2 (256) meg ram chips only showing up as 380megs

MattTheTech

Member
Dec 21, 2002
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check to make sure your board supports that configuration. it would be weird that a board that takes that kind of processor wouldnt, but you never know. if it only accepts 128's in each slot, you never know what it will do. also, are they two sticks the same ? as far as speed ? (pc-133?) might try a bios flash, or running a memory tester such as docmem to see if somethings wrong (just because its working fine doesnt mean a stick couldnt be bad)
 

DirtylilTechBoy

Senior member
Oct 19, 2001
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Previously had a single 256 meg chip in one slot and recognized as 256. Added another and it was as if I only added a 128 meg chip.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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So is it showing 380Mb as in the title, or 384Mb? If it's 384Mb, then maybe you have some of the new high-density RAM. I've run into that with some recent Kingston modules (their warning about their PC133 not working with all 440BX and i810 boards is not idle talk).
 

RanDum72

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2001
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A lot of the newer 256mb sticks being sold in stores so far are high density, which your mobo may not support. Just look at the memory and see if all the chips are on only one side of the PCB. If it is, its probably high density. Maybe there's a BIOS update that would enable support for it, check your mobo manufacturer.
 

zephyrprime

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
7,512
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Ramdum's probably got the right idea. I have this exact same problem with my old computer. It can't handle this one sided 256mb dimm I bougt for it and only recognizes it as 128mb. Do you have a BX mb? I know that the BX can't understand chips bigger than 16mbitx8 and a single sided 256mb dimm would use 32mbitx8 chips.
 

Kingofcomputer

Diamond Member
Apr 6, 2000
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It could be your newly bought pc133 256MB dimm uses 32Mbitx4 chips instead of normal 16Mbitx8 chips,
BX chipset doesn't support ??x4 type.
 

FSH42NA

Senior member
Dec 26, 2002
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I once had 1 bank of my Crucial 256MB DDR go out on me. I was doing a rebuild for a friend of mine. After reinstalling the memory, I only had 128MB of RAM vs the 256MB that I had before I removed it. Called Crucial and they cross shipped me another stick and all is well now. I used to think when your memory goes bad, it ALL goes bad. But I guess it can go half bad! You said that you had 256MB with one stick, but only got 384 with 2 sticks? Sounds like the last stick is bad.
 

DirtylilTechBoy

Senior member
Oct 19, 2001
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It must be high density because the chips are all on one side. Does this make a simm, since the chip is single sided (single inline memory module)
 

Kingofcomputer

Diamond Member
Apr 6, 2000
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from Crucial faq:

What is the difference between a DIMM and a SIMM?


Description:

What is the difference between a DIMM and a SIMM?



Solution:

DIMM stands for dual inline memory module, and SIMM stands for single inline memory module. The gold or tin pins on the lower edge of the front and back of a SIMM are connected, providing a single communication path between the module and the system. The pins on a DIMM are not connected, providing two communication paths between the module and the system, one in the front and one in the back.