ebay ram not working

[foges]

I just bought some no name ram (1GB DDR 400MHz) off ebay for a computer i dont use much (dell dimension 3000 = http://www.crucial.com/store/l...odel=Dimension%203000) the computer has already got a stick of 512MB Samsung PC3200 ram. if i remove that one and replace it with the ebay ram the computer just starts beeping.
It must be the ram that is faulty right?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Another beauty from Fleabay.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Way-ul, Pil-grim -- what else would it be, if the system was working fine with the Samsung, and suddenly beeps (probably the memory-error beep-sequence) with these other modules. Are you sure that these EBAy modules fit the DELL spec? Dell has been notorious for making otherwise mainstream motherboards "proprietary." And usually, the only way to assure memory compatibility is to purchase modules that are spec'd for the Dell hardware.

I might waste my time at Ebay if I knew what I was getting, and often people are turning around new product in factory cartons that they bought somewhere else.

But even for an older Dell, if I wanted to upgrade memory, I'd shop the memory specialty-shops on line to see what's available for your OEM model, and then start to compare prices.

To me, even for an old system, "new-in-shrink-wrap" with a known spec for the OEM product is worth a little extra to save the time and trouble that leads to posts on these forums.

 

[foges]

Ok, i guess the ram could work then, hmm

where would i find dell specific ram? off the dell website or?

I did try the ram in another computer as well and it didnt work (fujitsu siemens , gigabyte motherboard, 4-5 years old), but i know that the Fujitsu siemens computer is picky about the ram it takes. Guess there is no way of knowing, what do i do with the ram now, hmm.

 

[NXIL]

where would i find dell specific ram? off the dell website or?

One of the memory configurators available on line should help:

http://www.corsairmemory.com/#

http://www.crucial.com/index.a...6b3s5i4cfrt9hgodlznrja

http://shop.kingston.com/default.asp?bannersource=comju

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...ategory=543&GASearch=3

FlEaBay Memory:

There is a fine gentleman named Paul who is active in the Asus Newsgroup: he explains why cheap generic eBay memory often does not work:


Assuming the chipset on the motherboard is density limited (number of address
bits on memory bus is barely enough to address a 1GB DIMM), you'd want
to use a branded 1GB stick. This Kingston module, uses (16) 64Mx8 chips,
and would be the right construction for the job. If you were thinking
of buying Ebay RAM, there is a lot of (16) 128Mx4 chip modules for sale there,
and the memory has no brand name on the module. (That is because a branded
memory company would be ashamed to make such a module. But Ebay has no trouble
selling them, no ethics problem there...)

(Example of a module that uses 64M x 8 bit chips)
http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KVR400X64C3A_1G.pdf

Kingston ValueRam, Corsair Valueram, and many others are availabe at prices not much more than the generics, and with a lifetime warranty.

Looks like your Dimension 3000 has two ram slots:

http://shop.kingston.com/model...sion+3000&SUBMIT1=Find

And, it looks like you can use DDR 333 or DDR 400, according to Crucial:

http://www.crucial.com/store/m...bpoid=0C5F0C59A5CA7304

Any of these modules fine, about $50 per GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...0%2c524%3a7862&bop=And

HTH

NXIL

http://groups.google.com/group...num=1#21e253805a3bcecb