Sknives

I'm running a 32bit vista and I'm having trouble upgrading the ram. My tower came with two 1-gig ram cards and four slots in the motherboard.

Whenever I tried 3-4 ram cards it always gives me a looping beep at start up.

I've tried updating the BIOS and I'm at a loss as the new ram cards are compatible when switched with the old ones.

Chaos

you are gonna have to read the manual for the motherboard in your system, it should say what size and type of RAM each slot can handle. Also what happens if you move the two stick that came in the computer to the other slots does it still boot up?

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Sknives

Its all 1gig ram cards. The answer is yes, they work on the other side.

mkk

Looks like the board might have issues, but try going into the BIOS and raise the RAM voltage by just 0.1V before populating all RAM slots. It's safe and can help out with compatibility issues.

SeraphicSorcerer

Are you using an AMD processor? some of their Processors require lower speed settings on ram then whats rated.

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Tyrsonswood

Have you tried only the new ram?

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SeraphicSorcerer

He said that his New ram is compatible when he switches them for the old ones.


I think he's got an AMD processor like an Athlon 64 of some sort, and that's got an IMC which is wanting slower speeds to run them all, I'vre had quite a few Athlon 64s that will run 4 sticks at 333, but REFUSE 400.

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Tyrsonswood

Sorry, I missed that.

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SeraphicSorcerer

Easy to miss man, no biggie, the setence came across weird to me the first time, it only made sense when I reread it

I wish he'd post his system specs or let me know if I am wrong about the AMD stuff :P

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Chaos

Please post your specs they could be very useful to help troubleshoot your issue

Also if by chance it's a Name brand ie: Dell,HP,Compaq they may have to be identical to the other sticks in the system or as mentioned by others try reducing the speed in the BIOS then add the other ram

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Sknives

Vista home Premium
Service Pack 2
Acer Aspire E380

Processor:AMD Athlon(tm) 64X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.30GHz

Ram: 2 GB
32 Bit

Hm I wonder if this is the problem Seraphic was mentioning

SeraphicSorcerer

Try manaually setting your ram in the bios to 166 - I can't remember the divider, I think it's 5:6, but that should allow you to Install and use all 4 sticks of ram, It's the Integrated memory Controller (IMC) on the chip, It runs at lower clocks to guarantee stability.

I had that exact same chip the 4400, It worked great until the IMC on it finally died. (4 years later)

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Sknives

"Try manaually setting your ram in the bios to 166" "Divider"

I couldn't find anything like this in the advanced BIOS settings on restart. Could you please explain the process?

SeraphicSorcerer

Well I don't know what board, and bios you have. But it's normally under where you set your FSB, it should say something like 200, and then your Memory settings will usually be under that. You want to make sure your MEMORY is set to 166 MHZ, Which when used in conjuction with DDR will end up being 333. It should be under the bios menu, most likely on the right side. That machine of mine is long gone or I'd boot up and let you know.


It should be labeled Dram configuration or something similar.

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Chaos

Is anyone familiar with Acer systems? Is there a special key stroke to access advanced BIOS options?

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Sknives

The menu I'm checking is the blue screen bios menu when pressing delete on startup.

Its a blue screen with CMOS and under the BIOS menu it has stuff like bootblock protect.

I'm thinking it might not even be the right menu..but I didn't know what a bios was 2 weeks ago

Tyrsonswood

What are your options on the first screen? Is there an "advanced chipset features" option? (I tried to find a manual but no luck)

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Sknives

Yes

SeraphicSorcerer

Usually, F2. Depends on what it is though.

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SeraphicSorcerer

Do us a favor and write down all the first page options when you enter the bios. We can direct you from there.

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Tyrsonswood

Okay, if you open the advanced chipset.... you should have a "set ram speed ... " It's set to SPD, change that to manual. Then below that you can change the speed. IF Acer gives you these options of course.

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SeraphicSorcerer

It's not always under advanced chipset.

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Sknives

Product Info
Standard CMOS Feature
Adv Bios Features
Adv Chipset
Integrated Peripherals
Powermanage Setup
PNP ACI Config
PC Health
Default Settings
-----------------
Adv Chip-
Dual Monitor
Frame Buffer Size
HT Spread Spectrum
SSE/SSE2
BIOS Cacheable

Tyrsonswood

Well...... It's obviously not where I thought it may be. Check the "bios features" page, look for anything to do with memory speed. If you look and don't change anything check out all the pages in cmos, you get a better idea of what you are running. Some manufacturers don't allow for manual adjustments, I don't know about Acer.

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Sknives

Bios
OS Select for DRAM- Non-OS2
Could this mean I'm not using the vista service pack 2 which is a necessary for extra ram?

CMOS
IDE Channels (?)

Base Memory These are "greyed out" in a faded blue and
Extended Memory can't be selected.

Tyrsonswood

No, the "non-os2" thing is something different. The base memory/extended memory it what the bios sees from memory test, not being selectable is common.

Sorcerer was on to something because he knows your processor, but I'm not sure you're going to be able to slow the memory down.

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SeraphicSorcerer

Tyronswood, I am 95% sure its not under advanced bios features, Those are for features to get different OSES to boot, etc, Os-2 has nothing to do with Windows it's for IBM's Warp OS You never change that.

From the options you listed, I would check the PNP ACI config

Basically you're looking for an option like "DRAM" Configuration Under one of those menus, It's going to be a number, And since your boot is FAILING, it's most likely stuck on "200" or "Default"

Is this a factory bought system?
Did you custom build it? If so, do you have a motherboard model?
got any model numbers for me to help track it down? Gotta remember I'm not there so it's hard to know what you're looking at.

The option you're looking for is most likely on the right side, and one of the first 2 options

So you should be looking at

Standard Features | What option is here? <- Most likely to be where memory options are.
Advanced Featured | What option is here?
Integrated periphals| Probably CMOS Password
Hardware Monitor' | Save and Exit

Something similar to that.

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DJ BIG T

try this tool out it will tell what type of ram you have and how much ram your mobo can take...



RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, flash cards, SSD at Crucial.com

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Sknives

Memory upgrades from Crucial.com - Determine My Memory Needs
This shows my system specs to everyone else?
It is factory bought~

Seraph, Upper right corner has PC Health and below is Default Settings (Y/N) with Save and Exit under that

Used Everest and got-
Motherboard ID 06/15/2007-MCP61M-AM-6A61KE11C-00

I typed the ID number on google and Acers with the same "E-380" came up so it should be the same.

DJ-I don't remember what type of ddr2 ram I need but I tried using 4 factory setting cards and it was the same.

Time Distortion: Thanks DJ Big T :P

DJ BIG T

im not saying buy that ram i just post it so you can find out about what type and what kind you have..i hope it helped your out a little..welcome to DH ..

Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-8500,DDR2 PC2-6400,DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.* its showing your mobo supports those..not bad but its not showing what type ddr2 ram thats in it... that tool use to tell you a lot more stuff but oh well..

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