Tried adding ram in my computer - help needed
 

i just bought a 512 stick of pny ram from best buy. it had the exact same specs as my current ram which is 256 megs. i tried adding it and it just made my computer crash. i tried it with just the new ram and the computer would freeze booting up. i put the old stuff back in and worked fine again.

is this ram probably bad or am i doing something wrong?

my computer is a dell dimension 2400

You need to check your BIOS and see how much ram the old girl can handle.

If it's a new computer tho I may be wrong. I know I had that problem with an older PC but I don't know in your case.

If you tried it with just the new ram and it froze then the ram's probably not compatible with your system.

The problem is probably one of 2 things. Either you got a burnt stick of ram or your BIOS is setup to only allow up to a certain amount of ram per ram bay. I had a PC once that was set up so that each ram bay could only take a stick up to 256 mb. I tried adding a 512 stick and it did the same thing you are describing. Other than that, I have no clue.

Ermm

I may be wrong but ... I thought you cant have uneven sides?


Example

if you have 256 in your computer .. you have to add another 256 you cant put in a 512

if you hve 512 you have to add 512


I had this happen to me recently and it killed the mottherboard and the tech guy i talked to told me you can not have uneven sides on ram

Try exchanging it. I think it's easy with Best Buy, is it? At least you'll know right away if it's defective or not.

I have a 256 + 512 and it's working :glugglug

thats what i though, i think that only counts on old computers though.

depends on if you're dealing with SIMMS or DIMMS... *generally* SIMMS need to be added in matching pairs - and AFAIK, no recently-released motherboards even use SIMMS anymore.

DIMMS, however, can generally be mixed and matched, although your MB might be particular about which ones need to be installed in the lower slots.

That depends on the motherboard.

I'd get the manual or look it up online to check.

Hmmm close .. but not quite correct.

RIMM ( RDRAM ) needs to be pluged in pairs.

The old SIMMS were generaly better performong in matching pairs but not REQUIRED..


PC 100 and PC 133 SDRAM most common RAM does not require matching pairs,

and the Latest DDR SDRAM does not need to be in matching pairs.. HOWEVER ; it is always a good idea to use matching pairs




Need to know what your PC is so that we can give you an accurate response!

:2 cents:

Most systems you can mix and match ram i have had 1 512 and 256's in a system before.

Read the first post again. :glugglug

When I asked what computer .. i meant specifics of the Mother Board and Proc.




well I did your work for you







Processor Intel Pentium 4 2.2 GHz

Installed Memory 256 MB (DDR SDRAM)


SO ... is the new RAM you purchased DDR PC2100 >??

no its ddr pc2700 333mhz. i took the old ram out of the computer and checked it and it was the exact same only a different brand. im sure dell probably used different ram in some of the same computers.

sounds like you have a bad stick of RAM



:thumbsup

That's what it looks like, if it's possible, try testing the two sticks on a different system.

omg u cant install RAM???? hahhaha


go work at McDonalds!!:1orglaugh

Here, for a Dimension 2400:

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/conf...bmit1 =Search

Virtually any configuration up to 1GB can be reached using any combination of Kingston's 128, 256, and 512MB modules.

bad stick of ram. You are running Windows XP, correct?

here is the Dell specs fpr your machine.
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...m_en/specs.htm

I suspect a bad stick of ram.

looks like it yeah, can you test it with an other pc ?