* Old computer upgrade *

Hi.

Test with only one stick in all the slots of ur mobo.

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Motherboards & Memory by Saint19

thanks for the reply Saint : )

What does testing 1 stick of ram in each RAM slot do? If one of them is faulty, do both of them not work ?

thanks!

It depends, sometimes it will still boot and use only the working one, but often it will simply not work. Generally the easiest way to troubleshoot PC's is to remove everything not absolutely required, and then add things back until you get the problem again.

For any ram you are considering, do your own homework.
Go to the ram vendor's web site, and access their configurator.
Corsair, Kingston, Patriot, OCZ and others have them.
Their compatibility list is more current than the motherboard vendor's QVL lists which rarely get updated.
Enter your mobo or PC, and get a list of compatible ram sticks.

Here are a few links:

http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx

http://www.corsair.com/configurator/default.aspx

http://kingston.com/

http://conf.ocztechnology.com/index.php?c=1

http://www.patriotmemory.com/configurator/index.jsp

Is the new ram identical in specs and voltage to the old ram? Some motherboards are very sensitive to mismatches.

Download and run memtest86+ to check out the ram. Run it with one stick at a time, and perhaps in different slots to identify any possible slot or stick failure.

Are you trying to use all 3 sticks? Some motherboards have very specific rules on which slots need to be populated.

thanks everyone for the info!

This computer only has 2 RAM slots. I was planned on taking out the 2 256 MB sticks and replacing it with 2 512 MB sticks. I didn't know that I would have to look up compatibility. I asked someone on this forum and they said that any DDr 400 sticks would be fine. I just want some simple RAM, I don't want brand names such as corsair, OCZ, kingston, etc.

thanks!

Look at the new and old sticks; if the specs look the same, then you are probably ok. By specs, I mean type(DDR400), voltage, and latency(cl2..etc). The first two are most important. You should be ok if the voltage(printed on the sticks) is the same.

Memtest86+ is a stand alone program that is the gold standard test for ram. You can download it to a cd, or floppy.
Start with your good stick to see how it runs.
Then try one of your new sticks in the ram slot that you know works.

Ultimately, you should be able to run memtest for at least a full pass with NO errors. If you get any errors, send the ram back.

For what it is worth, I would have looked for two 1gb sticks; XP needs it.

one more question...How do I see how much voltage the RAM has? Is it located on the stick?

thank you very much. This was VERY helpful!

I would have gone with 2 1 gb sticks also, but I was actually helping someone out who knows NOTHING about computers and they said they didn't want to pay the extra money (even though it wasn't THAT much more).

thanks again!

Yes, the specs should be printed on the stick.