Why can't I do that

hello, i am having a problem with upgrading the memory on my desktop. It's a compaq presario 7478. AMD K2 533 MHz. It came with 64mb and I upgraded it with another 64mb chip. no problems. recently i decided that i needed more memory so i bought a 256 chip. PC133 SDRAM. the same memory in use. i took out the upgrade 64mb chip and replaced it with the 256 chip. when i turned the computer on, it started to recoginze the new memory upon booting up. it was 'counting' the memory and got all the way to 128mb, and locked up. nothing. i rebooted several times with the same result. i then rebooted and pressed escape at the beginning of the boot sequence and it recoginzed 310mb (it uses system memory for video). after this recognition of the current memory, it wouldn't go any further. i've tried to swap the chip slots, use the other 64mb chip, reset in bios...yadda yadda yadda. i finally got it into windows, and as soon as it loads all of the drivers, it either locks up or reboots on its own. i am at a loss as what to do next. can i salvage this machine or is it time to punt and rebuild a new system?

thanks for your help.

dean

This question was answered on February 20, 2003. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Normally, which should be all the time, when you replace memory use the same size memory chips in the slots, you may have the 64MB chip set in the first bay and the higher chipset in the second bay completely remove the 64MB chip and restart your computer Always use the same brand, same size amnd same speed when dealing with memory chips

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Posted by Eugene of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 20, 2003

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