[SGVLUG] Memory and External HD Questions

[Rob Wilcox]

Well here's what happened, I put in 2 of the 2GB cards, 
did a memory check for maybe 1/3 of the total, 
then rebooted and wah lah !!! 

It works with the 2 sticks of 2GB reading 2014 MB from HTOP.
Now I can add 2 more because it can hold 4GB max.

Will tell you more details about the EXT HD 
and the backup of the other computer at Burger Cont. next Thurs.

Rob




________________________________
 From: Dan Buthusiem <dan.buthusiem at gmail.com>
To: SGVLUG Discussion List. <sgvlug at sgvlug.net> 
Sent: Thursday, July 4, 2013 9:54 PM
Subject: Re: [SGVLUG] Memory and External HD Questions
 


1) Double check the RAM's label. I know they exist, but I'm not used to seeing 400 MHz DDR2, which has 240 pins. If the label says it's DDR2, and the motherboard also says it takes DDR2, then you should be able to use the RAM. If you want to be extra certain, look up the specs for your motherboard. A quick search of your motherboard's model number should bring up the info. Generally, the advertised speed is the max speed, but it should fall down to the fastest *supported* speed of the components - 800 MHz DDR2 should fall back to 533 MHz if that's the fastest the motherboard / CPU can handle. 

2) No overheating should occur in the memory chips provided you have adequate cooling (a standard case fan or two should be plenty), and you are *not* overclocking the RAM. Overclocking requires manual override settings in the BIOS. If you're not sure if you're doing it, it's safe to say this shouldn't be a concern.

3) As a general rule of thumb, do not mix RAM of different speeds. Ideally, don't mix RAM of different CAS latencies. I've gotten random Windows crashes / BSOD from certain motherboards when using say... a 800 MHz DDR2 with CAS 4 and CAS 5 at the same time. If both of your 1 GB sticks have the same label, you should be fine. You should see something like 4-4-4-8 on the label (numbers could be different). That's your CAS latency. Just make sure they both match and you'll be fine.

4) From what I understand, you have an external 750 GB USB HDD, which was formatted into NTFS using Win 7, correct? From what I remember, the NTFS version of Windows 7 is newer than XP. That *could* be causing a sort of compatibility issue with XP. I think there was a patch for XP for supporting it, but I might be mixed up with exFAT support. Win 7 can format large drives with exFAT, which has support for larger drives than FAT32. Win XP needs a hotfix for exFAT support. Search microsoft.com for KB955704 for the patch. =]

5) If you're having boot issues with the PC while the external HDD is connected, it could be that the BIOS is set to boot external volumes (check your BIOS under boot settings, you may have to dig a bit to find it), and the partition on the external is set to be an "active" or bootable partition. You may want to use a utility to remove the boot flag from it. I like to use Palimpsest or Gparted for this (Linux utilities, but this is a Linux mailing list haha). 

I hope these things help you out. If nothing else, you'll have a bit of research to do, and hopefully you'll learn something new! If you have more questions, I'm up for answering them. =]

Take Care,
Dan B.



On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 11:59 PM, Doug <dougvargas at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

I just put some mixed ram in a computer and it's not having any problems. Ymmv but it should be safe.
>
>
>Rob Wilcox <e320r837i4031j316 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>What happens when you install a 400 MHZ 1GB 240 PIN memory card 
>
>into a slot for a 533 MHz of the same?
>Will it try to speed up the 400 to 533? 
>Overheat the memory card? 
>Or nothing at all and it's no problem?
>
>I have 2x 1GB 400 MHZ 240 pins memory cards from 
>
>an old computer and want to put them both into a computer
>with a 533 MHz requirement for that computer. 
>
>It's presently running 512 MB RAM which is too slow and since
>I already have 2 GB of memory why not put it in 
>
>and see what happens. That's why I'm asking 1st.
>
>
>Also would a new 750 GB Hard Drive mess up 
>
>a computer that originally had XP and that BIOS?
>After I used this external HD I got a screen freeze 3 times 
>
>and the next boot up didn't bootup. Nothing!!!
>The HD is formatted for Win 7 and it's NTFS.
>
>
>This EXT HD does work on my old iBook so now I think it might be computer related.
>
>
>
>So can a HD mess up a computer so it won't even bootup???
>
>
>I'll talk to some of you next Thursday 7-11 at Burger Continental.
>
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>Rob Wilcox
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://sgvlug.net/pipermail/sgvlug/attachments/20130705/e030a3d4/attachment.html>