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My Dell Dimension would not boot with any non Dell memory!

Which brands of PCs require RAM from the manufacturer and will not accept
generic memory???

A wrote:
> My Dell Dimension would not boot with any non Dell memory!
>
> Which brands of PCs require RAM from the manufacturer and will not accept
> generic memory???

With all due respect, I find that very hard to believe. Some of the
*early* PentiumII desktop systems from Dell and Gateway used some weird,
non-standard SDRAM modules. For whatever reason, their motherboard
needed RAM with a weird "cas latency" and required RAM with different
timing than "standard" modules. However, they could still be bought if
you verified the modules had these traits.

If you're dealing with a more recent PC, is it possible you have a
Pentium4 motherboard that simply requires RD RAM? It's kind of
"proprietary" in the sense that it required a P4 and an Intel
Northbridge, and a company had to be paid licensing fees for the
technology, but it's still readily available, albeit for a steep price.

Why don't you go to crucial.com and enter in the exact model for this
Dimension system. What types of RAM does it say are compatible with
your system?

"A" <> wrote in message
news:d788mt$cup$...
> My Dell Dimension would not boot with any non Dell memory!
>
> Which brands of PCs require RAM from the manufacturer and will not accept
> generic memory???

I've seen some proprietary machines like Sun Cobalt servers that didn't work
with any RAM except what came from Sun, no matter how carefully you matched
the specs but never a Dell. Maybe the speed was different on the RAM?

AG

On Fri, 27 May 2005 22:58:37 +0000 (UTC), "A" <> wrote:

>My Dell Dimension would not boot with any non Dell memory!
>
>Which brands of PCs require RAM from the manufacturer and will not accept
>generic memory???
>
>

Some Compaqs, back in the P120 era, required the Compaq RAM, or at
least Compaq and at least some non-Compaq RAM would not co-exist. A
friend discovered this when he tried just that.

Tom

On Sun, 29 May 2005 01:47:07 GMT, Barry Watzman
<> wrote:

>Compatability problems have always existed, even today, even when both
>of the memory modules in question meet all specs and both work perfectly
>(by themselves). Some memory modules just don't like to coexist with
>other memory modules on the same memory bus in the same system at the
>same time.
>
>However, it's a long leap from such a finding in one particular instance
>with a tiny number of specific modules, to conclude that a computer
>requires proprietary RAM.
>

Right...just about what I said...I put a stick of generic RAM in a
Presario 486 and it worked fine with the Compaq RAM which was
imbedded.

Tom

>The Ram connects to the chipset, PERIOD. And there are ***NO***
>computer makers (at least of "PC" computers) who have custom chipsets
>made -- everyone uses Intel, Via, SiS .... etc., chipsets. Granted, a
>mfgr. could use a non-standard pinout and force the use of proprietary
>RAM, but I'm not aware of any mfgr. that has done that in over a decade.
>
>
>Tom MacIntyre wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 27 May 2005 22:58:37 +0000 (UTC), "A" <> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>My Dell Dimension would not boot with any non Dell memory!
>>>
>>>Which brands of PCs require RAM from the manufacturer and will not accept
>>>generic memory???
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> Some Compaqs, back in the P120 era, required the Compaq RAM, or at
>> least Compaq and at least some non-Compaq RAM would not co-exist. A
>> friend discovered this when he tried just that.
>>
>> Tom

Hard to troubleshoot from my couch without a model number, post the service
tag.

Cheers..
"A" <> wrote in message
news:d788mt$cup$...
> My Dell Dimension would not boot with any non Dell memory!
>
> Which brands of PCs require RAM from the manufacturer and will not accept
> generic memory???
>
>
>