Trying to increase RAM?

Question

I have an MSI mother board (MS-6562) [MSI 845 Pro2-C) with one 512Mb stick of RAM. I just bought two PC133R 1024MB sticks. The computer would not boot with them in. I flashed the BIOS successfully. Still no dice with the bigger sticks. According the the spec sheet (link below) the board should be able to take this memory. Forgive me for being stupid, but is this not a plug and play operation? Do I need to tell the BIOS that I put new memory in?

Here is the board:
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&prod_no=292

Answer 1

As far as I can tell... The PC133"R" is error correction memory (ECC)

That board doesn't support that. You just need PC133 NON-ECC memory. (DDR333 PC2700)



EDIT: and that board does support 3G.

Answer 2

I just downloaded the Motherboard Manual. Let me take a look at it.



(NO, you do not need to go into BIOS Setup, and set anything. It is a Plug N' Play operation. You did observe static precautions, right? Plus, the computer was unplugged from the surge protector, right?)



Motherboard Manual stated Maximum TOTAL Amount is 3072MB. Which is 3GB's of ram.

PC133 SDR Sdram. Doesn't say anything about Chip Configuration, nor ram timings, nor voltage.



You have three ram slots. One would ordinarily deduce that 1GB of ram would go in each slot then. (1024MB)



Here's what I found on Crucial.com

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=MS-6562%20(845%20Pro2-C)

Crucial also indicates the Maximum TOTAL Amount is 3072MB's. They show you have three ram slots.

HOWEVER, they indicate the Maximum Amount for EACH ram slot is 512MB!



I may have been born in the day, but I wasn't born yesterday!

Last time I checked, 3 times 512 doesn't equal 3072!



Where did you get the 1024 PC133 ram?

Was it recommended by a website? If so, what website?



It's the usual 3.3 volt SDR Sdram. It can be 2 or 3 Cas Latency. (Ram Timings)



WAIT a minute! I just looked up again at your question.

PC133R?

Registered ram?

This might be a problem. It's usually used in Server computers, as well as ECC ram. This isn't ECC ram is it?

1.Registered: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_memory

2.ECC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_detection_and_correction#Error-correcting_code



Still doesn't explain the ram amount limitations.



Edit:

See if there are any number/letters on the ram stick.

Type the first 6 or so in your browser search bar, and see if you get a hit. This may be too many of the digits, or not quite enough.

Experiment with the amount, until you get a search hit. Hynix, Kingston, whoever, will have the ram specs listed.



If it's ram for a server computer, forget about using it. I meant to 'say' that previously, but thought with my links you would use deductive reasoning, and come to this conclusion yourself.

Do you still have that 512MB stick of ram in? It's not in Slot 1 is it?

Slot 1 is the ram slot nearest to the processor. The processor reads Slot 1 first. For this reason, you should have one of the 1GB sticks in Slot 1. One of the 1GB sticks in Slot 2, and the 512 in Slot 3.

Actually, I would leave the 512 out for now, and just use the 2 ->1GB sticks. See if the computer boots up.

No? Then just use 1 stick of 1GB in Slot 1, and see if the computer boots up.

Sometimes you have to reboot a few times to make BIOS 'recognize' the ram you inserted.



You can also try this.

1.Computer off, and unplugged.



2.Press the Power On button, and hold it in. Hold it in for a count of five seconds, then let go. Do this two more times.

What we're trying to do here, is to delete the CMOS Error Codes, and reset BIOS Setup back to the default state. Factory settings. This is with 1GB stick of ram in Slot 1.



3.Now plug the computer back into the surge protector.

Wait one minute, then turn the computer on.



Some computers CAN use non-ECC or ECC ram. It would be stated though, if it could.



You don't want ECC ram. The way this stuff operates is that it checks data (Info) twice, then releases it to the processor. This slows a computer down. For a server it's okay. They need to be as sure as possible, that the data is correct.



Look at the DRAM chips on the side of the ram stick. The DRAM chips are the Black rectangular objects. Is there an EVEN number of them? Looking at one side of the ram stick, is it an even number? Like 4? If it's 5 chips, for example, you have ECC ram. ECC uses an extra Dram chip.

Answer 3

Hmm... when putting new memory in it should be plug and play, so there could be a few things that i can think of that is going wrong here, the memory you put in could be faulty, the motherboard might not support that much memory, or you could of messed up the computers workings wile installing the memory. If you put the computer on carpeting or any other surface that has static electricity, the static can screw up the computer.

Answer 4

The motherboard is quite old so its probably not compatible with the hardware you have selected.

The motherboard is SO old that you would probaly see a better perfromance by buying a newer board. be careful that you get the correct one to fit the RAM and the Processor, but leat try to get one that supports DDR400 (PC3200)



say somthing like the MSI 945GCM, this will allow for some upgrade future.