RAM being misreported

OK, here's the scenario:

I had a brand new stick of 256 MB PC133 RAM lying around so I decided to stick it in my 1GHz box (BE6-2 w/ 256MB already installed). For some reason it keeps showing up as only 131 MB on this PC. I try it in another PC and it's fine. If I pull the original stick of RAM (which is the same brand as the stick in question BTW) and go with the new one it's still reported as only 131 MB. I've tried playing musical slots to no avail.

Like I said, both sticks are the same brand (Kingston). The only difference is the older stick uses 16 16 MB chips while the new stick has only one side populated with 8 32 MB chips. Does the 440BX chipset only support 16 MB memory chips? If so that would explain it.

This isn't a big deal since the system in question runs fine with 256 MB, but naturally I'm kind of curious.

BTW, it is using the latest (and probably last) BIOS.

Any ideas?

You're right.

Quote:

" 8 ram chips per module, each chip organized as 32Mx8. Newer quality Dimms feature such organization, but they will not work on bx-based boards."

From here:

http://n.ethz.ch/student/sroland/ram...ome_256MB_high

Well that certainly solves the mystery. I'll tell ya... the longer I do this stuff, the dumber I feel! :)