SDRAM memory problem

BigJim wrote:
> the board need pc100 low density memory non ecc
> some pc133 will work but it is hit or miss

You mean like the Crucial PC133 that I used in mine ?
I used four sticks and it worked just fine. I only
dropped back to two sticks of their 256MB CAS2 PC133,
to keep Win98SE happy. So I have had a total of 1GB
in the P2B-S without a problem. (4 x CT32M64S4D7E)

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...?model=P2B%2DS

The P2B-S only goes up to 112MHz, so you cannot run
the memory at the full PC133 rate anyway.

Paul

> "Gordon" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> I built this computer several years ago, using an ASUS P2B-S
>> mainboard, an Intel Pentium III 501 MHz CPU and two Viking128 MB
>> SDRAM memory modules for a total of 256 MB of RAM. This computer
>> has worked very well over the years. I am now running Windows XP
>> Pro with Service Pack 2.
>>
>> Recently I tried to add two more SDRAM memory modules and bring
>> the total up to 512 MB of RAM. I bought the two new modules from
>> Memory4Less and the specs indicate that these modules are ECC
>> compliant, 168 pin 3.3 V SDRAM modules. I can not find a specific
>> brand name on the modules or on the order form, but there is a
>> ManuNumver AA18C16R72-PC100 entry on the order form.
>>
>> I installed these new modules into slots 3 & 4 and booted the
>> computer. It came alive in a normal fashion, but the System
>> Properties dialog box shows only 256 MB of RAM, not the
>> anticipated 512 MB.
>>
>> I have searched through the BIOS Chipset Features Setup but have
>> found no changes that seem appropriate or necessary to get this
>> new memory to be recognized.
>>
>> I tried removing the original memory and placing these new memory
>> modules in slots 1 & 2 where the original memory modules have
>> been. The computer starts, recognized the memory modules, and
>> operates normally, but, as would be expected, shows only 256 MB
>> of RAM.
>>
>> Next I tried placing the old memory modules in slots 3 & 4,
>> leaving the new modules in slots 1 & 2, but when I booted the
>> computer I was back to square one, again. That is the System
>> Properties dialog box shows only 256 MB of RAM.
>>
>> What am I overlooking? How do I get this system to recognize the
>> memory modules in slots 3 & 4? Is there a mainboard jumper
>> setting that I need to change?
>>
>> Thanks for any insights. Gordon
>
>

daytripper wrote:

>
> You bought the wrong type of dimms for that vintage board...
>
> www.crucial.com


Vintage :-).... Hyper modern.. !


It is possible that ECC and non-ECC RAM are not working together,
either in ECC or standard, when pairing them.



Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic

Gordon wrote:



Hi Gordon!


I have good experience with Buffalo DIMMS, PC133Cl.3. They work well,
are 16M8 structured ...what you need.

ECC is IMO not necessary... more for a server with Xeon CPU's for
example (big 2nd level cache, 2MB and more) and such. You will get a
lower latency with non-ECC, thus a faster response.



Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic

On 30 Nov 2006 14:05:34 GMT, "Daniel Mandic"
<> wrote:

>daytripper wrote:
>
>>
>> You bought the wrong type of dimms for that vintage board...
>>
>> www.crucial.com
>
>
>Vintage :-).... Hyper modern.. !
>
>
>It is possible that ECC and non-ECC RAM are not working together,
>either in ECC or standard, when pairing them.
>
>
>
>Best Regards,
>
>Daniel Mandic
>
Both the old modules and the new modules are ECC RAM. The
indications are that they should be fully compatible. I'm
thinking the problem has its roots in some BIOS setting or
perhaps a jumper on the mainboard set wrong.

Gordon

"Gordon" <> wrote
>daytripper wrote:
>
> You bought the wrong type of dimms for that vintage board...
>
Daniel Mandic wrote:
>
>It is possible that ECC and non-ECC RAM are not working together,
>either in ECC or standard, when pairing them.
>
Gordon wrote:
> Both the old modules and the new modules are ECC RAM. The
> indications are that they should be fully compatible. I'm
> thinking the problem has its roots in some BIOS setting or
> perhaps a jumper on the mainboard set wrong.

Gordon,
From what you have written, it seems like your new RAM should work.

I would definitely do the BIOS update first and see if that helps. Backup
your existing BIOS and make a note of any key settings that are different
from default before proceeding. Make sure you load Setup Defaults after
updating.

You might even try loading BIOS Setup Defaults before updating the BIOS and
see if that helps, but latest BIOS is usually a must.

