Hardware My computer hates more ram :(

[sjones900]

I tried to upgrade my ram today popped open the cover took old ram out inserted new stick my orginal was 512mb of ddr ram but the hardware report in xp tells me its 382mb

anyway the new ram was also 512mb ddr but once inserted and powered on my computer started beeping I know its the right type can some one help please?

I'm not all in the know with computers hardware wise so be nice.

 

[FAST6191]

Is your graphics card a shared memory card (laptops and on(mother)board graphics frequently do this)?

Also what sort of beeps are happening, it is a diagnostic tool (which your motherboard manual should have listed in it).

Check nothing (as in cables, for everything, fans/heatsinks, the cpu.....) has got dislodged (ram is normally fairly hard to get in without touching other stuff).

One final thing it is probably worth resetting the BIOS, there may be a jumper but simply popping the battery out for a few minutes (a few seconds should do but older boards can take longer so no great harm in waiting).

 

[kobykaan]

did it get really really hot ??

then you have forced it in backwards check that the notch lines up correctly and its clipped in at BOTH ENDS!

check also you bought DDR and not DDR2 they do look pretty similar at first glance ..

 

[jpxdude]

How old is your computer, and what is the model? The memory reporting from XP sounds like you have some kind of graphics sharing enabled, which is why about 130MB of memory has been eaten up. Also the speed rating of your RAM may be the cause of it not working.

Make sure you check whether it is DDR 400mhz, DDR 333MHz, or DDR266MHz. The RAM itself may be faulty, as it doesn't take much at all to completely fry RAM (tiny bit of static electricity is enough)

Older machines seem to choke on DDR400 (PC3200 Ram) and are generally just fussy about the ram. If you can just try different modules too, and follow what kobykaan has mentioned above.

 

[kobykaan]

How old is your computer, and what is the model? The memory reporting from XP sounds like you have some kind of graphics sharing enabled, which is why about 130MB of memory has been eaten up. Also the speed rating of your RAM may be the cause of it not working.

Make sure you check whether it is DDR 400mhz, DDR 333MHz, or DDR266MHz. The RAM itself may be faulty, as it doesn't take much at all to completely fry RAM (tiny bit of static electricity is enough)

Older machines seem to choke on DDR400 (PC3200 Ram) and are generally just fussy about the ram. If you can just try different modules too, and follow what kobykaan has mentioned above.

good point about the ram clock speed if your using more than one stick of ram (why are you not using both sticks btw??) and they are different clock speeds they will ALWAYS RUN AT THE SLOWEST SPEED!

 

[sjones900]

well i'm not sure not sure if my graphics card is a shared memory card but they are bot 184 pin ddr dimm
and were both using DDR 333MHz and the only difference was they were different brands

 

[Suranwrap]

It could also be an issue of the new ram being double sided, and the old ram Single sided.
Is there ram chips on both sides of the new stick, and only one side of the old one? Older motherboards tend to only use single sided, esp if they are from Dell.

 

[wchill]

Check for any graphics cards in the PCI/AGP slots, or if you have them, PCI-Express slots.
If you don't, you have onboard graphics.

 

[sjones900]

It could also be an issue of the new ram being double sided, and the old ram Single sided.
Is there ram chips on both sides of the new stick, and only one side of the old one? Older motherboards tend to only use single sided, esp if they are from Dell.

Yeah my old stick is single but the new one is double how do I get it to recognize

 

[sjones900]

Well I got sick and tired of this so I took back the stick of ram got my money back and thinking about it now it might be better to buy a new computer this one 5yrs old anyway