My ram upgrade nighmare

[Dresden]

Hi-

I just tried to install a 512 chip of RDRAM in my rig. I have 2 256's and i installed a 512. Upon turning it on i got a beeping from my motherboard with the numbers "13" showing on the led thing. I called my genious friend and he told me the ram was defective. Is this true? If not what can i do?


thanks fellas-

Norton

 

[Tim Murray]

Hmmm... don't you have to install RDRAM in pairs?

 

[Dresden]

i dont know. You mean i need 2 more 256's? All the 256's they have out now are too fast. My motherboard can only do like pc800

 

[Dresden]

Would it be ok if i just bought another 512?

 

[AlphaWolf]

I believe it would, but you may want to check your mb manual before you run out an buy another stick. I am fairly certian that RDRAM does require that it be installed in pairs.

 

[Dresden]

So could i buy another 512 and install it next to my existing 256's? If not its no big deal. I could just use the 2 512's and sell the 256's

 

[AlphaWolf]

So could i buy another 512 and install it next to my existing 256's? If not its no big deal. I could just use the 2 512's and sell the 256's

Well you would want to check your mb for that, I am not sure how flexible they are. Some boards may only allow certain sizes etc. If you have 4 rdrams slots and support for more than 1 gig of ram it should be possible, but not necessarily on your board or in that configuration.

 

[Dresden]

Oh i'm all set with that. I know my mb only supports ram of up to pc800, slow ridiculousness, and 2 gigs of it with the 4 slots. Also i know it supports all sizes of ram, 128, 256 and 512.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Oh i'm all set with that. I know my mb only supports ram of up to pc800, slow ridiculousness, and 2 gigs of it with the 4 slots. Also i know it supports all sizes of ram, 128, 256 and 512.

Well its possible that there are issues with using different sizes together. Your board could possibly support 4 512 mb rimms but not 2 512s and 2 256's. I have no personal experience with rdram, but had sdram boards that were sorta picky in the ram configuration.

I guess you can always try it, the 2 512's should work at the very least, if the 2 256's don't work in conjunction you can always sell them.

 

[rainz]

everything is possible with the RAM !! ... in my other computer (amd 2600, mobo Gigabytes ga7-vax-a) .. i tried to put 2 X 256 Kingston + 1 X 512 Kingston and it was impossible ... but each ram worked just fine alone .. why ? the 2 batchs of kingston wasnt compatible ... how pathetic !
So i exchanged the 512mb kingston for another kingston to my friend .. ( another batch ) .. and ? everything is perfect ..

and sometimes .. it's just 2 brand not compatible .. lot of times too. Or many strange bugs and odd things .. oh well .. Good luck :?

RainZ

 

[BRiT]

I'm sorry rainz, you are wrong. Your AMD system is using DDR memory. His system is using RDRAM. Two entirely different beasts.

With RDRAM you must install the memory in matched pairs. In order to run 512Meg total, you need 2 256Meg sticks. In order to use a 512Meg stick, you need to run 2 of them for a total of 1Gig. This is one of the reasons (among many) why they hated RDRAM.

 

[Dresden]

I see, Brit. So essentailly if i want to be running a gig i need to ditch my 256's and install 2 512s?

 

[BRiT]

With RDRAM, if one wants to run 1Gig and has a total of 4 slots, you have two ways to get there: 2*512 or 4*256. One should be able to run 2*512 and 2*256 for 1.5Gig total. One only has to ensure the 512M RDRAMs are paired in the same bank and the 256M RDRAMs are paired in the other bank.

 

[epicstruggle]

yeah im having problems with one of my sticks of ram. I get a acpi.sys corrupted when booting up. changed the ram and voila everything works.
later,
epic

 

[rainz]

I'm sorry rainz, you are wrong. Your AMD system is using DDR memory. His system is using RDRAM. Two entirely different beasts.

With RDRAM you must install the memory in matched pairs. In order to run 512Meg total, you need 2 256Meg sticks. In order to use a 512Meg stick, you need to run 2 of them for a total of 1Gig. This is one of the reasons (among many) why they hated RDRAM.

i know .. just saying everything is possible. I'm wrong in what in fact ?

RainZ

 

[mczak]

All the 256's they have out now are too fast. My motherboard can only do like pc800

There is no such thing as "too fast ram". A pc1066 module will just run fine at pc800 speed. Unless rdram changed the internal organization, I believe sometime "4-bank rdram" was introduced which might not be compatible, not sure. But organization changes are independant of speed.

 

[Dresden]

Oh. Well my manual said it was compatible with rdram pc800 so i assumed it was ram strictly that speed.

 

[digitalwanderer]

My sympathies Jim, RAM problems are probably among my most hated/feared troubleshoot.

There are just SOOO many things it could be, and memory just seems to be goofy at times to me for no apparent reason. (One of my matched Geil PC3200 sticks went bad for no reason a few weeks ago and it's BUGGING me! I had the damned stuff running at only 175Mhz and it just suddenly crapped out and I don't get it! )

Sorry I can't help ya, but at least I figured I could let you know you ain't the only one.

 

[joe emo]

RDRAM has to be installed in pairs. You need two identical sticks of RDRAM for each corresponding pair of RIMM slots.

 

[horvendile]

RDRAM has to be installed in pairs. You need two identical sticks of RDRAM for each corresponding pair of RIMM slots.

I say, was that true even on the i820?
Then again, I suppose it was - 64-bit memory bus then, 64-bit memory bus now.
But has Jim Norton told us which chipset he's using? Not that it'd necessarily help, but nevertheless.