Two identical RAM sticks won't work with each other

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Alright, bear with me, this is a question for a friend of my dad's, and the information I have about the computer is what I can remember him telling me.

I talked to him on the phone (it's really frustrating trying to troubleshoot for people if you can't see their screen and they know nothing about computers :blackeye:) He insists that the two RAM sticks are identical, and he read the numbers to me, and they're both the type of RAM the motherboard supports. Two 512MB DDR PC2700 chips. One is new and the other is old, both different brands.

They both work individually with no problems, they just won't work together. The computer won't boot, the monitor just stays blank.

What could be the cause?

I had him reset his BIOS settings. No luck. I figured that maybe the chips weren't getting enough power, since he has a 430W and is trying to run two sound cards and two video cards. But I didn't want to tell him to upgrade without knowing for sure, you know?

I thought it could be bad slots, but he's tried them individually in every slot and they work. I'm as confused as he is at this point.

His PC is a mutt, it's got different parts from everywhere. His motherboard (ASUS P4V533-MX) supports 2GB of RAM and he ordered a 1GB stick online, now he's worried that that one won't work with the rest either.

I've been all over Google, I can't seem to find anything useful. Thanks in advance for any info to point me in the right direction :)
 
One stick over-rated might - two sticks overrated trying to work in dual channel might not.
 
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