Packard Bell & Extra Ram

**wilbat316** · 20th March 2005

Hi hate my 2cnd post to be a question, but my G/F just got a Packard Bell PC gave to her of her bro, it only run,s 64mb ram PC133 when i tried to put more ram in it would not take it (128mb 256mb) after checking around the net and this site i am starting to think the only way to get it upgraded is a bios upgrade ?, would i be wasting my/her time or should she bin it? it,s about 3yrs old now any advice welcome even a y/n thankk,s Will:|

**b!lly** · 20th March 2005

whats th rest of the spec m8,what u mean it wont take the ram,is there space for it on the board3333

**danthescan** · 20th March 2005

Give us the spec, model number, etc and we may be able to help you out M8

I have just upgreded someones Packard Bell by putting Ram in and it went fine it was just cheap Ram as it was an old Machine but it worked OK.

**wilbat316** · 20th March 2005

HI from what i can see on it, it,s a packard bell i cooect, M/B GA6WMM7 rev 4.1 Serial No 0116021536 Pentium Celeron 64 pc 133 ram, tried adding 128 of ram first and it would not boot, tried 128 on it,s own would not boot, tried 256 would not boot put old 64 back no problem ?.:grr:

**b!lly** · 20th March 2005

is the ram that u r trying pc133

**wilbat316** · 20th March 2005

yep pc133 both bought this week

**danthescan** · 20th March 2005

Celeron runs at 100mhz but 133 memory should be ok its what i use in them as its cheaper and easier to get than pc 100 and the 133 runs at 100 so ahould be ok and it was an iconnect i upgraded last month and it took it fine.Do these memory sticks you tried work ok in another machine.i will have a look at their website again but i dont think youve done anything wrong yet.

**wilbat316** · 20th March 2005

both work in my pc

**danthescan** · 20th March 2005

Up to 256 MB (64-bit technology) or 512 MB (128-bit technology) total memory in one or two DIMM sockets.

SDRAM 64/128-bit non-ECC DIMMs

Single or double sided 3.3 V DIMMs, 60 ns CAS Latency 2/3, 66 or 100 MHz SDRAMS.

The motherboard automatically detects the size and type of the memory used.

Best i can find its a Houston 3 motherboard.

http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/houston3+.htm

Have a look and hope it helps.

**wilbat316** · 20th March 2005

Thank,s alot for the help, just dumped the G/F , met somone who has a decent PC , still might try to help the ex out, you never know when an old freind might come in Handy. thanks again Will

**danthescan** · 20th March 2005

You done well m8 dumped the woman and got a new one in 19 hours your a top bloke Good on ya.so i will have to remember that line your pc is shit so you are dumped. i wonder if the wife would accept that one.

Maybe not i built it for her:thumbs :thumbs

**b!lly** · 21st March 2005

lol
alls well then

**Freekie_Freddie** · 21st March 2005

Nowhere near enough correct information is given but if this is the PB790 motherboard, it only accepts 168-pin DIMM modules. Only gold-plated DIMMS may be used, since the sockets on the motherboard are also gold-plated, and oxidation must be prevented. Either 3.3V EDO DRAM or unbuffered 3.3V SDRAM can be used.
Single or double sized DIMMs may be used. EDO DIMMs may be up to 64MB big, SDRAM DIMMs up to 128 MB. The maximum total memory is 256MB, but only 64MB of this can be cached because of a limitation in the TX chipset. This means the system will actually become a little slower when more than 64MB of memory is installed.

Memory type, size and speed can vary between sockets, so EDO and SDRAM can be installed on the same motherboard. Parity (x72) DIMMs can be installed, but this is not recommended, for the motherboard does not provide parity checking or ECC and parity DIMMs cause excessive capacitive loading on memory data and address lines.

**danthescan** · 21st March 2005

Nice one freaky, but the board is a GA6WMM7 rev 4.1

http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/houston3+.htm

or so he said it was in his post.

Keep looking bud
ps he also dumped the bird and the pc all in the one day

**Freekie_Freddie** · 21st March 2005

I did notice but I was attempting to point out to people that correct information is all important when posting for help and advice.
I know this may have been a typo but there is an edit button:
packard bell i cooect
It's probably an I-Connect but all I-Connects have sub model names or numbers which wasn't included.
The motherboard model given is probably correct but after the missing info above, it was worth checking PB "Support" just in case there was something similar.
The serial number of 0116021536 does not exist.
The fact that the memory upgrade resulted in in a no POST situation reinforced my feelings that erroneous info may well have been presented.

I'm not having a go at the OP really but this does illustrate the need for clear and concise information to be presented if a resolution is to be reached.

Tracking down data for virtually any Packard Bell produced machine is a nightmare at the best of times. They seem to have a penchant for not following their own data and assembly sheets and changing spec at will without informing anyone. Some units bear little resemblance to the breakdowns offered at the support area.
I wish that I could dump those PC jobs that I hate as easily as that!:thumbs Any advice?

**danthescan** · 22nd March 2005

Got to agree with you there m8. i hate PB and wish i could say no to some jobs as well. I did notice the serial no was useless, but you are correct its not hard to get the information from the machine, and then we have a chance of helping. I bet he knows his birds bra size already.

Non post was a bit strange and i know where you were coming from but as you say we can only play with the hand dealt.
I kind of wonder how he got the Board number but got the serial wrong.