Dell Dimension 4500 Memory

[lipinski]

I have a Dell Dimension 4500 with the Intel D845EPT2 Motherboard.

 

There is currently 256MB of PC2100 Memory installed.

 

I recently purchased replacement memory which is Corsair 1GB PC2100, P/N CM74SD1024RLP-2100/S.

 

However, when I try to install this memory, I get 3 beeps from the BIOS, which per Intel's Manual for the motherboard is Memory Initialization Failure. I have two of these Corsair DIMMs, and I have tried every permutation of each, both, alternating DIMM slots (eventhough supposed to use just 0 if only single DIMM) - to no avail.

 

From the Intel Specs for Compatible Memory:

The Intel® Desktop Board D845EPT2 has two DIMM sockets and support the following memory features:

2.5 V (only) 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMMs with gold-plated contacts

Unbuffered, unregistered single-sided or double-sided DIMMs

Maximum total system memory: 2 GB; minimum total system memory: 64 MB

200/266 MHz DDR SDRAM DIMMs only

Serial Presence Detect (SPD)

Suspend to RAM

Non-ECC and ECC DIMMs

 

Any ideas why these DIMMs are not working? Shouldn't they be compatible?

[Wired]

Not compatible AT ALL.

 

Corsair Memory Compatible with the Dell Dimension 4500

 

The only current Corsair module that is compatible is the VS512MB266.

[RJLeong65]

Not compatible AT ALL.

 

Agreed. The Intel 845 series chipsets do NOT support registered memory. But your "new" 1GB module is REGISTERED memory.

 

In addition, some of the early 845-based motherboards - including the one in your Dimension 4500 - are limited to a maximum IC density of 256 Mbits. This means that any 512MB module to be used on such a motherboard must be double-sided only (that system will not work with any 512MB module that's single-sided). This limits the compatible memory modules for such systems to 512MB per stick. And according to Dell, your Dimension 4500 does not support 1GB modules or single-sided 512MB modules at all since the maximum total memory support on that system is 1GB, and both slots must be filled with double-sided modules in order to achieve the supported 1GB maximum. Fortunately, the JEDEC standard for the DDR266 speed dictates that you can use up to two sticks of memory per channel (the i845D/E runs memory only in single-channel mode) and still get the full performance from the memory.

 

Thus, not only did you buy the wrong type of memory for your system, you've also bought too large (capacity-wise) of a module as well.