Can I put 128MB RAM (2x64) in a system that maxes out at 96MB and not cause any problems?

[Night201]

My gf's laptop maxes out at 96MB RAM. It right now has a stick of 64MB in it. Can I put another 64MB chip in it and not cause any problems. I know it won't use 128, but will it use half the capacity and think it has 96MB total? Or, will this cause problems?

 

[Barefoot]

Usually, installing more RAM than a system will support will end up causing problems, yes.

 

[Mapidus]

Generally the stated max ram is either based on filling all the slots with the highest capacity boards available at the time or actually is the hardware limited value. Many times the hardware will support higher capacity boards and if so then you would be able to put in another 64 meg stick. The only way you can tell for sure is to put in another 64 meg stick and see if it recognizes it. Seems like it might work because it looks like the laptop you have was originally speced with 1 32 meg board and 1 64 meg board as being the max, but you currently have a 64 meg board in the slot, so there is some chance it might support another 64 meg stick. Laptops sometimes have these odd numbered ram combinations either because of onboard ram or one slot only supporting low profile sized boards while the other one supported standard height. In many cases like the powerbook G4s, companies made low profile boards that supported a high capacity and so people ended up being able to upgrade to more ram than Apple specified as max.

 

[Mday]

of course if the laptop does not recognize the new dimm, you can't use it anyway...