Ram addition - no monitor display/bios beeps

[unx]

I know you guys get this question all the time, but I'm just confused right now. And yes I read the sticky.

Details-

Motherboard:
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=648_Max-L&class=mb

Current Ram:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CMX512-3200C2-DT&cat=RAM

New Ram:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-6

Here's what's wrong. I've had this computer for quite some time now, so I decided it was time to increase my ram from 512MB to 1GB. Now, when I added the new stick of ram into the mobo and booted the computer, I received no bios beeps and there was no monitor display. My first thought was that I bought the wrong kind of ram. However, when I took out my old stick and put in the new one by itself, my computer runs fine with no problems.

So now I'm guessing there's some kind of conflict between the two sticks. My question is: why? Albeit they aren't the exact same, but I figured the differences between the XMS and VS wouldn't be a problem.

Also, all of the drivers for my motherboard are up-to-date, and I flashed the bios with the most recent version. I'm not overclocking either.

Anyone have any ideas? Are they just not compatible for some reason? Or did I mess up and buy the wrong kind of ram? Or is it something else?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Tokyopete]

Ram doesn't work

Are you any chance running Windows 98SE? Because Intel boards ie 815sp model intel chips won't accept more than 512MB of ram. could this be the same or similar problem?

 

[unx]

Are you any chance running Windows 98SE? Because Intel boards ie 815sp model intel chips won't accept more than 512MB of ram. could this be the same or similar problem?

Oh, sorry. I should have included that in the original post. Here are some possibly relevant specs:

OS: Windows XP
Video card: Radeon 9800 pro
PSU: Super Flower 550TS

 

[Tedster]

I guess you didn't read the sticky carefully enough.

It SAYS don't mix TYPES, size, brands, or speed of memory.

You violated that rule.

 

[unx]

I guess you didn't read the sticky carefully enough.

It SAYS don't mix TYPES, size, brands, or speed of memory.

You violated that rule.

That just sounds ridiculous. I know that mixing ram can go either way, but adhering to rules like that is a catch-all disclaimer rather than a law. Obviously I don't know much about the specifics of ram, but I've successfully mixed ram before as others have. And considering how similar they are, I figured vs and xms would be similar enought co-exist.

Regardless, I'll gladly accept that they can't work together, but what's the specific reason as to why? Is there any way to change settings in the bios to make them work together?

 

[Tedster]

the sticky doesn't say that mixing ram WON't work..... it says it mostly likely won't and is not advised. In some cases it does work, at worst it can fry your memory or worse.
ALWAYS match memory.

settings in BIOS have nothing to do with it. The reason is each type of stick have their own particular characteristics. BIOS changes settings for all the sticks universally and at the same time.

It has more to do with cycles and voltage than anything else.

In your case you have high performance ram mixed with low performance ram.
The low performance ram cannot keep up and the high performance ram lags.

 

[unx]

the sticky doesn't say that mixing ram WON't work..... it says it mostly likely won't and is not advised. In some cases it does work, at worst it can fry your memory or worse.
ALWAYS match memory.

settings in BIOS have nothing to do with it. The reason is each type of stick have their own particular characteristics. BIOS changes settings for all the sticks universally and at the same time.

It has more to do with cycles and voltage than anything else.

In your case you have high performance ram mixed with low performance ram.
The low performance ram cannot keep up and the high performance ram lags.

Ah, okay then. I guess all along I was hoping the ram and motherboard would just figure it out on their own and work together. Obviously not. But that's cool. Good learning experience. Thanks for the help!

 

[Tokyopete]

I thought I had identical ram units ie PC2100 DDR so I popped a total of 2GB worth into the comp and bingo everything went haywire. Yanked out the offending two which were not identical to the 3rd one and hey presto computer went back to normal operation. Guess you've also found out the hard way, too. ALWAYS make sure they are matching types.

 

[Tedster]

hey whaddya know.... that's what stickies are for! Reading! (and following!)

 

[hadoud76]

Well, simply it is a problem of incompatibillity of the RAM model with the computer.BIOS beeps in unexpected times through the work, and technicians need to work on the computer for half and hour for the beep to be heard, that's what I suffered, not all RAMs are plug and play on your motherboard as everyone says, your MOBO shall be compatible with the RAM model and the more than 1 RAM models shall be compatible too, let alone DDR or DDR2, SD-RAM or DD-RAM.

 

[Tedster]

actually as RAM gets faster and more sophisticated, the less it is becoming plug and play. Many RAM types are very hardware specific and vice-versa.