I also have an eMachine etower 600is computer (Anaheim-2a motherboard), with 256MB of PC100 non-ECC DRAM (ie. 2 sticks of 128MB).

According to the documentation, 256 MB of RAM is the maximum of memory that can be installed into this Anaheim-2a motherboard. However, I want to upgrade the memory to 512 MB (ie. 2 sticks of 256MB).

Anybody is successful in doing this 512 MB memory upgrade ? Or, I am pretty much stuck at my 256 MB ? From where can I download the latest bios for this Anaheim-2a motherboard ?

I am pretty much stuck at my 256 MB ?

Unfortunately yes.

From where can I download the latest bios for this Anaheim-2a motherboard

So as to enable the mobo to accept 512mb RAM? No it is never going to happen.

i_XpUser

Might be possible. A friend of mine has a Dell running 2 gigs of RAM (1024x2); however Dell says that his model takes a maximum of 1 gig.

And I have an old Compaq Deskpro P2, which the documentation claims to max out at 192mb (32x6). I got it running 384mb (64x6).

Perhaps your documentation was written before 256m modules were made available. I can't guarantee that it'll work, though. In fact the procedure of "adding more RAM than is possible" probably doesn't work most of the time! I can't say for sure. I just had the extra RAM to throw into that Deskpro, and the dude with the Dell is just always...risky like that.

My Super P3:
Pentium III-S 1.4GHz @ 1.5GHz, 512K L2
X800XT All-in-wonder, overclocked to 580/600.
250GB HD
2 gigs of PC2100 RAM
QDI Advance 12 mobo, this baby rocks!
SB Audigy 2

If it is possible the 256's will probably need to be double sided so that instead of 2-256's the bios will see 4-128's.

If you can find a bios upgrade for any of the emachine anaheim motherboards it would probably work with yours. This site:

http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/TriGem...

lists several emachine models that used those motherboards.

But as already mentioned, an upgrade won't necessarily help with the possible memory upgrade.

Looks like the best you can do is 256MB (2 x 128MB). If you want better performance, dump XP & use an OS that's more "in tune" with your hardware.

The max amount of ram you can install on a mboard is determined primarily by the recognition capabilities of the main chipset on the mboard, and secondarily by other factors including whether the chipset was wired properly into the mboard circuits and how many ram slots are available. There are many instances of the max ram and max module size possible in each slot being stated incorrectly in the original specifications or mboard manuals for some older mboards.
e.g. the later Via MVP3 chipset mboards and MVP4 mboards, and the Intel 440BX mboards often were stated to support max 128mb modules in each slot, but they will actually support recognizing certain 256mb modules which must be double sided.
There can also be chipset limitations of the total ram that can be supported depending on characteristics of the ram.
e.g. some chipsets that recognize DDR ram will support more total ram if the ram is 333mhz rather than 400mhz.

No bios upgrade can raise the maximum module and total ram size the chipset together with the number of ram slots can support, or correct incorrect wiring of the chipset to the mboard. Very rarely there are updates that fix recognition problems of certain module types or of certain manufacturer's modules, but if there is no mention of that in the release notes for the update, flashing the bios is of no use.

In most cases you can find out whether your chipset will support larger ram modules than originally stated, or whether the total supported depends on charcateristics of the ram, if you check out the lists of compatible ram that will work for sure in your mboard model at several major ram module manufacturers or distributors - some may stick to the original specs, some have updated information.
Some places where you can find out what will work in your mboard for sure -
see response 5 in this
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

I'll look up your mboard to see if I can find any further info that may applies your case.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpa...

I can find no evidence that this mboard with it's Intel 810 chipset can support the recognition of any ram modules larger than 128mb in each slot.

The funny thing is that jam listed the very link that I checked before I posted first response above. I wonder where everybody else got the contradictory responses.

i_XpUser