Was I Ripped Off?

[Joe Befumo]

A while back I bought a no-name AMD-based computer from Ebay (Starburst
Computer). The machine purportedly was fitted with 1Meg ram, which,
indefensibly, I never bothered to check until now.



I started having problems with the machine, so I tested both memory chips,
found one bad, and put the other back in. I would never have even noticed
except that when I tried to install Adobe Suite CS2, it told me that it
needed a minimum of 384 Meg! Well, by my calculations ½ of 1024 would be
512, so, for the first time, I went to check my system properties (Windows
XP), and it reported:



AMD AthlonT XP 2600+

2.10 Ghz, 128 MB of RAM.



So, I fired up FreshDiagnose.



Under the "Memory Controller" section, it says:



Maximum Memory Size per Slot: 128 Mb

Supported Speed(s) 70ns, 60 ns.



However, down under the Memory Module section, it says:

Installed Size: 256 Meg

Enabled Size: 256 Meg



So, I have several questions:



The FreshDiagnose figures have me a bit confused, and I don't want to go
accusing the seller of ripping me off if I don't know for sure.



Does this system indeed have only 256Meg, or is it 128 Meg?



Is that telling me that the motherboard (A ASRock K7S41/K7S41GX) will only
support 128 meg per slot? That being the case, then I suppose I'll have to
replace the motherboard in order to get the 1Gig I wanted?



Thanks.



Joe

 

[Joe Befumo]

Hmm, I just looked at my motherboard docs & it says it's supposed to handle
2Gig max.

Also, when I put my bad memory stick back in, it now shows 384 meg, which,
accounting for the 128meg that goes to the (integrated) video controller,
suggests that the dirtbag gave me 2X256 instead of 2X512 for memory.

that's STARBURSTCOMP on ebay -- a seller to avoid.

 

[J. Eric Durbin]

Hmm, I just looked at my motherboard docs & it says it's supposed to handle
2Gig max.

Also, when I put my bad memory stick back in, it now shows 384 meg, which,
accounting for the 128meg that goes to the (integrated) video controller,
suggests that the dirtbag gave me 2X256 instead of 2X512 for memory.

that's STARBURSTCOMP on ebay -- a seller to avoid.

You might want to give the seller one chance to make it right by
providing the right memory sticks. If not, you can give him a bad
review. What else do you have to lose? I haven't had that much
experience with eBAy because it was so difficult to tell the good
sellers from the rip-off artists but I know that they have methods for
you to try to get satisfaction from the seller.

I suspect anyway that the sticks provided with the system aren't of
the best quality. You may just want to spend the 80 - 100 bucks for a
good quality gig of memory like Corsair, Crucial, or OCZ. I've also
used Samsung and it has been reliable.

 

[Joe Befumo]

Yeah, that was my plan.

The thing that REALLY annoys me is that I bought THREE identical systems
from him -- one for myself, my wife and my daughter. My wife's is
inoperable at this point -- bad memory. My daughter has had no problems.
I'll have my wife check the size of the mem tonight -- no way I'll venture
into my daughter's room 8^O

Thanks.

Joe

 

[Grinder]

-- no way I'll venture into my daughter's room 8^O

These might be of use to you:

http://www.eaglesportscenter.com/products/hodgman/graphics/bantam2a.jpg

 

[Michael C]

Hmm, I just looked at my motherboard docs & it says it's supposed to
handle 2Gig max.

Also, when I put my bad memory stick back in, it now shows 384 meg, which,
accounting for the 128meg that goes to the (integrated) video controller,
suggests that the dirtbag gave me 2X256 instead of 2X512 for memory.

that's STARBURSTCOMP on ebay -- a seller to avoid.

Turn down the amount of memory that your video card is using, 128meg is too
much unless you're a heavy game player (which integrated video is no good
for anyway). 16 meg should be plenty.

Download and install memtest, it is invaluable for these type of problems.
www.memtest86.com.

Michael