Memory

[AK0R]

I have a stick of 128MB (16x64) PC133 SDRAM that came with a motherboard I got off eBay. Before and after recapping the motherboard, it detects at 64MB by itself, or not at all if anything else is present. This behavior was also observed with the stick in another motherboard, so I'm pretty sure the memory is the problem. The stick has blue covers riveted over the chips front and back. I'm not sure who made it; the logo looks like a lower-case N with a third leg in the middle that's not attached to the N; I'm guessing it's supposed to be a lower-case M. I checked out Micron and Mushkin, but it doesn't really look like either of theirs. Has anyone else seen anything like this, or have any other guesses as to the manufacturer? The sticker on it says "Lifetime Warranty", so I'd like to pursue replacement.

[Topcat]

Re: Memory

Post some pics of it, I'l sure its bad. For a stick that small, I don't know if I'd really go through all the aggrivation of shipping and research for the warranty.... Had it been a 1gb stick, thats a different story...... Do post some pics though, maybe we can identify it.

[willawake]

Re: Memory



micron looks like above.

are you testing it in recent boards? old boards used to see 1/2 the ram unless it was double sided. i have not seen that mode of failure in my experience but i am not suprised by anything.

actually i have only seen errors in an oem sdram stick with micron chips, a geil sdram stick with hyundai chips and an elixir ddr stick with elixir chips. i guess i have been lucky.

perhaps it is an oem stick whereby you would have to identify the brand not the chip manufacturer for successful rma

post pics anyway to see. chip number would be useful also.

[AK0R]

Re: Memory

Pictures of this memory stick:

As you can see, the chips and all components are hidden under the heat shields or whatever they are. So, the only clue I have is that logo.

The two boards I've tested it in were both BE6-II Version 1.0, one with the most recent BIOS (version 70) and the other with the next older revision (version XU). Both detect it at 64MB. I haven't tried it in anything else (yet).

[Rainbow]

Re: Memory

Try something with e.g. i815 or some newer VIA chipset.

[willawake]

Re: Memory

Try something with e.g. i815 or some newer VIA chipset.

BX chipset wants double sided rams but i think those are double sided?

[Rainbow]

Re: Memory

It's limited by chip density. You can use 8-chip single sided 128MB module but 256MB modules must be double-sided. Some of the newer cheap 128MB modules have only 4 chips and that does not work properly with older chipsets like i440anything.

[stretch0069]

Re: Memory

Well....I tried everything I could. Looked up 420485871 and got nothing. Tried 128PRTWR4B and still nothing. I did get a bit on 128PRTWR4 though. Went to a dead end though. Needed to contact someone if I wanted to order.

Even did an image search on PC133 to see if I could match a pic. (yes...I am bored) I did run across a nice site full of Penelope Cruz pics. (spent a bit of time there )

My guess is you'd have to take off the covers to see who made the chips. Who knows. I'm getting into a place where someone else has more experience I'm sure.

[willawake]

Re: Memory

i found zilch also

[Topcat]

Re: Memory

nada here either. thats why I always tell people if they insist on having ram with heat spreaders, make sure they're removable. if they arent, you never really know what you're getting.

[willawake]

Re: Memory

here's more sticks
http://cgi.ebay.com/SDRAM-256-PC-100...QQcmdZViewItem





http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-PC133-SDRAM-...QQcmdZViewItem

[Newbie2]

Re: Memory

If those heat spreaders aren't removable, that's not good. By the lack of name brand on the heat spreaders, I'm guessing it's a generic piece of RAM but removal of the heat spreader should bring up some facts.

Try using CPU-Z, it can idenitify the memory chips under the heat spreader.

My RAM was made my PQI. The 16 zeros mean PQI made the RAM.

Here is an example:

[willawake]

Re: Memory

more
http://cgi.ebay.com/512MB-PC133-SDRA...ayphotohosting



i wouldnt call it generic, it has a logo?

[AK0R]

Re: Memory

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Newbie2: I've downloaded CPU-Z, and will try that tonight at home. Thanks for the information. How do you know what code indicates a particular manufacturer? I agree that it shows all zeros for your PQI memory, but does that mean that that's PQI's code, or that it couldn't find a match in its database and therefore reported all zeros? I didn't see anything on the CPUID website that indicated the code associated with each manufacturer.

[willawake]

Re: Memory

its manufactured by celetronix memory group. for who exactly still dunno...

http://1006.tchosts.net/home.asp
http://www.celetronix.com/

i my search i came accross m-systems (not related) which have "Flash Disk Pioneers" under their logo. i remembered an unfortunate spelling in a greek computer magazine had their ad with the mispelling "Flash Dick Pioneers" wherever their logo was. excellent.

[Newbie2]

Re: Memory

CPU-Z reads off the memory module and shows what it found on the memory module. On my PQI memory module, it found 16 zeros and put that as the manufacturer. I have used it on my dad's laptop and it showed up "Corsair" meaning that his laptop was using Corsair memory.

And great find willawake. Mispellings in magazines can be funny!

[arneson]

Re: Memory

I saw that as an inverted E and came up blank.

[AK0R]

Re: Memory

Thanks for finding this, will. I carefully eased the heat shield away from the board (just a bit), and there's only 4 chips on each side of the board. So, it's the low chip density type, which probably explains why these 440BX boards detect it at half rated capacity.

[Rainbow]

Re: Memory

I think that the heatsink is there just to cover the crap inside...

[willawake]

Re: Memory

might not be crap

High fidelity Audio amplifiers for MITEK,USA , D2Audio,USA.
Memory Solutions for Micron, USA, (looks like also Dell, Apple)
Digital Set-Top Boxes for EchoStar , Entone-USA and TechnoTrend AG, Germany, High Density Notebook Adapter and Desktop Power Supply for Apple Computer, DELL, USA

Celetronix Manufacturing locations: Mumbai, Chennai, Pondicherry, Kandy, Sri Lanka.