128 MB DIMM only registers as 32MB in CMOS

[vagrant]

Hello Again,
The angel of problem computers is back, I have an Amptron PM8600a MB that I am upgrading memory in. According to the manual for the PM8600 I can use SDRAM in the DIMM slots. I installed (2) 128 MB DIMMS for a total of 256MB. The system boots fine and starts up great EXCEPT it will only recognize a total of 64MB RAM (32MB per DIMM). I tried removing 1 DIMM and it will only recognize 32MB. These are PC100 DIMMS (PC133 is not supported by BIOS). Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
John Viel

 

[Karl Blessing]

This is just a few second guess, and I Could be gravely mistaken, but it may be possible, that the motherboard cannot reconize upto 128 meg (I've seen cases where a motherboard will not reconize 256 sticks, or 512, but I dont recall finding 128 as of yet)

a paranoid guess would be that , whoever sold it to you, ripped you off, one way to verify this is to look at the markings on the chips on the Rams, not the sticker they always put on there, I dont remeber, but it would help if you typed in what it says on the indivisual chips (the numbers on the chips, helps determine, speed, size per chips, cas latency, etc)

In the meantime, I'll put aside some brain time to rack about this. Karl Blessing aka kb244{fastHACK}

 

[vagrant]

Thanks for the reply,
according to the manual from Amptron the MB accepts 128MB DIMMS as long as they are PC100 and not PC133. I have already verified the DIMMS themselves by plugging them into another PC. They register up to 128MB just like they should, and they checked out fine on a memory test. I even tried putting a 256MB DIMM in the MB and it will only register 64MB. Tried a bunch of different configs and still not getting it.

Thanks again

 

[Karl Blessing]

thats odd, because even if they were PC133, I think they would still run at PC100 speed, what grade of memory are they? , some motherboard will only work with the higher grade memory. Karl Blessing aka kb244{fastHACK}

 

[vagrant]

Hi,
I thought it was very odd also, I generally can plug PC133 in for a PC100 application, BUT this particular board wouldn't accept them. I only use quality memory to save myself headaches, and all the DIMMs I used for this mess were Kingston,
PC133 128 MB DIMM's give me a 64Meg countup then a "memory failure"
PC100 128 MB DIMM's " " "" "" "" Boots just fine.

Both are Kingston, the same thing happens if I put in 256MB DIMM's:
PC133 Memory Errors- reads only 64Meg.
PC100 No memory error (boots fine)-reads only 64Meg.

Thanx again for the reply

 

[Guest_imported]

From the Amptron Homesite (

http://www.amptron.com)

Title: SDRAM on PM-8600A Article#: T00000005
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Summary
Supports up to 2 168-pin SDRAM 32MB on each bank or main memory with 4 (2 banks) auto bank SIMM Slots for Fast Page Mode or EDO DRAM.

Warning
This board does not support 64/128MB of Memory on each slot. Because this board only work with 32MB.

Scope
This article is only applicable to PM-8600A Ver 2.4/2.5. it is not applicable to any other models.

Symptom
64MB or 128MB of Memory can not be recognize in Windows. System only recognize 32MB from 64MB or 128MB.

Solution
By updating the BIOS chip this board will support up to 32MB of SDRAM on each Module slot. look next to the battery, for the revsion number of the board.

Last Updated: 3/21/2001