Does anyone know if there should be an issue with installing single sided ram with Double sided ram?
I have 2 sticks of 256mb x 16 chip 133mhz ram
and 2 sticks of 128mb x 8 chip 133mhz ram
I can install any single stick in J19 and it works great.. or pairs of the various types.
But 8chip with 16chip and I seem to be having crashes.. and random program closings..
IS this a real issue? is this poor ram.. is this something else?
Thanks
James
The B&W does not handle high-density RAM. If it works at all, it will only recognize half of the stick (ie. it only uses 128mb of a 256mb stick). Single sided 256 will be high-density.
Not just any SDRAM will work in a Mac, too. Many sticks made for PC's will not work in a B&W.
It is chip density that matters, but chip count or sides used, isn't necessarily determining density (though it can).
I've used double-sided 256MB PC133 in a B&W before with no trouble, but the 512 stick I've got won't work in anything prior to a DA G4, since it's high-density.
There've been a few threads on B&W/early G4 compatibility, and they're picky. Even among low-density chips, they're picky.
Here's a handy reference I found on ebay:
OK, I am confident that the 256mb modules are low density, they were sold by a mac dealer and 16 chip.
It might be quality. I have found a MEMTEST program for mac.. anyone used this? it is supposed to report on the memory and let you know if its compatable with the G3.
I think I am dealing more with a quality and group compatibility issue than any one stick is back or will not work.
I guess its get what I can to work stable.. then look at other ram to replace the ones I can't group in.
Thanks
James
Don't know about MEMTEST. I always used DIMM First Aid to check SDRAM. It's an OS 9 app and you have to boot into 9 to use it.
yes that was the one I was thinking about.. and yes I did use it.. and now things are good.
I think it was more the way the sticks were seating in the sockets than anything else.
James