Memory upgrade problem WL810E mobo

[Rahul Agarwal]

Hi,

I have an Gateway machine with Intel WL810E motherboard and fw82810e
chipset. According to the motherboard manual secion 1.5 at
ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherbd/oem/A1250401.pdf the maximum memory
support is 512 Mb (256 X 2). Based on the memory specification provided by
the manual I bought 2 memory sticks with the following config:

a.. Module Size: 256MB
a.. Package: 168-pin DIMM gold contacts
a.. Configuration: 32 x 64
a.. 32 x 8 chipset configuration (low Density)
a.. Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory, PC-100 (SDRAM)
a.. Buffering: Unbuffered
a.. Error Checking: Non-parity
a.. Speed: 8ns
a.. Voltage: 3.3V
a.. Sdram Timings: CAS/CL = 2 @ PC100 , CAS/CL = 3 at PC133

The configuration matches exactly to what was specified in the manual.
However, my machine will not recognize the ram. It keeps coming up as 32Mb
for each of the 256Mb and I am unable to boot past the bios. I talked to one
of the techicians at crucial.com and according to them even though the
motherboard supports 512Mb ram, because of the chipset it can only have
256Mb . However, I can't find this written anywhere in the manual.

Any help will be appreciated. Please cc your reply to (e-mail address removed) and
sorry for the cross-posts.

Thanks,
Rahul

 

[steven67@]

Hi,

I have an Gateway machine with Intel WL810E motherboard and fw82810e
chipset. According to the motherboard manual secion 1.5 at
ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherbd/oem/A1250401.pdf the maximum memory
support is 512 Mb (256 X 2). Based on the memory specification provided by
the manual I bought 2 memory sticks with the following config:

a.. Module Size: 256MB
a.. Package: 168-pin DIMM gold contacts
a.. Configuration: 32 x 64
a.. 32 x 8 chipset configuration (low Density)
a.. Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory, PC-100 (SDRAM)
a.. Buffering: Unbuffered
a.. Error Checking: Non-parity
a.. Speed: 8ns
a.. Voltage: 3.3V
a.. Sdram Timings: CAS/CL = 2 @ PC100 , CAS/CL = 3 at PC133

The configuration matches exactly to what was specified in the manual.
However, my machine will not recognize the ram. It keeps coming up as 32Mb
for each of the 256Mb and I am unable to boot past the bios. I talked to one
of the techicians at crucial.com and according to them even though the
motherboard supports 512Mb ram, because of the chipset it can only have
256Mb . However, I can't find this written anywhere in the manual.

Any help will be appreciated. Please cc your reply to (e-mail address removed) and
sorry for the cross-posts.

Thanks,
Rahul

..

The "32 x 8 chipset configuration" indicates 32Mx8(256Mbit) chips. These 256MB
DIMMs have eight 32Mx8 chips. The 810E chipset does not support 256Mbit chips.
It supports chip densities up to 128Mbit. You will need 256MB DIMMs that have
sixteen 16Mx8(128Mbit) chips. You can use two 256MB DIMMs (each with sixteen
16Mx8 chips) for a maximum of 512MB.

I think the Crucial person was trying tell you that the motherboard won't
support 512MB in one DIMM. The motherboard supports up to 512MB maximum. To
get 512MB, you need two 256MB DIMMs.

 

[Rahul Agarwal]

Thanks a lot for your reply. I had no idea about this Mbit configuration.
However, I have another question. I looked at the manual again
(ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherbd/oem/A1250401.pdf) in the table in
section 1.5 it says that for 256MB the configuration should be 32 Mbit X 64.
Isn't that the same as eight 32MX8 chips. In that case the ram I have should
work. If not, how should I interpret that line to mean 128 Mbit.

Please take a look at this ram. Will this work?
http://www.memorywizards.com/pd_256mb_pc100_16x8.cfm How come it is 3 times
as expensive as the one I originally bought when the only difference is the
chip configuration. Is there any place I can get it for cheaper.

Thanks a lot again for you help.
Rahul