I just bought RAM and it's not working.. can someone tell me why?

[Holiday]

OK, I just bought 2GB (1GBx2) of Memory.
specs: 1GB DDR SDRAM PC3200 400MHz
I had a 512MB DDR SDRAM PC2700 in it and that worked fine. My mother board is a ASUS P4SD-LA and it came inside my HP Pavilion a375c. It as four ram slots, and hp says max memory 2GB (4x512) but when I go to RAM finder sites, they say that I can put 1GB card in and that the max is 4GB, I figure when HP made the product description 1GB cards were not in use, and when they became popular HP was just to lazy to update the product description. Any how, HP might be right I guess... but what do you think? Should it work on my system or not? Here is the ram I got http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150125618737

Holiday

 

[PC eye]

Your problem right away was using some online "ram finder" rather then going directly to HP for the actual specifications on the board. If HP says 2gb that's precisely what will run. And what does HP show?

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Maximum Memory Supported[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]4GB (4 x 512MB) unbuffered (HP and Compaq recommend 2GB)[/FONT]

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00022505#N10013

The max is 4gb of memory while HP recommends 2gb mainly since the problems seen with the 32bit versions of Windows not seeing the full 4gb of memory installed. While I wouldn't touch Samsuang for memory you would run the first 1gb dimm in the A1 slot and the other in the B1 slot to enable the dual channel mode. Refer to the HP manual on installing memory for this. That would be one 1gb dimm for each memory channel if the board will take 1gb dimms? It doesn't sound that way as seen at HP there.

 

[Holiday]

OK (4 x 512MB) that is 2GB???

So according to the info you found at hp, the ram should work, right? I tested to see if it was recognized by going in to BIOS, however BIOS said the slot with the 1GB card in it was empty, and when I tried to boot up with just the 1GB card installed, it wouldn't turn on. So do you think that my RAM is bad or does my mother board not support it?

 

[lovely?]

perhaps it does not accept one gb cards.

some older motherboards support lower MB cards, i would try to check that out

 

[PC eye]

The information at HP showing 4GB(4x512MB) is an obivious misprint seen there. Your board takes 512mb dimms only not 1gb. If Asus had the specifications shown on their support site you would see just what is supported. The 2gb recommended is actually 2gb max. explaining why the system failed to start with the single 1gb dimm installed. Someone at HP goofed there!

 

[eric92park]

Your problem right away was using some online "ram finder" rather then going directly to HP for the actual specifications on the board. If HP says 2gb that's precisely what will run. And what does HP show?

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Maximum Memory Supported[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]4GB (4 x 512MB) unbuffered (HP and Compaq recommend 2GB)[/FONT]

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00022505#N10013

The max is 4gb of memory while HP recommends 2gb mainly since the problems seen with the 32bit versions of Windows not seeing the full 4gb of memory installed. While I wouldn't touch Samsuang for memory you would run the first 1gb dimm in the A1 slot and the other in the B1 slot to enable the dual channel mode. Refer to the HP manual on installing memory for this. That would be one 1gb dimm for each memory channel if the board will take 1gb dimms? It doesn't sound that way as seen at HP there.

Yup, 32bit(84bit) OS are Only capable of 4GB MAX, but does not support 4GB fully, Windows Vista however, supports 4GB

 

[jutnm]

but wait im not to familiar with ram, if it says its compatible with (PC2700) does that mean u can only use that type of ram not (PC3200) ????

 

[Holiday]

but wait im not to familiar with ram, if it says its compatible with (PC2700) does that mean u can only use that type of ram not (PC3200) ????

no, PC3200 is backwards compatible with PC2700. You can think of it like this. You have a CD burner that writes at 32x, however if you buy 52x discs. They will still work, they will just write at 32x.

 

[PC eye]

I fyou have a board that supports DDR400 PC3200 and install PC2700 you will be running at 333mhz(166mhz x 2) there. For actually burning a cd-r with a 52x24 or 32x52 speed cd writer the 52x is the max read speed not burn speed there. The middle speed whether 24x or 32x is the max burn speed available depending on media.

