only detecting 256 of my 1gb stick of ram

[ezkim0x]

I have a dell poweredge 600sc.. and i checked the specs on it the other day and it said 256mb of ram. I was almost positive that it had 1gb.

I took the PC apart and i do indeed have a 1gb stick. ( http://i29.tinypic.com/2s99n38.jpg )

I downloaded CPU-Z

under the memory tab all it has is Size: 256 MBytes

but under the SPD tab it has:

Memory Slot Selection
Slot #1 DIMM A , Module Size: 1024MBytes
Slot #2,3,4 empty

My dell model # for my motherboard is: 0J3717
its a P4 3.06GHZ CPU
os: winxp pro

do you have any idea why it's only using 1/4 of my ram stick?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

If you have the bios in "OS install mode" it will limit to 256, other than that its either a bad stick or incompatible but most likely its in os install mode

 

[ezkim0x]

alright.. I'm running something on it right now.

but once it's finished i'll check to see.

thanks.

 

[Narse]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
If you have the bios in "OS install mode" it will limit to 256, other than that its either a bad stick or incompatible but most likely its in os install mode

OS install mode, interesting, Guess I need to brush up on my Dell BIOS settings. I would never have guessed it could be that.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: Narse

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
If you have the bios in "OS install mode" it will limit to 256, other than that its either a bad stick or incompatible but most likely its in os install mode

OS install mode, interesting, Guess I need to brush up on my Dell BIOS settings. I would never have guessed it could be that.

Dell does some weird things at times, I cant for the life of me understand why limiting the amount of memory would help anything during install. I remember it from my last company where they used alot of dells.

You can find topics on other forums where people talk about it

http://phorums.com.au/archive/index.php/t-128680.html

I'm not sure what else it does (allow writes to the MBR possibly) other than limit the mem to 256

 

[ezkim0x]

you were right OS install mode was enabled.. so I disabled and restarted.. and it's fixed.

thank you.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

No problem, glad to be able to help.

 

[Narse]

That fix went into my books! Nice catch RadiclDreamer.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: Narse
That fix went into my books! Nice catch RadiclDreamer.

Thanks

I guess working on dells paid off for once.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer

Originally posted by: Narse
That fix went into my books! Nice catch RadiclDreamer.

Thanks

I guess working on dells paid off for once.

Nice one! I'll add that to my bag of tricks.