Changing RAM on a target device

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Rob
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T

The Rob

Hi group!

I am rather new to Windows XP Embedded but have made a few good working
embedded solutions.

What never occured to me is what happens if the end-user changes the amount
of installed RAM on the supposed device?

I made a XPe w/ SP1 for a single-board computer using a 128MB SO-DIMM, but
my customer needed to double the amount of RAM (for some reason) and now
says that the PC won´t detect 256MB, just 128MB. (He changed the one 128MB
for one 256MB, most definite another brand as well)

I have tried run-time images (always w/ SP1) built for a specific board and
that has worked just fine on others (more or less similar), but never tried
changing the RAM.

So, my questions is: Should it work changing RAM size, is it the brand or is
it something that SP2 would help?

Thanks in advance,

Rob
 
Hi Rob,

Does your coustomer have problem with XPe or with PC not detecting RAM? These are two different things.
XPe should like adding more RAM and it should not make you troubles instead.

Regards,
Slobodan
 
Hi Slobodan and many thanks for your quick reply,

I have sold him the SBC myself, so the problem should not be within the PC.
However, I never tried it with larger SO-DIMMs than 128MB, but according to
the manufacturers manual it supports 128 - 512 MB PC100/PC133 memory (and I
trust them, they never disappointed me before).
I didn´t expect XPe to "refuse" other memory myself, but something strange
is going on. The .pmq file is made with TAP.exe within a fully installed XP
Pro enviroment. Could it be anything else I might have missed? And, as you
say, the normal behaviour of XPe is to accept changing of RAM, no matter
size or brand?

Please advise and thanks again,

Best regards,

Rob
 
Rob,

XPe has unlikely anything to do with your RAM problem.
How much RAM the BIOS POST reports on the device with 256Mb chip in place?
 
Like Konstantin and I already said XPe should not have any problems with using additional or new memory. (You can even use different
hardware as long as you have required drivers to support it.)

TAP can't find memory since memory support is integral part of kernel and does not depend on additional drivers or registry
settings.

Regards,
Slobodan
 
Slobodan & KM,
many thanks to the two of you.

I will have have to investigate this on Monday Feb 7th as I receive the
equipment.,

As my customer says, "the system" (BIOS(?)) only detects and verifies 128MB
of RAM.

Could he be wrong, by, for example, by only checking XPe´s RAM size in
Device Manager running XPe? (In this early stage of relationship with this
this new customer it is rather difficult for me to start questioning his
knowledge and I, of course, don´t want to be the stupid one either).

Please advise,

Kind regards,

Rob - The (Newbie)



I will
 
Rob,

There is always a chance that XPe uses 128Mb RAM from 256 chip. But it is very, very unlikely (unless a video memory sharing feature
used).
So, most likely it is the BIOS that reports 128Mb and therefore it is either BIOS (less possible) or hardware problem. Check for
BIOS upgrades just in case.

--
Regards,
KM, BSquare Corp.

PS. Your customer might check the RAM size in the System Properties (System applet). What is the problem to ask the customer where
he checked the RAM size?
 
Rob,
As my customer says, "the system" (BIOS(?)) only detects and verifies 128MB
of RAM.
Click to expand...

Only thing that you will see that verify memory during the boot is BIOS. This mean that motherboard do support memory modules of 256
MB.

You are using old memory modules (everything prior to DDR and RDRAM is old from technical point of view).
Check about how many sides was your memory using. Also check the motherboard memory slots and requirements for memory. BANK filling
issues and related stuff.

Regards,
Slobodan
 
Thanks guys,

I´ll have these things checked out first thing Monday morning.

Many thanks for your pointers and advise. I´ll keep you posted.

Have a nice weekend all of you nice helping people out there and I hope to
hear from you again.

BR,

Rob
 
One thing you might do to fix this. After he installs more ram, go into
Cmos setup. save and exit.
More than likely, Halt on NO Errors may be set, and the bios may not tell
you that things have changed.

After I add more ram, I have to do the same, then it is detected fine.

Richard
 
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