RAM-4 chip vs 8 chip & sgl side vrs dbl

[billniceguy]

Hi all, need help. I bought brand new pc133 ram at 128 meg stix from newegg, and also from reseller trader also new and pc133. The problem is i cant get these to run in my p2 and p3 computers i build..even 1000 mnz as well as p3/933 or p3/800, 600 etc. Also p2/300, 350 etc. Have tried many things. The 8 stix i have are all 4 chip. I bought the pc133 as thought all pc133 was backward compatible, and would work in pc133 or pc100. What is wrong here? Is this ram only for p4 or newer computers?
The two kinds are ValueRAM kvr133x64c3/128 at 3.3v....the other ones are Vdata msgvd3e4f2160b1agh pc133(3) 128x4. HELP!!! Please, tnx, Bill

[billniceguy]

bump ZERO replies...help, pls someone..help an old man who is building old computers for seniors in trailer park..tnx, bill

[billniceguy]

bump ttt...forgot to mention, i did get one of the 4 chip stix to work on an AMD box, but only thing. any advice, tnx, Bill hummmm now 5/7/05 and shows 60 views but ZERO replies...doesnt any of u guys know about RAM?? Help!!! again, tnx, Bill

[billniceguy]

bump....have mercy...help!!!!! tnx, Bill

[Omardeth]

sounds like you have high density ram and older boards don't like it . you need low density ram . most double sided ram is low density as far as i know .

[DPA]

You're running into high density recognition problems. This has been a problem for quite a while now, and sadly nobody came up with a decent solution for it. Most pentium II/III generation computers are unable to page the full memory capacity of the DIMMs. Sometimes machines are capable of paging half of the RAM present on the DIMM, but not all of it, and this is a perfect indication of high density RAM not being recognized.

A plausable solution? Local resellers, such as small computer shops, are sometimes willing to trade high density for low density for a little extra cash on top. It might also be a good idea to try to return the product for credit towards low density chips. Another option is to try to swap the low density chips out of newer P4/Athlon/Duron based systems for some of your high density because they can often page the high density without any trouble whatsoever.

How can you tell high density versus low density? Good question, bring your lunch because it's unfortunate that the only way to tell is good old fashioned trial and error. Often those sticks do not label their density outwardly, such as (8 x 64) or (16 x 32) etc... Usually sticks which are double sided with full their full capacity for RAM chips are low density, but not always, I have run into a couple of stragglers. Stay away from 128MB modules which only have 4 RAM chips on them, they're most certainly high density. You can kind of rule of thumb it that you need 8 chips per 128MB to ensure low density modules, but even some of them refuse to work in older generation systems, and you just have to keep swapping till you get them all a home.

Sorry I can't help much more, but it's the best I can offer.

[billniceguy]

tnx so much for replies. i now have an amd athlon xp2200+ which i wrote in another thread about not getting the right MHz out of. Anyway, both of these 128 sticks, the ones from newegg and from sam will work in this AMD. Therefore it appears that since i deal in the p2 and p3 computers this ram wont work for me, so will take to local shop for trade. Thanks for the info, but still not all clear re 4 chip vrs 8 chip and single vrs double sided. again, thanks for the info, Bill