MEMORY
General |
Memory
not counting
| Memory too big ?? |
- Many people mix up the space available on the Hard Drive with the RAM memory held on RAM chips, this is because space on the drive, like RAM, is measured in Megabytes (MB) . RAM is the computers main memory and is volatile (clears when you shut down). The RAM memory stores all the current work being done and applications running and the essential parts of the operating system needed at that time. You can think of it as Work-in-Progress. The more RAM present and available, the more you can bring in to your work-in-progress and because you don’t need to swap memory to hard drive (Temp file or Swap File) as much, then the PC operates faster.
- Many problems are caused by RAM memory chips being fitted incorrectly (not fully in the slot).
Check the chip – is it seated horizontally level ?? – if not, undo the levers on each side of the chip. First fix in one side, then the other. Return to the first side undo the lever and push down again, then recheck the opposite side. Do not use too much force as you could damage the chip or motherboard. Make sure your hands are free of static BEFORE inserting a chip, or touching anything inside the PC.
- There are different types of RAM: (in order of age)
SIMMS Used by 486/586 PCs. 36pin
DIMMS Used by earlier Pentiums. 72 pin
SDRAM (DIMMS) Used by later Pentiums 72 pin at PC 100Mhz or PC133 Mhz
DDR Later Version of DIMMS – Faster
RDRAM Used with Intel Pentium4 processors
In most modern PCs you cannot have different types of memory on the same motherboard.
- The motherboard will have a maximum RAM capacity, check the motherboard manual or hardware manual BEFORE purchasing new RAM
- If a DIMM RAM chip is very tight to push into a slot, first fix in one side, then the other. Return to the first side undo the lever and push down again, then recheck the opposite side. Do not use too much force as you could damage the chip or motherboard. Make sure your hands are free of static BEFORE inserting a chip, or touching anything inside the PC.
.
|
This is usually a BIOS conflict with a graphics/VGA Card, or just bad
or incorrectly fitted memory. Memory: If you have just installed memory into the slot(s) on the motherboard,
then re-check that you have installed them correctly (ie: fully in). On most PCs, SIMM and DIMM memory chips CANNOT be used together. Check
to see if you have the longer DIMM or shorter 72pin SIMM installed together,
if you have make a decision whether to use the older SIMMs or the newer
DIMMs. If you have only SIMMs memory then these must be in banks of 2. Ie:
there are 4 slots, slots1-2 = Bank 0, slots 3-4 = Bank 1. A bank must be filled
(ie: 2 chips) and the chips must be of the same type (eg: 2 x 32MB). If the memory is fitted correctly, DIMM and SIMM not mixed, and any
SIMMs in are in a bank of 2 - then if the screen does not light up, the
chances are that the memory chip(s) are faulty….but check the info under in
regards to Graphic Cards before making this assumption. Graphics Cards: If you have a motherboard with an AGP slot but are using an older PCI
graphics card then replace the PCI card with an AGP card and this should
solve the problems. If you have an AGP card already then enter the BIOS Setup (usually
pressing DELETE key on startup) and change to BIOS Setup Defaults, re-start
the PC. If the above does not work, then strip out all cards in the PC except
the graphic card, re-check that memory is fitted correctly and re-start If this works, re-introduce the other cards one-by-one to
restore the full system. After re-installing each card, re-start and check
for correct operation (it may be a different card causing the problem). If this does not work, replace the existing AGP/graphics card with a new AGP card of a different manufacturer eg: Matrox AGP. |
|
|
MEMORY TOO BIG
Memory above 512MB can cause problems when using Windows 95/98/ME
For explanation and rectification of this problem see largeram
