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Hey guys, I just recently purchased some new ram for my computer and im having some problems.

I have a dell XPS t600r (Pentium III 600mhz)
The original stick of memory was 128mb pc100 sdram (8x16)
I bought a new stick of 256mb pc133 (8x32) and im having some problems

On my dell when i boot it shows a diagnostic screen, on this screen it says '128mb ram initiliazed' or something like that when I have 384mb in there. But if i go into the bios it says the following

System Memory: 128mb
Memory Bank 0: 128mb
Memory Bank 1: 256mb

so obviously the bios is recognizing the memory to some extent.

So far i have recet the cmos and updated my bios to the most recent version
I understand that older motherboards due to refresh rates etc sometimes cannot handle memory higher density memory but i have read that if my mobo only supports 8x16 and i have 8x32 it will just read it as 128mb instead of 256. I wish i could use all 256 but if that is the case that is okay, i just need more than 128mb.

I hope i am not leaving anything out

Thanks in advance

note- I dont have a OS installed right now so maybe later i can check to see how much ram knoppix recognizes

edit- the computer will not post of the new stick of ram is in bank 0 either by itself or with the old stick in bank 1

Hi cadypu, welcome to the PCHF!

Unfortunately it sounds as if you have yourself some dead memory. Did you buy it second hand or brand new?

Thanks for the reply
So are you pretty sure its a dead stick and not an incompatibility?
I bought it new from newegg.com, When I RMA it should I go for the same stick or should I pony up for a more expensive pc100?

It could be either/or...unless you can get it to work and test the memory with Memtest86 - Memory Diagnostic Page we wouldn't know if it's a compatibility issue or a dodgy stick of memory.

I'd suggest return it, and see if they'll swap it for the PC100 memory to match your current speed...at least you know that is compatible.

Okay ill do that
Thanks for your help!

Let us know how you get on!