Computer memory question

[buckaroo]

This computer that is my main computer, is a five year old Dell Dimension 4600 that came with 512 megs of memory. Its been working fine, but the more apps I have, it has really gotten slower so I decided to double the memory and get a full gig. Got home today from work and my battery backup died and I thought this would be a good time to put in the two simms. Got it done and rebooted. Then I checked the system with Belarc Advisor and it showed that only one simm was installed, but included the one simm to give me 768 megs of memory. I then went to the System folder and saw in the general field the same, 768 megs of memory. My question is this. I thought that when there are two available slots that both had to be filled in order for the memory to be counted. I don't know if one of them didn't get seated properly or if it is a bad simm, but I didn't think that it would show up with just one. Have they changed things?

 

[Magnethead]

This computer that is my main computer, is a five year old Dell Dimension 4600 that came with 512 megs of memory. Its been working fine, but the more apps I have, it has really gotten slower so I decided to double the memory and get a full gig. Got home today from work and my battery backup died and I thought this would be a good time to put in the two simms. Got it done and rebooted. Then I checked the system with Belarc Advisor and it showed that only one simm was installed, but included the one simm to give me 768 megs of memory. I then went to the System folder and saw in the general field the same, 768 megs of memory. My question is this. I thought that when there are two available slots that both had to be filled in order for the memory to be counted. I don't know if one of them didn't get seated properly or if it is a bad simm, but I didn't think that it would show up with just one. Have they changed things?

I have a 4600 board sitting in my closet, and a 4700 board as well.

So you started with .5 GB, added another .5GB, but it's only registering 0.75 GB?

Double check they're both fully seated... and that they're both the same time...I think the toshiba 256's my 4600 came with were only one sided, I put 4 sticks of double sided 512 to get 2 GB. But, at that point, the CPU was the bottleneck. The old 90nm hyperthreading CPU's just aint that fast, and they got hotter than hades.

 

[SlowNeasy]

My question is this. I thought that when there are two available slots that both had to be filled in order for the memory to be counted. I don't know if one of them didn't get seated properly or if it is a bad simm, but I didn't think that it would show up with just one. Have they changed things?

i never understood that to be the case buck. in fact, most retail pc's come with unused memory slots available on the motherboard for expansion. as mags said your memory sticks should all be the same exact kind as far as specs go. good idea to even use the same brand. should check dell's site also to see if that board supports the memory you bought.

 

[Magnethead]

use slots A and C first, then B and D.

There are 4 yellow/orange lamps on the back panel. All should be the same color (yellow/green if memory serves). If not, they represent an error code.

 

[bump drafting]

can't help with memory questions. Now, Mammary! I'm a genius in that catagory.

 

[buckaroo]

Mag, I know where the slots are and how to install memory. Maybe I didn't make myself clear on this, I installed both simms, or dimms, but only one registered. Obviously one is either bad or wasn't seated right. I know that. My question was that I understood that the board would only recognize memory if both vacant slots were filled.

Okay, let me put it this way. Though the computer recognizes only one of the simms/dimms, will it "USE" that extra 256 megs of memory, or will it just continue to use the original 512 megs and not use the extra 256?

 

[Magnethead]

Mag, I know where the slots are and how to install memory. Maybe I didn't make myself clear on this, I installed both simms, or dimms, but only one registered. Obviously one is either bad or wasn't seated right. I know that. My question was that I understood that the board would only recognize memory if both vacant slots were filled.

Okay, let me put it this way. Though the computer recognizes only one of the simms/dimms, will it "USE" that extra 256 megs of memory, or will it just continue to use the original 512 megs and not use the extra 256?

If you left the factory Dell 256's in A and C, and you put your 256's in B and D, then the only reason I can comprehenk, is if the sticks are mismatched...

I'm on 32 bit, with 4 GB of memory- windows only registers 3070MB, it's spposed to use the extra 1026 MB for hardware addressing. But I'm pretty sure BIOS recognized the full 4 GB. go into your BIOS and see which number it's reading as installed.

 

[bump-n-run]

I had a similiar problem when I added memory to my gateway... 3 puters ago... it has to do with the type of cards you inserted.. they had to be identical or the puter's motherboard would only recognize one card.. yeah I know you got a boost, just not as much as expected... never fully understood it, wish i could remember how they explained it to me. power supply went out shortly afterward and I tossed the whole thing out into the yard...At 5 yrs old... consider kicking that paperweight to the curb. No offense, just at the end of it's usefulness. Puters are relatively cheap these days. if you have not done so, I would get a external hard drive or buy some cd's and start saving all your important stuff.

 

[buckaroo]

This computer is doing just fine and is resting right beside a much newer computer that I use for the majic jack. Also, people the memory dimms I installed were duplicates and so far, with all the computer whizes we have here, no one has answered my question.

Let me repeat it one more time and if I don't get an answer, I'll try finding the answer on google.

After install two identicle DIMMs in the available slots, the computer has only recognized one of them. The other was tested before it was sent, so I'm satisfied that it is good. When I installed them, I might not have gotten the second one seated properly and that could be why the boad doesn't recognize it. I was always under the assumption that with this type of board, one had to install two DIMMs in order to use the memory. My computer only recognized one but is it using that one extra DIMM? I will sometime in the future open the case again and try to re-install both of them again and see what happens then, but for the time being, I don't want to do so. I need a new battery so I will just wait until I get a new battery before I go back inside.

 

[Magnethead]

This computer is doing just fine and is resting right beside a much newer computer that I use for the majic jack. Also, people the memory dimms I installed were duplicates and so far, with all the computer whizes we have here, no one has answered my question.

Let me repeat it one more time and if I don't get an answer, I'll try finding the answer on google.

After install two identicle DIMMs in the available slots, the computer has only recognized one of them. The other was tested before it was sent, so I'm satisfied that it is good. When I installed them, I might not have gotten the second one seated properly and that could be why the boad doesn't recognize it. I was always under the assumption that with this type of board, one had to install two DIMMs in order to use the memory. My computer only recognized one but is it using that one extra DIMM? I will sometime in the future open the case again and try to re-install both of them again and see what happens then, but for the time being, I don't want to do so. I need a new battery so I will just wait until I get a new battery before I go back inside.

Buck, did you leave the 2 factory Dell 256's, and you added your 2 256's?

If so, that's where the problem is. Like i said, I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but I know that 90% of the time, single and double sided RAM won't get along, and if the dell sticks are 5-5-5-15 (which is pretty much guaranteed) and your sticks are 4-4-4-12 timings, that will also cause problems. In general, i never re-use OEM sticks unless I know their timings.

In my 4600, I have 2 256 sticks of ProMOS PC3200U-3033-0-A0 DDR-400-CL3, and 2 512 sticks of Crucial PC3200U-30331-B0 DDR-400-CL3.