Knowledgeable Computer People: RAM question

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mustangmike

New member
A little background - I'm not a computer expert by any means but I do pretty good at keeping mine going, for an old guy anyway. I have an HP Pavilion 331n, 1.3GHz, 128Mb RAM, 40GHz HD, about 3 1/2 yrs old. Works good for the email and surfing that I do. I have cable internet.



A friend and I were discussing how much memory Windows XP required to run efficiently, one thing led to another, and I decided to upgrade my RAM to 512Mb which is the limit according to my instruction manual. Not knowing any better I Googled up a good price on some 168 pin DIMM unbuffered RAM and bought 2 - 256 Mb Kingston sticks from Newegg. I install it and it makes an amazing difference in the speed of my computer, everything works faster and better from email to forums to surfing.



I notice that my computer is only showing 256Mb of RAM when it should show 512Mb. I go to Kingston's site and discover that they have an application chart which shows that my computer should have different sticks than what I bought. Oops. Duh. My computer is not fully recognizing the RAM because of minor differences in the technology of the different sticks. I emailed Kingston tech support and asked if they think I should get the right sticks, they say yes, the sticks I have are untested with my computer. I can't return the sticks I have because Newegg's policy is once they are opened they are unreturnable.



My question is should I ditch the generic sticks I have and get the right, correct for my computer, ones? My computer is working better than it ever has with no problems with the incorrect sticks and I hate to change anything. I don't want to screw anything up either. Would it hurt to run the incorrect sticks until things settle down after Christmas or for a longer time span? What say ye?
 
mustangmike said:
.......My question is should I ditch the generic sticks I have and get the right, correct for my computer, ones? My computer is working better than it ever has with no problems with the incorrect sticks and I hate to change anything. I don't want to screw anything up either. Would it hurt to run the incorrect sticks until things settle down after Christmas or for a longer time span? What say ye?
Click to expand...
*I* would change them just because it bothered me not having everything reported correctly, plus if it isn't reported correctly I'd be concerned about speed and stability issues.



But if you're happy with how it runs I don't see any damage that it would cause. What you might find, using incorrect memory, are system lock-ups, boot problems, BSD's (blue screen of death), possible kernel errors, memory dumps, etc. . Unless you have problems like those mentioned you really don't need to be in a hurry to replace it. I would get in the habbit of saving documents a bit sooner than you normally would just-in-case.
 
+1 for Eliot's response. Always good practice to go through a configurator to make sure you are getting the right DIMMs cuz they are always tweaking the memory architecture and bus speeds (from SIMMs to DIMMs to Rambus to Dual Channel, from pairs to single to pairs, etc.)
 
Yes, if you think the jump to 256 is good, wait until you get to 512 :)



What I'd suggest is that if you have the money, go ahead and get the proper sticks. Just to make it a little easier, you might be able to sell your current incorrect RAM on eBay. You won't really get all of your money back, but at least something is better than nothing (that's my humble opinion anyway) ... good luck :)
 
Thanks for the input guys.



The discrepancy in the RAM reporting does bother me, like you say it does possibly open the door to other problems, like stability.



I can afford the correct sticks even though my credit card is still smoking from Christmas purchases, LOL. I did have the thought that what if I spend more money and get the correct sticks and the computer slows down? I would feel even worse then, but I could always put the incorrect sticks back in, LOL.



Yup, if getting to 256Mb makes this much difference I can only imagine how 512 would be. Good point about selling the incorrect sticks, maybe they will fit my friends computer, gotta check that out.



Thanks again.
 
mustangmike,



Before I spent more money on memory I would first check and make sure your second stick of memory is seated completely in the memory slot. The plastic tabs on either end should fit into the little notches on the end of the memory sticks. If it is properly seated I would swap sticks between the first and second slots and make sure one stick of memory is not dead. I can't see why incompatible memory would allow one stick to be identified and not the other. Finally I would check my bios and make sure there is no memory setting left unchecked in the bios. I've built my own computers for years and am not familiar with the HP bios. I had incompatible memory in my HP notebook and experienced problems like the blue screen of death and not being able to install Windows XP, but no problems with identifying the memory.



Hope this helps and good luck!



PS: Merry Christmas :bigups
 
Sludge said:
mustangmike,



Before I spent more money on memory I would first check and make sure your second stick of memory is seated completely in the memory slot. The plastic tabs on either end should fit into the little notches on the end of the memory sticks. If it is properly seated I would swap sticks between the first and second slots and make sure one stick of memory is not dead. I can't see why incompatible memory would allow one stick to be identified and not the other. Finally I would check my bios and make sure there is no memory setting left unchecked in the bios. I've built my own computers for years and am not familiar with the HP bios. I had incompatible memory in my HP notebook and experienced problems like the blue screen of death and not being able to install Windows XP, but no problems with identifying the memory.



Hope this helps and good luck!



PS: Merry Christmas :bigups
Click to expand...



+1 on his advice.



It seems like you have a very basic computer and I'm going to assume that since it's 3 years old, you're system is probably using built-in video and using shared ram. I recently added more RAM to a friend's laptop and the built in video went from using 8 mb of ram, to 128 mb on its own without me actually changing it in the BIOS. So check your BIOS to see if the missing 256mb is possibly going there.