 

[Holiday]

new info! the link that "PC eye" posted is wrong! I don't have the "P4SD-LA (Stingray)" I have the "P4SD-LA (Yale)". here is a link http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c00041640#c00041640_doc this mother board says: "Motherboard maximum:4 GB (4 x 1 GB)" and "Maximum HP recommended memory: 2 GB (4 x 512 MB)", it also stats that it is compatible with PC3200 (400 MHz), PC2700 (333 MHz) and PC2100 (266 MHz). so my mother board is in fact compatible with 1GB cards. So now why isn't it working? is the ram bad, what could be causing the problem?

 

[PC eye]

Did you order dual or single sided dimms? Some older boards won't run on dual sided memory. The previously posted link is based on what you previously provided for model information. That was what came when looking for "P4SD-LA". When you have additional information you should add that as well to avoid any confusion on models.

 

[eric92park]

but wait im not to familiar with ram, if it says its compatible with (PC2700) does that mean u can only use that type of ram not (PC3200) ????

If youhave PC2700 capable mother board, you should buy 3200 though anyways for full high performance, PC2700 does not fully run at its highest speed anyways

 

[liquidshadow]

nvm this post

 

[PC eye]

If youhave PC2700 capable mother board, you should buy 3200 though anyways for full high performance, PC2700 does not fully run at its highest speed anyways

To see the full performance gain from PC3200 memory the cpu isnstalled has to be able to run at the faster fsb speed as well. Otherwise the faster memory will still run at the 333mhz total speed just like the PC2700.

 

[liquidshadow]

To see the full performance gain from PC3200 memory the cpu isnstalled has to be able to run at the faster fsb speed as well. Otherwise the faster memory will still run at the 333mhz total speed just like the PC2700.

This is not true at all. Memory can run at a faster speed than the CPU's FSB. Whether or not the RAM can run at its full speed is determined by the motherboard.

 

[PC eye]

This is not true at all. Memory can run at a faster speed than the CPU's FSB. Whether or not the RAM can run at its full speed is determined by the motherboard.

I can give you examples of where that isn't the case like the old Socket A board used when going from 333 to 400mhz total after going from an XP2600 upto the XP3200 model. While the exact same Corsair xms series matched pair of PC3200 512s were used the fsb the board had to be set to 166mhz with the 2600+ since that was a 333mhz model.

When the 3200+ overheated after a fan quit on the cooler there it backclocked itself to an XP2500+ equivalent and "will not" run at the 200mhz setting there while still being able to run at the 166mhz bios setting. You have to go by what speed the cpu will run at as well as the memory itself otherwise the memory will un at the slower speed.

 

[eric92park]

This is not true at all. Memory can run at a faster speed than the CPU's FSB. Whether or not the RAM can run at its full speed is determined by the motherboard.

This is what im saying
Lets say there is a Board that can run up to 800MHz, and you have a exact same model and companies memory except one is 800 and the other one is 1066, its obvious that 1066 will run better at 800HMz because it was designed to run at a higher speed.

Logically Its like a Rabbit who could run at 40MPH and other one at 30MPH for same time and length but 30 MPH is the max in a street.
It is obvious that Rabbit who could run faster will stay at 30MPH for longer time because it was expected and designed to go faster at same rate than rabbit who runs slower at 30MPH,

 

[eric92park]

to make what im saying more easier, something that has higher speed goes to lower speed, it will run better...

 

[Holiday]

Did you order dual or single sided dimms?

I believe I bought dual sided dimms, they have memory chips on both sides of the card and the ones that came in the computer don't.
I guess this is the problem, that sucks!!!

 

[StrangleHold]

I can give you examples of where that isn't the case like the old Socket A board used when going from 333 to 400mhz total after going from an XP2600 upto the XP3200 model. While the exact same Corsair xms series matched pair of PC3200 512s were used the fsb the board had to be set to 166mhz with the 2600+ since that was a 333mhz model.

PCeye even socket A boards that had a 400Mhz FSB (Really 200Mhz) could run the Ram at 333 and the FSB at 400 or run the Ram at 400Mhz and the FSB at 333. (The Ram was not locked at the FSB speed). You could with all of the chipsets,SIS,VIA or Nvidia even ULI chips, unless you had a cheap budget board!