Adding more RAM?

[ashley194]

I'm currently running SL 3.4 loop 3 (x86-64), on an MSI mobo, 2GB DDR2, Fata1ity Geforce 7600GT & 160GB SATA. Go to say, loop 3 runs very nicley on my machine, any idea whether SL 3.4 final will be able to accept 4GB of DDR2

Thanks

[eduardhc]

I'm currently running SL 3.4 loop 3 (x86-64), on an MSI mobo, 2GB DDR2, Fata1ity Geforce 7600GT & 160GB SATA. Go to say, loop 3 runs very nicley on my machine, any idea whether SL 3.4 final will be able to accept 4GB of DDR2

Thanks

Why shouldn't it...?

[ashley194]

Last April I upgraded my machine with 3GB DDR PC3200 (which matched my current 1GB stick), giving me a total of 4GB RAM, unfortunately, SL 3.3 wouldn't even boot.
So I bought a new machine with 2GB DDR2 last month, just wondering if I'll have any problems putting in an extra 2GB DDR2?

Thanks

[eduardhc]

Last April I upgraded my machine with 3GB DDR PC3200 (which matched my current 1GB stick), giving me a total of 4GB RAM, unfortunately, SL 3.3 wouldn't even boot.
So I bought a new machine with 2GB DDR2 last month, just wondering if I'll have any problems putting in an extra 2GB DDR2?

Thanks

This is strange. Were you able too boot it using another OS (Windows, another Linux, etc...)? It sounds more a hardware incompatibility problem to me (maybe the 2 memory sets were not compatible enough).

You should always make sure that you are using the same kind of memory (timings, etc...). And even if they seems to match, it's always recomandable to use always the exact branch and subtype in a given machine.

Back to the topic: yes, it should work fine, at least in theory. However, I'm afraid that the only way of being sure is trying...

Cheers,
Eduard

[ashley194]

Yes, funnily enough my XP installation worked fine, although it only showed as having 2GB RAM (being x86 not x86-64). I actually went to crucial.com where that site scanned my system & told me which memory to buy! So I knew I bought the exact same memory I'd already got Thought perhaps the Linux kernel couldn't accept anything more than 2GB?

As you say, I'll have to try it to find out

[eduardhc]

Yes, funnily enough my XP installation worked fine, although it only showed as having 2GB RAM (being x86 not x86-64). I actually went to crucial.com where that site scanned my system & told me which memory to buy! So I knew I bought the exact same memory I'd already got Thought perhaps the Linux kernel couldn't accept anything more than 2GB?

As you say, I'll have to try it to find out

I don' think Linux has any limit at 2GB. The limit for 32 bit is 4GB and for 64 is, well, a lot more....

But if XP too was showing you only 2GB instead of 4... well, this poins to a hardware / bios problem more than to a software one...

Cheers

PS: just a quick note. After installing your new RAM, be sure to disable at least for one boot the "quick boot" option in BIOS. Some BIOSes doesn't like changing the hardware with that option activated...

[Thev00d00]

Most Mobos dont like 3 DIMMs, Mine wont boot, its either slot 0, slot 0 + slot 2 or slot 1,2,3,4 but not slot 0,1,2.

If that makes sense. its not Linux, its your chip set/bios.

[ScottishDuckHunter]

Most Mobos dont like 3 DIMMs, Mine wont boot, its either slot 0, slot 0 + slot 2 or slot 1,2,3,4 but not slot 0,1,2.

If that makes sense. its not Linux, its your chip set/bios.

They do more than "dont like". They go crazy because the two pairs of slots should ALWAYS be equal (except for single channel). This means if you have 2 x 1GB slots (one in A1 and one in B1) then to upgrade you need another PAIR of an equal quantity (2 x 256, 2 x 512, 2 x 1024 etc)