Newsgroup: it.comp.hardware
Titolo: Additional RAM proved fatal

Bought 512mb ram to add to 2*128mb on 8 year old homebuilt machine.
Machine came up but with only 512 showing.
Someone more experienced tried to get 256 show up by rearranging the
strips.
But all I get is "tin......tin..tin".
Nothing comes up on monitor.
Button battery is alive.
Will try any suggestions.
Thanks.

jos...@gmail.com
 wrote:

what are the specs of the mb and what is the ram speed

,  
says...

Remove the new memory. You've bought High Density RAM and your 
motherboard doesn't support it. At best, you'll only see half of its 
capacity.
-- 
Conor
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright 
until you hear them speak.........

The new memory probably has higher density chips than your motherboard supports so that only 256 MB of the 512 MB was recognized.
The problem you have now is whoever rearranged the memory has damaged either the memory or the motherboard. Remove all memory and turn on the computer. You should get a beep code for no memory, which is probably what you are already getting. Install the memory DIMMs one at a time to see if any of them work. Try them in different slots. If none of the memory works you have a problem with the motherboard.
Turn off the computer any time you add or remove memory. Take anti - static precautions; use a strap or discharge static from your body by touching bare grounded metal any time you handle the DIMMs.

-- 
                   Mike Walsh
            West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.



Suggest providing details about the system and memory.
Might be that it's an Intel 815 chipset that was
deliberately crippled to only support 512MB max.

 Machine came up but with only 512 showing.
What OS, and where is the 512 showing?
    If Win95 or earlier, and showing in Windows somewhere, it is to be 
expected.
    If newer OS and showing in BIOS, likely a mismatch of the RAM.  Does the 
machine support other than same-size sticks?  Many do not...  If the 512 
works alone, that may be all you can use unless you buy another identical 
one.

             West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A
Thanks you Mike,
Following is the result.
WITHOUT any memory stip in any of 4 slots there is ti...n, ti...n,
ti...n, ....... sound which stops only when I turn computer off.
WITH any of 3 strips(2 128mb & 1 512MB) in any of 4 slots just once
"tin......tin..tin" (or tun......tulu..tut) sound is heard once and
then everything is silent.


  Please post the brand and model of the motherboard like 3 people here 
have requested. Stop farting around.

 wrote in message 
news:1172599683....@m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...

first of all   where does the fatality come in? Have you successfully booted with the old 
configuration (2x128's)? 

 have requested. Stop farting around
If I could I would have given that first. Just dont know where to
look.
I see Intel at 2 places, AMP at one, Winbond at another.
Fan on CPU is from side with Intel Plentium II written on the top.
At one place I read
GA - 6P6BX
Tested to comply
with ICC standards
FOR HOME OR OFFICE USE
This is next to tiny square black chip with Intel written on it.
PC was leftb with me about a year back. It worked till I put this
512mb ram in it.
CPU is screwed onto motherboard and perhaps if I remove it and about 4
cards on it I may be able to read more of what is written on it.

 configuration (2x128's
It was working with 2x128 ram.
It worked with additional 512 displaying 512 and not 768, 512 being
put in 3rd slot.
But after the help put 512 in 1st slot and two 128 shifted to 2nd &
3rd slot it stopped.

 GA - 6P6BX
The P is actually an 8.
Gigabyte GA-686BX.
Here you go...
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Manual_Model.aspx
?
ProductID=1453


 until you hear them speak.........
Yes it is that.

 
Good find! Does say 256MB max DIMMs though. These also would need to be 
low density.

 one.
Now of course machine is dead.


Josh!  Does the system boot with the original memory sticks? and display the proper ram 
amount? 

 wrote in message 
news:1172604596.4...@t69g2000cwt.googlegroups.com...

  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
have mercy and leave it alone

 wrote in message

No. I tried out as Mike Walsh had suggested.
It gives out 2 kinds of sounds, one with no stick in and that sound
goes on repeating till I power off the machine. Second sound with any
of 3 sticks in any of 4 slots and that sound is given out just once.

 low density
Evidently it was stupid on my part to assume that machine can take
more memory, but wonder why the motherboard is given with 4 slots.
I have one Deskpro machine with all 4 slots filled, together making up
128mb ram. There I never thought of getting additional memory.


