Hi all, Got a bit of a problem with my machine, recently I bought 2 sticks of 256 PC-133 to put into my GA-71xe4 motherboard. when I take out my old RAM (2 sticks of 64MB) and replace it with the new RAM, not much happens when I power up. The fan starts and I can hear the hard discs doin' stuff but that's it, no beeps or anything. This is also what my computer does when there is no RAM at all in the board. When I try to use 256MB RAM with the old RAM I can at least see the bios type stuff but on the memory count it completely ignores the new RAM, however it later prevents windows (ME) from loading so it's obviously having some kind of effect on my machine. I've tested the new RAM in another computer and it seems to be fine. This is drivin' me crackers, I can't figure it out :( Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi:Does your mobo support 512Mb of Ram ? If you try your old Ram does the System Boot up fine ?? did you try one Stick OF 256MB ? is your old Ram PC/100 Dimm or PC/133 Dimm ? did you insert the Ram all the way?

You may have gotten high density RAM. Only certain chipsets support this. Also as shadow intimates, your mobo may only support 128 MB sdram dimms at best. I have the Gigabyte GA-7IXEH which not only supports high density, but has a maximum of 1 GB (3 x 512 MB). I have 1 GB in mine with win98se using the full GB, as well as Mandrake Linux 8.2 Powerpack Edition. You may have also gotten ram made for proprietary OEM system. Charles

Your older mouther board just might not support pc-133 ram.

thanks for the suggestions Shadow: My board supports up to 768MB of RAM The system boots up fine with the old ram, that's how i'm able to post on here :) I've tried both sticks of 256 on their own, no luck. The old RAM consists of one stick being PC-133 and one PC-100. my system boots up fine with either of them in on their own, so I know the board can handle both speeds, I even tried the new RAM with just the old ram which was pc-100 to clock it down to see if that worked but nope... I've tried the RAM so many times there's no way I could have seated it wrong everytime. Charles: I would like to know more about "high density" RAM. my chipset is by AMD, i'll research shortly. the mainboard I have is suppose to take 3 x 256MB SDRAM to total 768MB RAM. "You may have also gotten ram made for proprietary OEM system." - what does this mean?? sounds worrying! Wolfe: I have no idea what you're on about, lol. :-? Thank you all.

Ahhh, Wolfe I see what you mean now. One of the old RAM sticks I have is PC-133 and it works fine, even on it's own. According to the specification it supports PC-133 also.

Try one of the new memory sticks, all by itself, in the DIMM1 memory slot on thr mobo. Don't be fooled by what you see, on mobos LEFT is not always #1. Check your manual first, and then put one of the new sticks all by itself in the machine - on the Dimm1 slot. If that works, try the second memory module all by itself, also in the Dimm1 slot. Now, just for the heck of it, set your bios down to PC100 - there should be a setting for that. And finally, if that works, then try both of them - but make absolutely sure that one of them is in the Dimm1 slot. If both modules are now working, then you wee using the wrong slots before. Some mobos require that Dimm1 is used first. Some mobos also require that certain memory modules are used only in identical pairs. It may not be a bid deal for older 32 and 64 MB modules, but it could very well be a big deal if you're maxing out your slots and the ram capability per slot. If you get it working with these instructions, then, one last change would be to set the memory back to PC133 - to see if everything will continue to perform at the proper and higher rate of speed. Hope you get it working alright, let us know. Hey Intel, AMD rulez!