RAM problem in my mom's computer

[darkmagician1350]

My mom has an older Compaq Presario 5310US which gets the job done for her. its running XP but she said that if she has her email open and open any files, it takes a while to open. I looked and she only has 256mb RAM so I ordered a 512mb stick (samsung) and installed it. It worked fine, but was still plenty slow, so I checked under mycomputer properties and saw that it was only showing 256mb.

I pulled the old stick out and tried to turn on the computer, but the screen never "clicked" on, the keyboard's num-lock light was flashing...

the stick I ordered I believe was PC-133, the same as was in the computer prior. the new stick is also slightly shorter than the new stick, though both have the same pin layout.

 

[StrangleHold]

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00009488&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=fr&product=93197

256MB 133 MHz SyncDRAM, 2 Total DIMM Slots Upgradeable to 512MB (SyncDRAM DIMM required)

It can only read up to 512mbs with both slots filled, = 256mb stick X2. Probably cant read a single 512mb stick. Need to use two 256mb sticks.

 

[darkmagician1350]

It can't even read 256mb of the 512mb stick? I guess I have to list it on c-l.org looking for a trade .

only paid $10 for the stick new, so its not too bad.

 

[StrangleHold]

It all depends. I've had older boards that had a 265mb stick limit, that if it was a double sided 512mb stick it would read half of it (picks it up as a 256) but would not read a single sided 512 at all. Then I've had some that would not see a 512 at all either way.