I have a w3506 eMachine running XP home edition w/sp3. Bios - GC11020M.15A.2010.2006.0817.0956
This machine had 512Mb on-board DDR2 ram. I bought a stick of DDR2 1Gb and put it in the empty slot. On reboot it only saw 1Gb. I took the 512M out and rebooted. Still 1G. Ok so I think go buy a matching stik so I would have identical pairs. Put two new stiks in, 1G.
I then tested each independently and both work. I looked in the bios setting and found that one of the memory channels are not enabled. I looked threw the bios setting and saw no way to enable the second slot.
Any suggestion?
I suspect you have a finicky board, some boards can be extremely fussy about what they accept, , they also have a maximum they can handle, the fastest way I can suggest to see what your board can handle is to go to Crucial's site and run they're system scanner, it should tell you what you have, and the max it can take, it will also recommend ram they guarantee to work in it, hope this tells you what you need and can achieve.
Hey Guy, thanks for the help. I had already checked the specs and knew that I could expand to 2Gb. Here is what Crucial had to say
# Maximum Memory Capacity: 2048MB
# Currently Installed Memory: 1GB
# Available Memory Slots: 1
# Total Memory Slots: 2
# Dual Channel Support: Yes
# CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
# CPU Family: Intel® Celeron® D CPU 3.20GHz Model 6, Stepping 4
# CPU Speed: 3200 MHz
Looked in the bios setting and found that one of the memory channels are not enabled.
Looked threw the bios setting and saw no way to enable the second slot.
any ideas?
The settings are usually to be found in the BIOS pane labelled Chipset Features Setup.(or similar) you may be able to find something that will help in there….you could also try enabling SPD so that timings are auto allocated.
Failing that it looks like an incompatibility between your mobo and the RAM…you could try and borrow ( from a chum) some different but matched memory suitable for your machine and see if the dual channel is now recognized with it
Regards
paws
I agree with paws, most likely a compatibility issue, you can't just stick any old ram in and have it work, yes many times people seem to get lucky doing this and wonder why people go into such depth for it, but this is why makers produce lists of ram known to work in the system, I can't find the list for your system, but my guess is your stick you got isn't compatible with it, changing the timings etc may help, but the safest approach to buying ram is to make sure it's compatible before buying, hence such tools as the Crucial site, on paper you need DDR2 PC-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot, but it goes deeper than that, even down to single\double sided ram making a difference, so check on makers sites for compatibility for best results.
Thanks for all the help folks. Went back into the BIOS to look for the chipset, found it but have no options of changing anything in the chipset through the BIOS.
I bought Kingston matching stiks (1Gb DDR2 - PC2-5300 @ 667). The tech I spoke with said it was downward compatible that it would clock down to the correct speed. The packaging said it was compatible withDDR2- PC2 4200 @533MHz which is what is called for. Each stik is 1Gb and each work by themselves. I have put each stik in by itself, and have close to 1Gb, but have the exact same amount of available memory with both stiks in.
In the BIOS it says the second memory slot is disabled but does not have an option for enabling it.
Any other thoughts?
I still suspect compatibility issue(s), looked through Kingston's site and using they're Configurator they don't even list your system, so theres no way to be sure if they say it's compatible, they are correct in essence that putting ram with a faster speed in a slower system it will be reduced to the slower speed that the system can support, but this is certainly not ideal, and could be a part of your issue, there are just times when this stuff will not play nice, which is why it's safer to check compatibility prior to buying.
I remember my 1st ram upgrade, on paper everything looked fine, yet it refused to work, turned out in my case the system would only accept ram in specific multiples, and what I was trying (and told would work) was not in the right multiple of what the system would accept, so sometimes the issues can be so obscure you don't have a hope of figuring it out.
But that said the sticks appear to be working independently, as I can't easily find a manual for your system, I can't be sure, but sometimes upgrading the bios can make features work where they wouldn't previously, but flashing the bios has high risk involved, if it goes bad it can kill your board, so if there is a power loss during the flash it could be the end of the board, so you need to think about this before trying it, I have no way of knowing if it will help your case, but maybe you can find more info from the maker's it may help, hope something works for you.
Thanks again for all the help.
I believe I am close to a solution. I talked with a tech at Kingston. Up until about 6 months ago the DDR2 memory would have been compatible and automatically enabled the second slot to take advantage of the two stiks. My mobo was designed to use a specific chip. The company that made that chip went out of business last year. Kingston was forced to use other chips that my mobo will not use in pairs. I can still use one stik of the brand new chips, just not two together.
So now I am in search of another old Kingston stik with the old chipset, the tech "assured" me that the olds one would work. I guess a one good thing did come of this, I don't think I have a single app or driver that has not been updated.
Well that certainly fits within the obscure parameters I mentioned lol, you were lucky to reach a tech who knew about the issue, as thats one of those only a few would know about, so Thanks for the update, it's another curve ball to add to the memory banks lol, hope you find the right stick.
