Can't add memory to desktop

[lenjack]

I'm trying to speed up a friend's Dell Dimension 2400, running XP. It has the factory original 256M DDR-266. I tried adding a 256M stick of Corsair DDR-400, for a total of 512. It would not boot and the led's showed memory problems. It WOULD boot with just the Corsair stick. Is this just a matter of incompatibility between DDR-266 and DDR-400? I thought if there was a mismatch, both sticks would run at 266.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: lenjack
I tried adding a 256M stick of Corsair DDR-400, for a total of 512. It would not boot and the led's showed memory problems. It WOULD boot with just the Corsair stick.

Is this just a matter of incompatibility between DDR-266 and DDR-400?

I'm no rocket scientist, but my first impression would be... Yes :roll:

BTW, Give us more information about the individual modules.
Are they both double sided, both single sided, one double sided and the other single sided?

 

[lenjack]

The original 266 stick is Nanya and single sided, and the Corsair 400 stick is double-sided.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

According to the specs, only DDR266 and DDR333 are supported.

 

[Blain]

Use the service tag number to look up the Dell manual for the system and it should tell you what kind of upgrade configurations you can use.
With the older chipset, I suspect that the problem is trying to use a single sided DIMM with a double sided module.

 

[lenjack]

Found the manual on the hard drive. Doesn't say anything about single or doublesided but does indeed mention only 266 and 333 up to a limit of 1G. I found 2 sticks of 256M, DDR-266 in the drawer and installed them. All is well and the improvement over 256M is dramatic, even in bootup or shutdown. Thanks.

 

[Blain]

The 845 chipset doesn't support dual channel.
So your problem was probably the single & double sided issue.

 

[thegorx]

dell and or Intel motherboards can be real picky about the memory chips on the modules, just because it post and boots with the Corsair module doesn't mean it doesn't have a problem with it. The problem, I believe, more accurately is the chip density of the Corsair module.

I'd suggest checking crucial, finding a compatiple module then looking on ebay or finding a dell module on ebay.