RAM

[breezer]

apart from taking it out, is there any way i can find out what type of ram my pc has?

further info

I tried a www. that checks what ram you have and what more / type you can have, fogotten its url but it said something like, "you guess first, i can't access your ram"

pc has amd athlon 3500 processor,

motherboard must be at least 2 years old

ram has no makers lable

would i be right in thinking its (due to age) got ddr not ddr2

 

[tim west]

They have a checker on crucial's website

 

[breezer]

That one worked

odd thing is it says i have only 256mb

Maximum Memory Capacity: 8192 MB
Currently Installed Memory: 256 MB
Available Memory Slots: 1
Number of Banks: 2
Dual Channel Support: N.A.
CPU Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
CPU Family: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+ Model 15, Stepping 2
CPU Speed: 2199 MHz


but my pc says i have 700 and something which is true

it also says its DDR PC2700 so i must want ddr not ddr2

 

[Deluks]

Do you have onboard graphics? (ie: no seperate graphic card?) This will use some of your systems memory and ringfence it for the graphics system.

You'll be able to use up to PC3200 if you have DDR1, in fact you shouldn't settle for anything less. Your motherboard won't be too fussy as long as it's a decent brand.

An upgrade to 2GB would cost about £40 - £50 if you were to buy new.

Using a program like CPU-Z will tell you which brand it is So you could just buy another of what you already have if there's only 1 stick in there.

CPU-Z is great, and doesn't need to be installed. Just click and run.

 

[breezer]

Thanks. But my pc says that file is invalid or corrupted

 

[empip]

Tried the 'Wizard' ?
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

Accurate in my machine regarding easily checkable equipment.

The temperatures and fan rpm's are useful as comparators...

 

[dave.m]

Breezer,
Use Belarc Advisor or SIW.

Belarc is very good, download it and when you run it, it displays a list of all that is on your computer. Most importantly it shows the keys for all the important software like your OS and Office programs.
Worth using it and printing off the result (about 4 pages) because you then have a hard copy of all your equipment serial numbers and keys in case of a total crash at some time in the future needs a full reinstall.

Belarc Advisor

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

S.I.W

http://www.gtopala.com/

dave

 

[breezer]

dave.M just did that

768 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 256 MB
Slot 'A1' is Empty

something is not right is it?

or could it be one of my lots of RAM is simply not seen by the pc?

 

[TonyWarrington]

something is not right is it?

or could it be one of my lots of RAM is simply not seen by the pc?

You hit the nail on the head with your first statement.
Your first post suggests a ram checker could not access your system
Another suggests that a downloaded file corrupt for a well known application. Both could indicate memory issues

What motherboard and what are the rec. memory configuration?
How many memory channels/slots in total and how have you configured memory usage between channels.

Have you had any BSOD recently or strange application behaviour closure etc.

I suggest that you run a memory diagnostic from a boot floppy or CD. I have used this one recently from MS to identify fault in fairly new RAM purchase http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

 

[breezer]

thanks fellas.

been faffing about since previous post.

swapped ram around 1-2 and 2-1 it wouldnt boot

ram in 1 boots fine

found some other ram, put that in 2 (along with 1 still in 1) wont boot

put old ram back and obviously i am back.

question.

pic of ram that works

View media item 2270
but i cant find any DDR 400 or am i looking for the wrong thing?

i was going to buy another of what i have that i know works

TBH i would like to go to maplin and say i want, and walk out with it

which one is the same as what i have maplin

yes it may cost more, but i am going to a maplin tomorrow

__________________________________
2320 update

found more ram (512) it wont work in slot 1 but hangs in slot 2 on boot up

put previous ram back in slot 1 and new ram in slot 2

it now says i have 1gb ram

i suspect i have the slot ids wrong, and both are from crucial, they both look like th picture, but one is a red lable so i guess one is slower than the other.

i will see what happens

 

[Deluks]

Mixing and matching different brands and speeds is not such a problem these days, I've been doing in for years without any side effects.

For piece of mind you might want to offload the stuff you have, and buy a kit (matched pair.)

PC3200 for best performance, otherwise you are bottlenecking your system somewhat.

 

[TonyWarrington]

I agree with Deluks mixing and matching different brands may not be the problem it once was however consider buying a matched pair of PC3200 for best performance and peace of mind.

Can you now download and run the programs that previously failed? Could be worthwhile to double check memory by using diagnostic application - it is possible to run with faulty memory and suffer data loss !!

 

[breezer]

sorry for the delay in the reply. the only programme that has a real problem is IE with diyNOT, seriously, the other forum i go on that uses same software works fine, its only this one that goes wrong.

 

[Deluks]

Firefox