OR)-
computer mobo only recognizes "equal size chips/sticks "..... 128 + 128 = 256
-(OR)-
must have the same chip size (mb) multiplier per stick... 32x32x32x32 or 64x64... ect = 128mb

 

its probably the new 128 ram stick

Well a lot of swapping the three ram sticks- one working 128
(pc133) one working 64 mb (pc 100) and the new 128 stick
which no matter what reads 64 mb
It seems to be the new 128 mb stick only reads as 64 mb no matter what -even by itself
Currently there is 192 mb running- slot 1: 128 pc 100 , slot 2 :
64 mb pc100 and an empty slot 3.
what about the mixture of the two different speed rams- is that of any significance in any way ? Seems to run ok though but I can
always go back and ask for a switch - the bill itself says pc 133.
what a deal on ram!! I guess though it is a cheap learning experience

 

schamish said

If I understand this correctly, I believe the only way your mobo will support 384 mb is through using 3 sticks of 128 mb each.

 

and further

Dennis,
thanks for your help !
I wrote the specs carefully in collumns as listed in the manual (thanks to aida32 - see the nice note the author from Hungary sent me in the question about aux temperature)
when posted the vertical collumns became horizontal and confusing.
the machine was running a 64 in slot 1 and a older 128 in slot 2 -hence 192 so mixing 64 + 128 does not seem to matter.
no matter what the new 128 reads 64 .
this happened even when only the new 128 was installed by itself. It did not read 128 - it read 64 mb.
now the working 128 is in slot 1 and the 64 is in slot 2
yielding 192 total. One would expect if the new 128 was working properly you would have 320 mb.
however even when it was 256 mb it was a good improvement in performance over the previous 192 ( Win 98s se)
is it of any significance mixing the pc 100 64 and the pc 133
working 128 ? or not recommended ? The motherboard runs at 100 mhz.

??????

 

Sounds like a mislabeled stick. Can you take it to a local computer geek store, and have them test it?

 

Not a mis-labeled stick at all. Pull the new 128 and use it in another machine, your machine won't read it correctly because the individual wafers are too big. If you want something readable, you can safely go buy some PC100 or get PC133 with smaller chips. This is a very common problem even though SDRAM is backwards compatable. This is a limitation of your motherboard.

 

final result works great now

Turned out the reason for the problem was that the older ram was low density and newer ram was new density.
however when I added a 128 stick of new ram to make 384 mb
the system slowed to a crawl
the tech told me that somehow this was low density but not really low density ram and it was a better idea to use 128 mg of pc 100 rather than pc 133
in the end I installed the newer stick of 128 that read 64 mb
total ram is now 320 mg and works great and noticeably faster.