Only other thing I can suggest, is to check frequency - I think P2B-S should
use 66 or 100Mz but manual also says only up to 450Mz CPU - Is there any
chance your machine runs higher than 100Mz? It is possible to set the
jumpers so as to get up to 112Mz.- see page 15 of manual. Looks like you
should be at 5X and 100Mz . Maybe try setting frequency lower say 83.3 and
6x might overcome RAM problem?
http://www.naic.edu/~wapp/DataSheets/ASUS_P2B.pdf

Otherwise, why not sell the128s and buy two 256s? Or just run with 256Mb - I
have just been given an A7A266 that had run with XP Home and 256Mb since
new with no problems - I did put in a 512Mb stick because old one had bad
contacts! My own A7V machine has two 128s and a 256 SDRAM and is quite
happy!

Good Luck!

Graham

Gordon wrote:

> Both the old modules and the new modules are ECC RAM. The
> indications are that they should be fully compatible. I'm
> thinking the problem has its roots in some BIOS setting or
> perhaps a jumper on the mainboard set wrong.
>
> Gordon


Hi Gordon!


Interesting. Although, my Experience to ECC RAM is limited.

But I have here a 128MB PC100 DIMM non-ECC around, not working in the
i440BX ASUS but in a i440LX (also P2 system, predecessor). I have not
the slightest clue why... The BX should be able to recognise the
(various) RAM even better than the older chipset :-)




Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic

On Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:48:53 -0500, "Gm1234" <>
wrote:

>
>"Gordon" <> wrote
> >daytripper wrote:
>>
>> You bought the wrong type of dimms for that vintage board...
>>
>Daniel Mandic wrote:
>>
>>It is possible that ECC and non-ECC RAM are not working together,
>>either in ECC or standard, when pairing them.
> >
>Gordon wrote:
>> Both the old modules and the new modules are ECC RAM. The
>> indications are that they should be fully compatible. I'm
>> thinking the problem has its roots in some BIOS setting or
>> perhaps a jumper on the mainboard set wrong.
>
>Gordon,
>From what you have written, it seems like your new RAM should work.
>
>I would definitely do the BIOS update first and see if that helps. Backup
>your existing BIOS and make a note of any key settings that are different
>from default before proceeding. Make sure you load Setup Defaults after
>updating.
>
>You might even try loading BIOS Setup Defaults before updating the BIOS and
>see if that helps, but latest BIOS is usually a must.
>
>Only other thing I can suggest, is to check frequency - I think P2B-S should
>use 66 or 100Mz but manual also says only up to 450Mz CPU - Is there any
>chance your machine runs higher than 100Mz? It is possible to set the
>jumpers so as to get up to 112Mz.- see page 15 of manual. Looks like you
>should be at 5X and 100Mz . Maybe try setting frequency lower say 83.3 and
>6x might overcome RAM problem?
>http://www.naic.edu/~wapp/DataSheets/ASUS_P2B.pdf
>
>Otherwise, why not sell the128s and buy two 256s? Or just run with 256Mb - I
>have just been given an A7A266 that had run with XP Home and 256Mb since
>new with no problems - I did put in a 512Mb stick because old one had bad
>contacts! My own A7V machine has two 128s and a 256 SDRAM and is quite
>happy!
>
>Good Luck!
>
>Graham
>
Graham, from your and others' comments I am convinced that I need
to update the BIOS on this computer, but I am in a state of
confusion. Apparently my instruction manual was printed before
the Pentium III that I'm using on this computer was released. My
ASUS E249, Revision 1.04 manual only covers the Pentium II. Page
15 is blank (This page was intentionally left blank.)

On page 36, IV. BIOS SOFTWARE Flash Memory Writer Utility, I'm
hit with another problem. I can't find the AFLASH.EXE application
that they mention, and am not sure how to proceed with upgrading
the BIOS.

My computer was initially set up with Windows 98, and I upgraded
the BIOS one time, about 7 years ago, shortly after building this
computer. At that time Win 98 was the OS, and I'm sure the BIOS
is customized for that version of Windows. I'm now running
Windows XP, Professional, with Service Pack 2 installed.

What do I need, and where do I get the application to replace
AFLASH.EXE?

