Mobo/RAM problem

[Goofy Newfie]

I just purchased a 512 MB PC133 SDRAM DIMM for my PC. The maker of my mobo(Gigabyte) says that the board can run 1024MB of memory, suggesting to me that it can handle two-512 dimm's(it has two memory slots). Yet when I installed the dimm, it is only being read as being 256MB. What gives?


System Specs(before memory upgrade):

Gigabyte 6VEML w/Via PLE133
1.0GHZ Celeron Processor
256MB PC133
nVidia Riva TNT2 32MBSDRAM
Western Digital 18GB @7200
Acer 50X CD-ROM
Aopen 12X10X32X CD-RW

 

[Goofy Newfie]

As a post-script, I have no idea how this thread was listed twice.??

 

[Vehementi]

Perhaps you got ripped...

What's the brand of the memory? Maybe you need to flash your BIOS to solve an incompatibility problem.

 

[Rick]

While I haven't seen this in awhile, double sided memory doesn't always work properly.. Meaning you only get half of the total memory capacity. If you had gotten a single sided 512mb module, then perhaps it would have used all of it?

Even so, 512 isn't too shabby.. I would be disappointed at the extra cost in price however.

You also may need registered/buffered memory instead of the standard unregistered/unbuffered kind that you probably have. Registered memory is higher in price but often alleviates these kinds of problems, including abnormally high capacity memory and boards that can support more than they officially state.

 

[StormBringer]

Try the new module in the first module's slot. Don't put them both in, just the new one. See if it comes up correctly. It may be the slot that is bad. I have seen this many times, where the slot will only read half of the module.

 

[Goofy Newfie]

Flash my bios? Please explain. Do you mean to update my bios? I just downloaded the latest bios for my mobo, and when I tried to install it, it said that my chipset was not supported. I tried to run the dimm in the 1st slot alone, but it still reads as 256. I guess this rig won't support the double sided module, even though the mobo specs specify that it can take 1 gig of RAM and only has 2 slots....go figure... .

I hate this $#%@#$ motherboard, but I can't afford to upgrade right now. Guess my ram upgrade idea is hosed.