Did I put in wrong memory modules?

[Guest]

Hi All:
I have an almost new Gateway 840 GM with XP Pro. It came with 1 GB of RAM.
Thinking ahead to when 64 bit processing might be wanted and Windows Vista
operating system, I spotted an ad for Kingston "Value" generic 533 Mhz DDR2
512 MB DIMM modules at a really good price and bought 2 & installed them. My
computer shipped with 2 Samsung 512MB 533Mhz DDR2 DIMM modules. Those were
marked with CL3 and the new ones are CL4 latency. I thought the slightly
slower latency would be no problem, but am not really sure. The reason I am
wondering if I did something I shouldn't have, is even though system
properties now shows 1.99 GB of RAM and Task Master shows 2092780 KB of RAM,
when I first checked Task Master to verify the installation it said under the
Applications Tab: "512 MB PC2 DDR2 533 Mhz CL3 memory"........running. I
had never seen memory mentioned under applications in Task Master before. It
seems to be mentioning half the original memory (CL3) and not the other 512
MB of original memory and the 2 new 512 GB's just installed. I am not sure
anything is wrong, just can't figure out what the mention of 512 MB memory
in Task Master is there for? Is the whole 2 GB's there and functionable if
it shows in system properties? Any way to check and see if it works?

xiowan........in Tucson

 

[Juan]

Start\Control Panel\System\General\at the bottom you should see 1.99GB

To get full memory info a system information program like ASTRA32
from http://www.astra32.com (look in SPI Memory info)

or Everest Home look in Motherboard\Memory and SPD
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/Everest-Home-Edition.shtml

 

[Guest]

I wouldnt try the 3rd party memory testers,download the microsoft memory
utility,youll need to format a floppy in MS-DOS start up,the url for it it.
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
Run it as long as one can,mvp say 1-2 hrs or more.

 

[Juan]

Those are not 3rd party memory testers, they are simple information programs
much like the Msinfo32 application but are more complete and there's no need
to wait hours to know, and for your information it's not 1-2 hours with a
RAM module tester... it's 4 hours to get a thorough diagnose.

------------------------------

 

[Stan Brown]

I wouldnt try the 3rd party memory testers

Why not?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_channel

--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Hi All:
Thanks for your input on RAM function. I took a look at the suggested
means of checking the memory function and I'm sorry to say, I'm a little
nervous about trying the memory system checks at my level of expertise. I
also read the wikipedia information about dual channel memory and it confirms
what I thot about using a matched pair in the two open slots working ok as
long as they are the right type. I guess I'll just wait and see if any
problems crop up and hope I accomplished something going from 1GB to 2 GB of
RAM. Since I originally was told by Gateway it would cost almost $200 to add
that memory, I hope my investment of $54 will someday be useful!

xiowan..........retired in tucson