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General discussion

Installed new RAM chip,but just made my processor slower!

Sep 28, 2004 3:29PM PDT

I installed a Ram chip,and there is only one chip in there now.For some reason it only says that i have a AMD Athlon XP 2100+ when i actually have a AMD Athlon XP 2700+.When i had another ram chip in it (which is the same type of ram i have in it now)it stated correctly of that i have a AMD Athlon XP 2700+.I had to put my other ram (The one that stated correctly) into my brothers computer because the ram i am using right now would not work on it,but what don't make sense is that they are both pc2100 133 mhz ddr ram chips,but different brands.
I have a Phoenix bios on my computer,and a Nvidia nForce 2 Motherboard.I have had people tell me that i have to set my frequency into my bios,but i looked everywhere,but there is no option to do so,memory frequency is set at optimal,and my front side bus is set at 133 mhz.
Any help will be appreciated,my comp has been crashing alot,and i don't know if its because of my vid card,or if its because of my ram problem.

Discussion is locked

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Re: Installed new RAM chip,but just made my processor slower
Sep 28, 2004 3:41PM PDT

In case you need more info,It's a 256 mb Ram Card,I have a 128 mb ATI Radeon 9200 SE vid card,plz do not ask for the exact brand of motherboard that i have cause all i can remember is it being a Nvidia nForce 2 Motherboard.80 gb western digital Hard drive with a 8 mb buffer at 7200 rpm.i think that is all the info you should need,if there is anymore info you need plz ask.

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One has know if its a Ford or Chevy as well as...
Sep 28, 2004 9:50PM PDT

Model and year. Just the same for your motherboard.

As such, only generic advice, but points right back at the need to know the make/model and that is to check that the board has the latest BIOS.

Bob

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Re: One has know if its a Ford or Chevy as well as...
Sep 30, 2004 1:42PM PDT

My motherboards model#AN35N Ultra V1.1 SN#AN35NJ49010E40202587

And its a 256 mb pc333 ddr ram chip,just looked on the card itself.Thought it was the same as the other one but i guess not.Don't matter now anyways,the ram now is acting really funny,it works but its like if any piece of info gets on a certain space of it,my comp will just reboot for no reason at all.I may have burned it out by overclocking it,but i do not see how considering that it was not set that high.Or it could of been when i thought maybe putting the ram card into a different slot may help the problem that i was having.It is obvious that my tower was not made for my motherboard and it looks sorta rigged in there.I put the ram card on the last slot closest to the cd-rom drive,and i had to pull the cd-rom out a lil to put it in.After i have installed the ram i pushed the cd-rom back in but not being careful of the space that was there.My cd-rom was crashed right into my ram card,and i would of thought it was broke,bent,but when i pulled out the ram card it looked perfectly straight,i tried bending it a lil and saw no bend marks or anything.
Either my ram is acting the way it is because of overclocking or because my cd-rom was crashed into it.I am not sure,but now there are bad spots on my ram,and i do not know if they can be fixed.It would not even let me instal windows on the ram,i had to borrow my brothers ram from his computer to be able to instal windows.I did the memory test at boot up like 5 times,3 came back as failed and 2 didn't even say anything.
Is there any program out there that will fix bad sectors on a ram chip,like how a hdd regenerator will fix bad sectors on a hard drive?If you can help me i would be most happy.If you need more info,then plz say so.

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Re: One has know if its a Ford or Chevy as well as...
Sep 30, 2004 1:51PM PDT

I forgot,i also have the correct Bios update for my Bios for updating it,but everytime i try to update it tells me that my Flash Rom is Write-Protected and says Please make sure whether lockout jumpers is set to correct or not.Now i have been trying to call people about asking where are those jumpers on the motherboard and how can i make the Bios writable,but they said that they cannot help me over the phone because they could get sued.I know that it is the correct Bios update for a fact.All i need to know is where are the jumpers for it,and how do i set it to be writable.

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If a memory test fails... Remove that chip. Here's why.
Sep 30, 2004 10:20PM PDT

That RAM can act as cache of what needs to be written to the hard disk. If it's failed, the hard disk contents can become scrambled very quickly and the owner loses days, months as they recover.

There is no sector repair for bad ram.

There is also no way to assure that overclocking isn't going to create this issue.

You need to use RAM that passes the memory test with zero failures.

Bob

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Re: Installed new RAM chip,but just made my processor slower
Oct 1, 2004 5:52AM PDT

Your ram could be mislabled check it again and try it in your borhter's computer also.

The frequency setting in the bios will be under advanced settings or advanced chipset settings. you need change the setting from auto to manual and then you can adjust your memory frequency to 133Mhz its probably running as 100mhz. Hope this helps.

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Are you SURE you installed ram in proper DIMM slot?
Oct 1, 2004 12:11PM PDT

Some motherboard have both 168 and 184 pin dimm slots. It's not unusual for people to cram the wrong ram into the wrong slot; usually will ruin the ram stick.

Assuming it's a still working ram stick, go into the BIOS and choose fail-safe settings. This will probably underclock the cpu, but may give you an idea whether the ram is working; also test it in your brother's system to see what happens, as someone else suggested.

Google your motherboard model for the manual as far as jumpers. Sound like a Shuttle motherboard, but only you really know. Good luck.

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Re: Installed new RAM chip,but just made my processor slower
Oct 1, 2004 11:51PM PDT

Not all memory chips are created equal either. One chip that works in your machine may not work properly for someone else's machine using the same type of memory. if you bought the memory new then take it back and exchange it for another brand. i have found that different mfgs producing the same type of memory are not really identical in performance or compatibility.

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Re: Installed new RAM chip,but just made my processor slower
Oct 2, 2004 2:16AM PDT

That is a Shuttle motherboard and takes up to XP3200 CPU
and 3200 RAM. If the stick of Ram is good, then you need
to reset the speed to 166 instead of 133 as suggested.
Although, I seem to remember my board setting the speed automatically.Your Motherboard manual has the information. chuck

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Re: Installed new RAM chip,but just made my processor slower
Oct 2, 2004 6:27PM PDT

Thanks for all your help guys.I don't even know why i posted all this because with my persistance i managed to fix the problem myself.After awhile of pulling in and out my Ram Chip it started working right,even though it still scares me a bit but it seems to be working correctly now.I already updated my Bios,had to disable Bios Write protect in my bios,helps to read all of them i guess.Now my pc shows that i have a AMD Athlon XP 2700+ whew.I did have to set my fsb at 160.but everything is working the way it should and i did it all myself,sry to waste your peoples time on something i solved myself.