memory issues(ram)

[hakeem5454]

i have 504MB of ram and i got two 512 sticks today and when i put both of them in and started my computer , it got to the desktop and everything loaded and then it restarted, and it kept doin this so i took one out and then it loaded the desktop but restarted again(this time it just took longer to restart) what seems to be the problem?

[ripken204]

bad ram, incompatible ram, incompatible ram configuration.

try each stick by itself

[hakeem5454]

i did try each stick one at a time, and my computer takes SDRAM and the ram i bought is SDRAM so whats not to be incompatible?

[ripken204]

well i mean that certain brands of ram may not work well with certain brands of motherboards. so each stick works fine by itself? what if you only use the 2 new sticks?

[uid0]

i did try each stick one at a time, and my computer takes SDRAM and the ram i bought is SDRAM so whats not to be incompatible?

Speed, memory timings, etc

Also, just because the sticks are new, doesn't mean they're ok - I've been sold bad sticks before

Try memtest86

[hakeem5454]

ok small step by step here what should i do first: put each ram in seperate first or take out the ones in there originally and put the new ones in or what..what would be the right steps to get these working(if they can)

[uid0]

If you're using memtest86 I'd test them first with all of them installed - if this shows errors then narrow it down by testing one at a time.

[bonestonne]

whats in the board right now? you'll need speedfan to do this.

are the new sticks non-ECC or ECC? and what is the original

if they're all the same:

look at the refresh rate of the RAM [normally 15.6us] and its speed, PC100 or PC133.

then look at the new sticks and see if they're the same.

[hakeem5454]

ok well how can i get mem test and how would i get it running considering my computer crashes as soon as i reach the desktop(with the new mem installed)

and the original memory sticks are installed at the moment( im thinkin its two 256MB ones)

i also dont know if the new sticks non-ECC or ECC or about the original ones.

[bonestonne]

http://www.memtest86.com/

you may want to check the packaging/labels on the sticks to find out what it is. mixing ECC and non-ECC can cause similar problems to the ones you're having.

[ripken204]

does cpuz tell if its ecc or not?