You can have 1GB of ram, but no more than 256MB per slot. The problem is 
that they must be low density, which is hard to get now days. However, 
it's now academic as apparently the mobo is now trashed.

 wrote in message 
news:1172609313....@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...

Ok then Josh as Mike said It looks ...not too good.
so no post -no clear cmos warning- no nothing......crap ;^(
inspect the slots for physical damage/ and capacitor damage...bulging tops/ leaking from 
the things that look like silos (cylinders coming up from the board) maybe you pushed one 
over the edge
reseat all expansion cards and/or go the route of benching the board (or remove all 
peripherals) and fire up with Power supply- CPU -1 stick of the 128 -and video. No hard 
drive -floppy- CDs etc.
Good luck 

 more memory, but wonder why the motherboard is given with 4 slots.
memory comes in many version sizes. So 4 slots with 64mb modules can be done or in your 
case it seems you can have 4x 256mb(max) modules. This may not be possible without a bios 
update or sometimes a mainboard just wont run with all 4 slots filled, for reasons of poor 
design, chipset problems.


of 3 sticks in any of 4 slots and that sound is given out just once.
Unplug AC power and use the clear CMOS jumper.  Check the
battery voltage.  Put ONE, 128MB module in the first memory
slot and retry it.  On the off chance that module was killed
by ESD damage, unplug AC then swap it with the other one,
128MB and retry it again.
Your board may be subject to faulty capacitors.  Inspect
them for vented tops, particularly those behind the CPU
slot.  

 slot.  
Capacitators are I believe small cylinders with top covered.
There 8 of them with top in white etched K on it. These are between
CPU and backside of machine, and are lightblue casing, similar 2 are
near RAM slot next to power supply. There is one small such cylinder
with top white of it etched with + on it behind CPU.  Casing of this
one is black. There are 17 of these on motherboard.
I see no top of any of these having lifted.

,  
says...

You said you bought your memory from Crucial if I remember correctly. 
Give them a phone up and see if they'll swap the RAM for some that's 
compatible now you know the motherboard model number. Crucial have an 
excellent customer service.


battery by touching it with tongue. It was stinging.
It is not safe to do that to this type of battery.  I mean
safe for the battery.  Unlike a 9V cell which has wide
spaces and large terminals, a coin cell has a very tight
tolerance and thin insulator, you many have shorted out the
battery with saliva until it had ran down too low.  I
suggest rechecking the battery now with a voltmeter or
multimeter to confirm it still retains sufficient charge,
voltage.
You might also use a strong light and inspect the memory
module contacts and the contacts in the motherboard memory
slots.  If the machine is very dirty inside, it may have
fouled the contacts, they might be cleaned with a
non-residue, spray contact cleaner (but if system is very
dusty or dirty, it may need generally cleaned out _before_
using a contact cleaner, otherwise the cleaner will just
make a mess and could still leave dirty residue on
contacts).
If all else fails, try the memory in another system or other
memory in that one.  Lots of new things can happen if memory
was handled unsafely, or if the board had developed cold
solder joints after being flexed from repeated insertions of
memory modules.

 excellent customer service.
I can do that but right now the problem is machine not booting even
with original 128 module alone in any of 4 slots.

,  
says...

Get hold of a fibreglass tip pen from Maplin:
http://tinyurl.com/2u5b2m
Remove all expansion cards and RAM.
Clean all the slots thoroughly using this pen.
Remove the CPU and replace it.
Replace the graphics card and one stick of RAM.
See if the computer now starts. If it does, add hardware one bit at a 
time, making sure that the computer still boots. The final bit of 
hardware to add is the hard drive.
Over time, corrosion builds up between the pins on RAM and expansion 
cards and the slots they sit in. Unused slots get a layer of dust on 
them. Sometimes you find that this can result in the symptoms you're 
having when you disturb the computer after a long period to install 
some additional hardware. Simply fitting the wrong type of RAM will not 
kill a motherboard.
The pen costs just over £5. 


,  

Belated thanks Conor,
Was waiting for someone more experienced to sit by my side.
As somebody will be in a weeks time I have bought the pencil and even
a fresh Coin Battry CR2032.
Will post results here.