Hello Pc Buffs.

I have had a bit of a nightmare over the last couple of days.

I have a Dell Dimension V333C bit of an old donkey to tell the truth but in the main very reliable. I am running XP on it...loads of peripherals..like cd writer, dvd drive, backup drive, ups...etc etc.

Currently I have 288 Mb ram mad up of 1 x 256mb pc133 and 1 x 32 mb

I thought to myself...I am going to beef this old dog up a bit....so I bought some memory of a dodgy geezer on ebay. 512 Mb (MD RAM MODULE) I put the memory in my spare slot....and the machine counted the memory....here is me getting all excited watching the counter go up to 800Mb.....then XP wont boot...claims it is missing some file or another. Damn I thought...maybe it is not seated right. So I reseated the chip. This time the PC starts screaming at me and the monitor does not come on.

Bad chip I thought. I have been sold a lemon.

So...I now have a hunger for more memory...so I go down to my local pc shop and by a 256 Mb PC133 chip....plug it in....not even recognised by ther system...nothing.

Lightning striking twice I thought....so I take it back to the shop and say...this is bad..it does not work...so he gives me a replacement.

I get home all excited...plug it in...and you guessed it...nothing.

So...here I am sitting on 700Mb + of RAM and it does not work in my PC.......WHAT did I miss?

Why? Does anybody have any ideas for me.

Simon

If your system is too old it might not support that much memory in the first place.

I thought that too...so I swapped out the old 256mb chip for the new one...and the machine only counted the 32...so it is definately not that.

Simon

claims it is missing some file or another.

HINT HINT! :)

Try this, I've used it before and it seems good: http://www.memtest86.com/

Originally posted by Darth


HINT HINT! :)

The operating system boots fine...until I put the dodgy chip in..if infact it is a dodgy chip...only then does this file missing thing come up....and thats just after the bios check. Once I take it out again....we are back to normal.

The link to the memory testing softe=ware is all well and good if...

1. The memory is actually recognised by the BIOS
2. The Machine boots with the memory in it.

As I can not fulfil either of these options with the extra memory..it is of no real use at this stage.

Simon

Dude, you need a Dell :D

Did you try calling their support? I think that Dell's and Gateway's are picky about the type of RAM brands they can handle.

Originally posted by timechange
Dude, you need a Dell :D

Did you try calling their support? I think that Dell's and Gateway's are picky about the type of RAM brands they can handle.

I will probably have to do that.....But...isn't it so that PC133 memory should all be the same? What works in one machine should work in another....or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Simon

Not quite. Some OEM manufacturers have tweaked their BIOS to accept certain types only.

This link (http://www.memoryx.net/deldimv31.html) will get you started.

Originally posted by timechange
Not quite. Some OEM manufacturers have tweaked their BIOS to accept certain types only.

This link (http://www.memoryx.net/deldimv31.html) will get you started.

Thanks for that link. That has really thrown the cat amongst the pidgeons now....it says the maximum chip size is 128 pc66...when I have a pc 133 256mb chip working great. This memory game is complicated.

Simon

Is the 256 chip single sided? (all the chips on one bank). There are a few variations that only Dell's support could answer. Otherwise you are left fumbling in the dark - beware of the geezers :D