In any case, if it turns out you actually did get the wrong memory, I wouldn't waste my money on buying more ram. RAM is the opposite of most things when it comes to price. It's usually the cheapest when you have newer technology RAM. As the technology gets older, less and less are made and older RAM technology will often cost more.



IMO, you're better off spending that money towards another basic ho-hum $400 desktop system. You'll get a faster computer, more hard drive space, and maybe last you another few years.
 
OK, pretty sure the sticks are seated, the clamps locked in place. I could swap the sticks in the slots though. My thought was that the computer was recognizing part of each stick because they are the wrong part number for my computer.



Not sure how I would check the BIOS. Could you give me a hint on how to do that?



Thanks, and Merry Christmas to you!
 
What happens when you reboot the computer -- you should see a RAM "counter", a quick RAM test that displays how much the PC recognizes.



Try looking at the text when you start the PC and watch for a quickly changing number.
 
I went to the HP website and checked out your bios. The information there is generic (applies to all HP & Compaq models). To enter the bios you press either F1 or Esc when the computer is booting (you will see the screen which tells you which key to press when you turn the computer on). The bios should display the memory banks and the amount of memory in each memory bank. This will tell you if each memory slot is working. Don't change settings in the bios unless you know what you are doing. Just look at the main screen, check your memory and exit with no changes.



Good luck and hope it works for you.



Sludge :)
 
My computer does not display a RAM counter during boot up. Nor is there a place to click "set up" and get into the BIOS area like I have seen on other computers.



On the plus side I can't get over how fast it boots up now. What used to drag out to a 5 minute process now takes about 60 seconds. :woohoo:
 
First, boot up display is disabled on majority of "moder" PCs. Going to BIOS is a way to enable it.



Second, person that suggested you check second stick is inserted correctly gave you a very valuable and wise advice. Don't skip it just by visual check. It happens even to experienced person that stick is not seated completely. Pull it out and reinsert it making sure it seats well.



Third, try switching location of sticks to see is your second stick dead (don't just assume it is good and that issue is with your PC not recognizing it).
 
OK, I switched the RAM sticks between the 2 slots. I am sure the sticks are seated well, they snap right in with no problem. Everything looks good on that end. The computer is the same, still shows only 256Mb of RAM instead of 512. I have tried several times on boot up to get the set up screen, have pushed esc, F1, and F2 with no success. My computer literature does say that the RAM is shared between the SDRAM and the video memory.



I have been reading on the sites of memory sellers, most of the sites in the FAQ section deal with the problem of only half the increased memory showing in the RAM reporting. It is very common for an incompatible stick to only show half of the added memory and the sites seeem to agree on that. I'm pretty much convinced that is the problem. The "right" sticks are not all that expensive so after Christmas I think I will purchase them.



Many thanks to the folks who have responded with input, I appreciate it. :thx



Merry Christmas to all! :getdown
 
OK, so we know your second stick is working. Was second slot ever having anything in it? Need to make sure second slot is not faulty. That was happening with my notebook at work.



Further, some BIOSes require upgrade to handle memory upgrades right. Also memory settings in BIOS had to be right. That was case with my ex wife's notebook.



Also, try to see what is size of share between video card and memory. If you are not gamer and you find it's at maximum you might want reducing that.



Last, but not least, who says you see 256MB? BIOS or Windows? What Windows says?
 
Chances are your mobo only supports single sided ram sticks. Pull one out and see if you just see 128. Many of that vintage are the same way. Did you buy with Amex? They have a return guarantee even if the merchant won't take it back.
 
OK, today I went to the HP site and found that there was an update for my BIOS. I did the update. For the first time I was able to get into the setup mode. It is the F1 key, have to hold it down while the computer boots.



After the reboot the computer still shows only 256Mb RAM instead of 512. In the windows system info section it shows 256. In the setup mode it shows 128 on each bank. There was no mention of how much went to video and how much stayed with RAM.



There was never anything in the second slot until I put the two new RAM sticks in.



Now I know that both memory slots are working. I have the latest update for the BIOS. The computer still only recognizes half of each new, incompatible stick. That leads me to believe that the sticks, which are for another computer, not mine, are indeed incompatible with my computer and that I need to purchase new sticks which are compatible. I already have a site picked out to purchase them at a good price.



I purchased the incompatible sticks at Newegg, it was my mistake, not theirs. I may try to contact them today to verify that they will not accept opened RAM sticks for return or if I can work something out with them.



Once again, thanks for all the input.



Mike
 
mustangmike said:
That leads me to believe that the sticks, which are for another computer, not mine, are indeed incompatible with my computer and that I need to purchase new sticks which are compatible. I already have a site picked out to purchase them at a good price.



I purchased the incompatible sticks at Newegg, it was my mistake, not theirs. I may try to contact them today to verify that they will not accept opened RAM sticks for return or if I can work something out with them.
Click to expand...

Yup, it's the sticks. On the positive note, doing all this assured everything else checks out. You might be able to work out something with NewEgg if you find whether Kingston has compatible sticks as NewEgg tends to carry Kingston.
 
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