Ram upgrade

malvizz · #1 13th Nov 2007, 02:55

As I am pretty ignorant when it comes to computers, I though of joining this forum in the hope that some good soul would help me solve my problem.
My computer has 3 RAM slots two of which had 256MB sticks. As I had just installed Flight Simulater X I decided to upgrade, had a look at the motherboard manual which said that it could take up to 3GB of RAM, did some research on the internet and bought three 1GB sticks from Amazon (Kingston Value RAM KVR400X64C3A/1G). I inserted these but windows would not boot, so I removed one of them and everything worked perfectly. Thinking that the third stick was damaged I replaced it but it worked. So now I though that it was the slot that was damaged, and so leaving in two 1GB sticks I added one of the 256MG sticks and windows booted up reading all the Ram, but half way through it stopped, so I am now running 2 GB..
Would anyone know why it will not take all 3 sticks ? I did write to Kingston support but have not had an answer. Below are details of my computer.

Many thanks and best regards

Malvizz

CPU Intel P4 2800MHz (21x133)
Motherboard ECS L4VXA2
Chipset VIA VT8754 Apollo P4x400
Bio type Award (08/13/13)
OS Windows XP SP2

**Mike0001** · #2 13th Nov 2007, 05:52

Just looked at the manual for this motherboard:

DDR SDRAM memory module table:
DDR 266 3 DIMMS
DDR 333 3 DIMMS
DDR 400 2 DIMMS
Note: We do not guarantee that all DDR 400 memory modules will work properly with your mainboard.

You bought 3*DDR400 right?

malvizz · #3 13th Nov 2007, 06:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike0001

Just looked at the manual for this motherboard:

DDR SDRAM memory module table:
DDR 266 3 DIMMS
DDR 333 3 DIMMS
DDR 400 2 DIMMS
Note: We do not guarantee that all DDR 400 memory modules will work properly with your mainboard.

You bought 3*DDR400 right?

Many thanks, thats the answer as I bought DDR400, I did this because the ones I removed (there were 2 of them each 256MB) were DDR400. Would the computer have been faster with 3*DDR333 rather than the 2*DDR400 I now have ?

**Mike0001** · #4 13th Nov 2007, 07:33

Possibly, it is complicated and depends on whether it runs your DDR400 at 400 or 333MHz. Can't tell from the manual, but it may be decided by the processor too. Possibly it will tell you on the BIOS screen what speed it is running RAM at. Look at the Advanced Chipset page as I think it tells you.

malvizz · #5 13th Nov 2007, 09:31

Thanks. Will do

**captaincaveman** · #6 13th Nov 2007, 10:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike0001

Just looked at the manual for this motherboard:

DDR SDRAM memory module table:
DDR 266 3 DIMMS
DDR 333 3 DIMMS
DDR 400 2 DIMMS
Note: We do not guarantee that all DDR 400 memory modules will work properly with your mainboard.

You bought 3*DDR400 right?

hopefully this isn't hijacking the thread, but can you explain what you mean with this? I assumed if your mothorboard could take say ddr400's that all slots could take this type? thats thrown me a bit, ive filled all my 4 slots with ram and they are all the same type

malvizz · #7 13th Nov 2007, 13:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by captaincaveman

hopefully this isn't hijacking the thread, but can you explain what you mean with this? I assumed if your mothorboard could take say ddr400's that all slots could take this type? thats thrown me a bit, ive filled all my 4 slots with ram and they are all the same type

It does take ddr400, as it is now working with two 1GB ddr400 sticks, but if Mike1000 is right (and I think he is) I can only use 2 slots if the ram is ddr400, while it will take 3 if they are either 266 or 333

**captaincaveman** · #8 13th Nov 2007, 13:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by malvizz

It does take ddr400, as it is now working with two 1GB ddr400 sticks, but if Mike1000 is right (and I think he is) I can only use 2 slots if the ram is ddr400, while it will take 3 if they are either 266 or 333

is that info quoted for all boards?