I am having some problems and I'm really stumped at what it could be. Here is what I did so far to try and isolate my problem. 1. I have tested all ram with memtest and get an error such as: "Error found with word pair# 10738695, values 4270485217, 3733614305 do not match." I get this error right at the start of running memtest and several of the same messages follow, but with different numbers. 2. I have tried each stick single in all 3 slots and have gotten no errors. 3. I have tried running two together and receive no erros and running in different slots and then swapping the third stick in place of one of the others still no errors. 4. These errors only seem to happen when all three sticks are working together. I thought maybe it was one of the sticks, but it doesn't seem to be so. Then I thought maybe one of the banks were bad, but that doesn't seem to be the case either. Any other suggestion you guy's could give me would be greatfull. Incase you need specs..... Pentium 3 667 Mhz 384MB SDRAM PC133 all same brand and all bought together.. (Trying to get them to play nicely) 10GB HD I think that should be enough really....Oh! And this wasn't a build by me it's a Compaq Presario. Thanks!

Your memory modules are not 100% compatible with your mboard. Every mboard has memory modules that work properly in them, and others that you would think should work but are incompatible. In some cases they work fine on their own, or in combination with other modules when not all of the slots are used - in other cases they don't work properly when you fill all the slots, or in certain combinations with other modules - in the worst cases the mboard will not boot with them in. If they are incompatible, they will fail a memory test, or fail one if in certain combinations with other modules, even though there is nothing actually wrong with the modules. You can find out which memory modules will work in your mboard FOR SURE by looking up your mboard or brand name model number on any major module manufacturer or distribtors web site. You could make do for the time being by just using two of them, going by the results of your testing. For more info, see this, especially response 12: http://www.computing.net/hardware/wwwboard/forum/41305.html

Im sure you checked this but ill add it just in case you haven't, what is the max memory your board can take and the max each slot could take? AMD Athlon64 3500+ 1024MB 512x2 Dual Channel Corsair TwinX Coolermaster Wavemaster 120GB Seagate SATA HDD Gecube X800XT Platinum Logitch 5.1 Surround LG 16x Dual Layer DVD Countle

Tubesandwires - First thanks for your responce....My system does boot up with all three slots occupied only when I do the Memtest is when I get the errors. According to stats my PC takes PC133 CL2, but the ones I got are CL3 which I didn't really think mattered and probably doesn't still. I'm only thinking it's the fact that I bought really cheap ram as I'm giving this PC away anyway and didn't want to put to much out to fix it up. I'm going to try and send the memory back for a refund and get something a little better then what I got. The brand was Rosewell so it wasn't one of the better names. I tried with rosewell memory in my kids computer all three slots filled and it just did a continues reboot. I guess that's what I get for buying cheap ram. houston1981 - To answer your question it's an old system so it only goes up to 384MB and that's all I put in there. Thanks

"According to stats my PC takes PC133 CL2, but the ones I got are CL3 which I didn't really think mattered and probably doesn't still." "According to stats my PC takes PC133...." That isn't all there is to what makes a module compatible or not - see that Bad Ram thread I pointed you to. Whether it was cheap ram or not doesn't matter, on it's own - what matters is its compatibility - but it is often easier to find out which ram is compatible from the major makers or vendors. The CL2 or 3 rating doesn't matter, as long as you're not trying to force the bios to use a lower CL rating than all the ram supports, and even then the bios will probably use the higher (slower) rating when it detects not all the ram will support it.

"I tried with rosewell memory in my kids computer all three slots filled and it just did a continues reboot. " All that proves is they are even less compatible with the kids mboard - it doesn't prove there is anything wrong with them. By the way, if you have a i440BX or a later Via MVP3, or a Via MVP4 chipset, it has been found many of the mboards they were on will properly recognize 256mb ram modules in a slot as long as they have 16 chips of the same specs that work properly for the 128mb modules - 8 on both sides - despite the original specs saying they could take 128mb in each slot maximum. If you happen to have a 16 chip 256mb module available, try it.

Tubesandwires - Thanks again for your speedy replies. I'm sure your 100% correct on what you say as you sound very logical with your answers. Unfortunately I don't have a 256 stick around to try, but what I have decided to do since I'm sure if I send the RAM back to only get 3 new ones will not settle my problem as it will most definitely still be the same case I'm in now. I have decided to just run the PC with only the two sticks which seems to work completely fine. I feel I may or will spend more money just to come back to the same problem as before just to RMA for the same type modules. So I just figure I'll bite the bullet and use just 256 total occupying two slots instead of three. I'll just keep the other stick aside in case I ever need it. I'll keep in mind everything you said just in case I run into a similiar problem down the line. It is hard to believe that RAM could or would just go bad and sometimes we don't think that just maybe it's only a compatibility problem. It's always a jump to conclusions that we like to make. Again thanks for your computing help.