I have tried to install a new RAM chip (PC133 256M SDRAM) on the side of my other 256M SDRAM. The motherboard just beeps and do not boot. It is a VIA Samuel2 1Giga Pro onboard chip with a VT133 chipset. Would that be a hardware problem of the RAM chip or CMOS/BIOS problem? Do I need to reset the CMOS in this case?

I have removed the chip and the machine is working fine.

Sounds Like the ram was not installed correctly or it’s a bad stick of ram

Try reseating it a few times, the contacts get dirty when unused. Reseating it about a half dozen times may clean the contacts up.

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try to swap the 2 ram stick around with one another and place the stick in order dun place one stick in the first slot and then place the second ram stick on the third slow.. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Thanks guys. I have cleaned the slot and placed the new ram into the priminary slot. Machine boots alright. Then, I placed the old ram to the 2nd slot. .......


The machine BIOS and DOS can recognize both of them (i.e. 512M). However, windows cannot boot. It kept on saying different version of "cannot open device: XXXXX, window protection failure, machine needs to reboot now"

then the machine just hang there and I can do nothing but reboot.

Now, is that a problem with the two ram's compatibility or does WIN98 SE cannot support 512M?

Swap the chips, putting the original one in its original location. I doubt if that will solve the problem, but might be worth a try.

Then go into BIOS and see if you have it set to CAS 2, if so set it to CAS 3. I can't remember what BIOS section it is, you'll have to look around or maybe someone else will know exactly where to find it.

That sets it to a slightly slower access speed, not noticable to the human eye, but quite problematic to the computer if the memory does not support CAS 2. (Column Access Strobe.) I had similar results when I added memory to this machine, the original 128MB was CAS 2 compatible and worked perfect at the CAS 2 setting, I added a 128MB chip and it got really flaky. Windows Protection Error was one of the problems it caused, otherwise, it was just flaky in general. I changed it to CAS 3 and it settled down and now runs great.

Some of the other BIOS memory settings may be having an affect, I'm not sure what they would be, but the CAS setting is most likely. I usually leave memory settings alone, except for the CAS setting, it is sometimes necessary.

You might also see what you can find out about exactly what types each of the memory chips are. If one is ECC and the other is not, that may be part of the problem, mixing different brands often works, but sometimes may cause problems.

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Thanks Pete,

I will go and try to play with the CAS. Not sure if that would work until I can get back home to try it. The two ram chips are indeed different. One is a Kingston and the other is a Hyntx.

I have tried to swap the 2 memory chips and nothing has changed. I kept on getting the error messages:

While Initializing Device NTKERN: Windows Protection error. You need to restart your computer.

If I tried to do it in safe mode.... then sometimes, I got the Device name is different. for example, IOS.

I have checked the two chips. They are from a different maker but using the same module HY57V28820HCT H. and so both of them are manufactured as CAS3.

I also checked the Microsoft support site. It suggest bad RAM. I am thinking either the new one has some bad module or my second slot is defunct.

Or can it be a window registry problem? Should I try to reinstall win98SE again?

Is there any MSDOS base software I can try to test the RAM chips since my BIOS and DOS seems to be able to recognize the full 512M while Win98 is the one complaining.

Don't know if this is what you're looking for or not, but have simmtester.com (http://www.simmtester.com/) on my list. Just glanced through Memory FAQs there and nothing really seems to apply to your problem, but you might check. And there is a download..but think it's just doing the same thing that your puter already doing before Windows loads.

[This message has been edited by kayofcircles (edited 05-09-2002).]

Finally, I got it. I have tested the two rams seperately and together on a different machine and OS and confirmed they are fine and can work together. Also I have noticed they all showed 256M on other machine rather than then 248M on mine. I thought it could be the video ram......

In fact, everyone is telling me video RAM doesn't matter. ......

Video ram allocation itself doesn't hurt compatibility. But then, if you cache your video ram..... then .... that's where the problem is.

I changed it within the BIOS and it is working happily now.

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