Weird Memory Upgrade Problem

[Guest]

I have a Gigabyte MoBo-GA-8LD533, Intel 845GL Chipset, Celeron 2GHz w/ 400MHz
FSB and 266MHz Mem Speed running Windows XP Home Edition. I've been running
512MB of DDR ram. I recently purchased 2 512MB PC3200 DDR sticks, intending
to upgrade to 1GB. I purchased 2 sticks for a matched set.
THE PROBLEM: My MoBo has 2 DIMM slots capable of using 1GB sticks each. When
both slots are populated with any 2 of the DIMM sticks, it hangs or crashes.
WINDIAG (Microsoft memory test program) also hangs at random, sometimes
running through several complete passes, sometimes right off the bat.
HOWEVER; when ANY of the three 512MB DIMMs are inserted into EITHER of the
DIMM slots with the other empty, system runs fine, and MEMDIAG will run all
night without a glitch. I'm no newby to computers, but I'm at my wits end. I
even re-flashed my BIOs to the newest revision, again.
MY GUESS IS; I've got a flakey memory controller, and therefore I'm stuck at
512MB MAX, or a new MoBo. However, I thought maybe someone out there might
have a suggestion or two that I haven't tried. Anything come to mind??

 

[Guest]

Try shutdown,unplug power,install 2 new 512mb cards,then go to CMOS jumper
pin on the board,move pin from 1-2 to 2-3 position for at least 1 minute,then
move back to 1-2 position.This clwars the CMOS,also,remove battery first.At
start up,reset basic settings,then exit page,select,load max default
settings (or
similiar),then back into BIOS and set for add in cards,then save and exit
BIOS.
W/o clearing CMOS,youre memory upgrade wont work,as you found out...

 

[Guest]

Thanks Andrew,
That completely solved the problem. I figured that since the BIOs screen saw
the 1GB of memory, it would use it. Live and learn.