Thanks, Gordon

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:54:48 +0100, "Egil Solberg"
<> wrote:

>Gordon wrote:
>> I built this computer several years ago, using an ASUS P2B-S
>> mainboard, an Intel Pentium III 501 MHz CPU and two Viking128 MB
>> SDRAM memory modules for a total of 256 MB of RAM. This computer
>> has worked very well over the years. I am now running Windows XP
>> Pro with Service Pack 2.
>
>http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/ram_bx_faq.html
>
>Since using 2 of those new modules alone gives 256MB, they are probably
>correct modules.
>What happens if you use 3 modules at a a time? Does it give 192 or 384?
>I don't think this is the usual "shows 1/2 of memory"-problem, since 2 new
>modules alone gives the correct amount.
>I hope Roland is around to explain this problem.
>
Egil, I get different results with three modules, depending on
which slots they are in.

When I put the two new modules in slots 1 and 2, with one of the
old Viking modules in slot 3, it recognized only 128 MB of RAM.

When I put the two new modules in slots 1 and 2 but left slots 3
and 4 empty, it recognized 256 MB of RAM.

When I put a new module in slot 1, an old Viking module in slot 2
and left slots 3 & 4 empty it recognized 128 MB of RAM.

When I put an old Viking module in slot 1, and a new module in
slot 2, but left slots 3 & 4 empty it wouldn't boot, but bleeped
an error signal.

When I put the two new modules in slots 1 & 2 and the two old
Viking modules in slots 3 & 4 it recognizes 256 MB of RAM.

When I put the two old Viking modules in slots 1 & 2 and the two
new modules in slots 3 & 4 it recognizes 256 MB of RAM.

I am increasingly convinced that this is a BIOS flaw, and I will
have to update the BIOS before I can clear up the problem. But, I
am not yet sure just how to go about flashing the bios. From my
ASUS manual it seems I need an application, AFLASH.EXE to proceed
with this, but I haven't yet figured out how to get a copy of
this application.

Gordon

Thanks. Gordon

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 23:18:38 +0100, "Egil Solberg"
<> wrote:

>Gordon wrote:
>
>> Egil, thanks for the suggestion. I've not tried using 3 modules
>> at a time. I'll play around with this and see what happens. I
>> also will put one each of the old and new modules into slots 1 &
>> 2 to see if they will work together. Gordon
>
>I suppose you use latest BIOS as well? Or is it very old? This could be a
>BIOS bug.
>ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/slot1...2b-s/index.txt
>
>Latest is 1014 (beta)
>
The BIOS is old, but I am not sure how to go about updating it. I
need the application, AFLASH.EXE mentioned on page 36 of the
manual, but haven't located it, yet.

This BIOS was flashed shortly after I built the computer, and it
was running Windows 98 at the time.

Gordon

"Gordon" <> wrote
> >
> Graham, from your and others' comments I am convinced that I need
> to update the BIOS on this computer, but I am in a state of
> confusion. Apparently my instruction manual was printed before
> the Pentium III that I'm using on this computer was released. My
> ASUS E249, Revision 1.04 manual only covers the Pentium II. Page
> 15 is blank (This page was intentionally left blank.)
>
> On page 36, IV. BIOS SOFTWARE Flash Memory Writer Utility, I'm
> hit with another problem. I can't find the AFLASH.EXE application
> that they mention, and am not sure how to proceed with upgrading
> the BIOS.
>
> My computer was initially set up with Windows 98, and I upgraded
> the BIOS one time, about 7 years ago, shortly after building this
> computer. At that time Win 98 was the OS, and I'm sure the BIOS
> is customized for that version of Windows. I'm now running
> Windows XP, Professional, with Service Pack 2 installed.
>
> What do I need, and where do I get the application to replace
> AFLASH.EXE?

Gordon,

The manual I linked to I my previous post should be the one for your
computer. But to be sure you get the latest one, go to:
http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx and enter the motherboard details.
After you enter motherboard-Slot1-P2B-S, you will be presented with a screen
with some faqs. On the left side, there is a list that says Download, CPU
Support, Forum. If you click on CPU support it will tell you which BIOS
version you need - I think it said v1012. You can download it now, or
better, go to Download - It has a list of items across the top (tabs). one
of which one is "Latest" - This gives you what you need - It includes the
BIOS, BIOS Utility (Aflash 2.21) and drivers like the Intel chipset
utility - It may be a good idea to install this too - The one that came with
your motherboard may not be current. There is also a tab for the latest
manual. Installing all of this is defintely worthwhile, but may not be the
cause of your memory conflict. But, do it anyway, it may help avoid other
problems.

Did you check the frequency and multiplier that your Bios is set to?

Good Luck

Graham