RAM on a Intel Celeron (R) 566 MHz processor

DAVEINCAPS May 15, 2011 at 23:27:48

It's very unlikely that computer only supports a total of 256 meg. More likely it's 256 per slot. Post back the hp link or the PC model number so we can check. Ding dong the witch is dead. . . .

T-R-A May 16, 2011 at 00:42:45

As DAVE mentions, it's probably a 256MB in one slot and 128MB in the other. Crucial has a memory scanner which can determine the amount and type in your machine and it's maximum: http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/ "Channeling the spirit of jboy..."

mickliq May 16, 2011 at 05:09:22

The CPU doesn't dictate how much RAM can be used, the motherboard does. But since you didn't bother to list the model of the system or the board, we have no way of checking what the memory limitations are.

Sorry about not having enough info for you. I'm new at this forum stuff. Here is the link: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/... I hope I did that right.

T-R-A May 16, 2011 at 10:55:21

According to the link you posted, 256MB "should" be the maximum. But again, even manufacturers sometimes get their own specs wrong. There could have been some type of update (even possibly a motherboard change) that would allow for more RAM in the system. If the Crucial Scan determines that 256MB is indeed the maximum, and your system actually is using the 384MB installed (see link below to find some system-information diagnostics), then just consider your self lucky... http://www.piriform.com/speccy http://www.cpuid.com/ http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download... see "Old SIW 2010 (build 0714)" at bottom of page "Channeling the spirit of jboy..."

Thank you everyone for the info! So far this seems to be a case of I don't know why it works, it just does. I'm certainly not going to monkey around with it. Why mess with a good thing, right? I used the Speccy info thing, but I really don't know what most of it means. I'm not quite that computer savvy. I know enough to be dangerous, though.

DAVEINCAPS May 16, 2011 at 17:49:34

There could be several reasons why it's seeing more than the specified maximum: 1) The specs could be out of date and a bios upgrade may have allowed the bios to see more ram. 2) It was only tested with ram sticks up to 128 meg so that's all they listed in the specs. 3) Sometimes a bios will see double-sided ram as two separate sticks. So if for example you have a 256 and a 128 meg sticks the bios may see it as 3-128's Ding dong the witch is dead. . . .

They make double-sided RAM sticks for a computer that old?

DAVEINCAPS May 17, 2011 at 23:39:05

I'm talking about double-sided and not dual channel but yeah, I can remember ram being reported that way on systems at least as old as yours. Well, maybe I assumed it was a double-sided ram stick issue and not just an odd way for the bios to count the ram. It's been a while since I looked into that. Ding dong the witch is dead. . . .

Different motherboards have different slots, sometimes 2 256 and one 128,others 4 128. Check the motherboard's website for information on motherboard

Thanks Christopher for the tip. I did that and look: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/... Am I reading this right? Hp supports 256 but it CAN go to 512? That's my answer, then. *smacks head for not looking at MB stats to begin with* Also, I can put an 800mhz processor on it, my system is celeron, is that right? If I wanted to, that is.