MSI-6167 Slot A Memory upgrade probs

I have a Mobo as detailed in the title.
I currently have a single 256MB PC133 CL2/3 Dimm in there and it runs well and the whole machine is rock solid.
The CPU is a Slot A Thunderbird at 1 Gig, and is fine for what I need right now.
The motherboard system has never crashed at all, and is ultra reliable in every way.

I recently decided to up the memory to 512MB and duly went out and bought a Double-sided 256MB Dimm from a MAJOR manufacturer, not the cheap stuff....I hate cheap stuff...always regret buying anything cheap!

I got it home but it only recognised 128 MB of the new DIMM, this has happened with 4 other so called High quality branded DIMMS of different makes.
The "existing" DIMM has NEC chips on it, and is double sided.

OK I am all for progress, but why the hell do memory manufacturers change their specs so often, even for equivalent memory units? A PC133 should be a PC133 IMHO, no matter how it might be addressed by the system.

Anyone any idea how to get a DIMM guaranteed to work...or to fix the prob to take these DIMMS?

Also, would this board ever take a 512mb DIMM...any good/bad experiences?

Pity the mobo won't overclock too! LOL

Rudders

www.crucial.com

lifetime guarantee and you buy from the motherboard selector... free delivery too and cheaper if you buy on line. Having found this I will never buy anything else now. Its easy and if it is a tiny bit more expensive, isn't a lifetime guarantee worth that?

PC133 rams comes in a few flavours. You have to check with the motherboard manual as to what type and how big the dimms can be.

Has nothing to do with the memory manufacturers. look in your MB manual and you will see it wants memory in a certain order.

DIMM 0 or 1: DS
DIMM 1 or 2: SS
DIMM 2 or 3: SS or something to that effect.

Most boards of that era have/want the same configuration. Slot A boards were notorious for being picky about the RAM.....

Slot 1 motherboards are typically unable to recognise high-density memory, this gives the symptom you're getting, only recognised as half the capacity. I think most current DIMMs would be high-density.

As well as being double-sided, does the new memory have the same number of chips as the older one, or only half the number?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Platypus
Slot 1 motherboards are typically unable to recognise high-density memory, this gives the symptom you're getting, only recognised as half the capacity. I think most current DIMMs would be high-density.
As well as being double-sided, does the new memory have the same number of chips as the older one, or only half the number?

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Far not all the slot 1 motherboards are having this problem - I have at work ASUS P2B-VT (VIA693A chipset, slot1) motherboard working fine even with 512Mb PC-133 DIMMS...
So, problem can be with that particular chipset...

But yes, most likely you have high-density RAM - that's why your motherboard can't recognize it correctly. I was having recently the same problem with customer's Shuttle slot A motherboard, but fortunately, I had enough different 256MB sticks to choose from... :).

In your case I would recommend to update the BIOS to the latest possible - sometimes it can help...at least, it helped me with my ASUS P2B motherboard to see 256MB PC-133 DIMM...
But be careful... ;)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Ruslan
Far not all the slot 1 motherboards are having this problem

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As usual you are quite right, Ruslan. I guess it sounds like I've overstated the case. I would note in my defence, however, ;) "typically" shouldn't be read to mean "always", but rather something like "often" or "commonly".

I also could have thought to mention the possibility of a BIOS upgrade overcoming the problem.

The gentleman says SLOT A.........?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Platypus
"typically" shouldn't be read to mean "always", but rather something like "often" or "commonly".

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Yeah, you're right... ;)
And yes, he has a slot A motherboard, not a slot 1... ;)

Quote:

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Originally posted by DocPC
The gentleman says SLOT A.........?

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Humm, bad night that night I guess.. :(

Thanks for all your advice.

I have tried both single and double sided DIMMS, all the double sided ones had 8 chips per side, and the single ones had 8 chips on it's chip side too.

I think that I will go down the Crucial route!
My manual is not so clear as to specify what sort of DIMM goes where unfortunately.

The BIOS is the latest one available, has to be to get it to see my Thunderbird 1 gig!


Rudders

PS I have never had a problem with any other motherboards but this one. I even managed to get my Presario 1690 laptop up to 320mb! ;-) a bit more than Compaq said it would go!