do you know what type of machine it is? what processor? that will usually limit your RAM choices significantly.. and in most cases you can get a type.. On Thu, Nov 02, 2006 at 09:15:46PM +0100, Sturla Holm Hansen (sturla(a)hitconsult.no) wrote: -- Singer X.J. Wang, Ph.D. Candidate Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University 6050 University Avenue, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 1W5 Email: swang(a)cs.dal.ca Fax: (902) 492-1517 WWW: http://www.singerwang.com Schedule: http://schedule.singerwang.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Tobor, its Robot spelled backwards. - Product slogan for a toy called Tobor (circa 1978)

On Mon, 2006-08-28 at 23:10 +0530, Niklaus wrote: Does dmidecode tell you what model motherboard you have? If so, you can research what it needs, that way. What most people refer to as SDRAM and DDR are physically different. Your board would use one or the other, unless it had multiple slots. However, what people call SDRAM and DDR are often rather poor descriptions, which pedantically are the same thing (they've both "SDRAM", but the second being "double-data-rate" SDRAM). And DDR has variations, too. My motherboard uses what's generally known as DDR 400 RAM, and it goes into a DIMM socket. But that's a 184-pin DIMM socket. Generally, what people refer to as SDRAM is another thing, again. The dmidecode utility reports this for my motherboard: Supported Memory Types: DIMM SDRAM And if I asked for that at a computer shop, I'd get the wrong memory. But, on the other hand, if I ask for what's described in the manual (see below), I'd get the right thing: 2 x 184-pin DDR DIMM sockets for up to 2GB memory Supports PC3200/2700/2100 unbuffered non-ECC DDR DIMMs. Another board says: Supports PC100 SDRAM 16MB~512MB total, 256 MB maximum per 168 pin module And that's the type that most people call "DIMM" RAM. DIMM just means dual in-line memory module. You need to know the number of pins it has. SDRAM means synchronous dynamic random access memories, which is the techology inside the RAM. It's used on a variety of different types of RAM. DDR SDRAM means double-data-rate SDRAM. There are plenty of other types of RAM, too. Different types are more prevalent in server boards rather than general-purpose PC motherboards. Find out what motherboard you have, that's really the best thing to do. You might even find out, that way, which RAM is best suited, or best avoided. There are known incompatibility issues with some, and you need to know the right type, as well as how much RAM can be installed. -- (Currently testing FC5, but still running FC4, if that's important.) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.

On Mon, 2006-08-28 at 23:10 +0530, Niklaus wrote: Use dmidecode to find out the MODEL and make of your motherboard/computer. Whenyou run dmidecode, scroll down to the sections on System Information and Base Board Information. This is what my laptop specs look like: Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 25 bytes. System Information Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Product Name: A3E Version: 1.0 Serial Number: SSNXXXXXXXXXXXXXX UUID: XXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXX Wake-up Type: Power Switch Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes. Base Board Information Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Product Name: A3E Version: 1.0 Serial Number: BSNXXXXXXXXXXXXX Then lookup the motherboard/computer model using Google. There is a site called memoryworld.com or something (I forget!) that sometimes provides information about the memory components that are suitable for the system. HTH pascal chong