old gateway pc

[pontifex]

is or was gateway's ram memory proprietary?

my cousin brought over an old gateway pc athlon 900 mhz, 64 mb ram (pc133), oh and it has ME. he was trying to install an hp printer. the printer requires 128 mb of ram. I told him thats most likely his problem. i tell him i'll get him a 512 stick and put it in for him. that should solve the problem. I get the stick today and put it in. the pc boots to the gateway splash screen and freezes.

try all 3 slots and the same thing. boots fine with the 64 stick in by itself. try the 512 by itself and still get the same thing. total lock up.

i hold tab as its turning on which will show system messages and it does show the 512 stick as being recognized, says at the ram check but stops there.

i dig around and find an old 128 stick. everything looks fine until it starts to load ME and i get blue screens and then locks up.

so is the memory proprietary or can the mobo only support 64 mb?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Go to the Gateway website and punch in the SN from the back plate on the machine. The site will give you all the info you need.

 

[pontifex]

thanks...here's info about the mobo...

can someone explain this to me?

Megabit Technology................Maximum Size DIMM
8 Megabit...............................16 megabytes
16 Megabit..............................32 megabytes
32 Megabit..............................64 megabytes
64 Megabit..............................128 megabytes
128 Megabit............................256 megabytes

wth does megabit technology mean?
i assume it means the max size i can use is 256 because it says it supports 768 and there are 3 slots, so that would be three 256 sticks.

the other thing thats odd is that it says it takes pc100 memory but the working chip in it now is pc133.

so can i just get any 256 pc100-133 ram and throw in? gateway wants $74.99 for a 128 stick. i got this 512 stick from newegg for less than $60.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Check the memory selector at Crucial.com (the browser one not the downloadable scanner)

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Most pc100 ram will work and most pc133 ram will work but will be automatically down clocked. PC100 ram is going to be more expensive because of limited availability. You are right, 3 sticks of 256 meg ram is your limit.

 

[pontifex]

133/100/66-MHz 72-Bit 4-Clock 8x8 SDRAM

is that low or high density?

low denisty has the chips on one side while high denisty has them on both sides correct?

the chip it has now only has them on one side. goddamn, i hate this old sh!t.

 

[pontifex]

i talked to a gateway support rep. it takes the single sided only.


they want $99 for 1 256 stick...

for 2 of them thats $200...for another $129 you can get a brand new dell...