Re: my dual channel DDR 400 RAM won't work on any linux distro

["Brien" <admin@brien.com>]

>but I suspect it has to do with
> tolerances, timing, and evil gremlins that live under SIMMs and exact a
toll
> on non-union data

darn those gremlins! have any repellent?

(sorry if this seems like junk to some people--not going to make it a habit)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert White" <rwhite@casabyte.com>
To: "Brien" <admin@brien.com>; <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 4:53 PM
Subject: RE: my dual channel DDR 400 RAM won't work on any linux distro


> I had one-hell of a problem myself relating to memory on my new cutting
edge
> motherboard.  The problem, it turned out, had everything to do with the
> motherboard and the often marginal quality of the ram.  Much investigation
> revealed that there were only a few manufacturers of ram that the MoBoard
> would "support"
>
> In lay speak, I could put any damn thing I wanted into the first slot, but
> anything I did with the second and subsequent slots went all haywire.
>
> The BS layman's speak they gave me at the store was that they had seen a
lot
> of cases where having "double sided SIMMs" (they were oh-so-usefully
> classifying the memory based on whether there were chips on just one side,
> or on both sides of the circuit card 8-) in the second and subsequent
slots
> never worked.
>
> Translating that somewhat vague set of observations by less than top-shelf
> observers, and the really scavenging across the manufacturer site where
they
> listed the specific manufacturer and model numbers of supported SIMs which
> were only compatible in specific sets.  (e.g. two of "these" or three of
> "those" with no mix-and-match.)  This netted me the following wisdom:
>
> 1) Mother Board claims of "up to N gig" are highly contingent.
> 2) It is nearly impossible to find those contingencies.
> 3) That is especially true before purchase.
> 4) The conformant products were all high end components.
>
> This further suggests:
>
> 5) Manufacturers are not being completely scrupulous WRT Standards
> conformance.
> 6) Retailers are not well educated about the limits induced by #5.
> 7) If you want a given amount of memory, make sure you get it all on one
> SIMM, on in a matched set, or pre-installed by someone who has the
resources
> to match a set for you.
>
> 8) Individual experience varies *WIDELY* even with the same brand and
model
> of MoBoard and SIMM.
>
> 9) <sarcasm> This is probably a plot to force people to buy the
over-priced
> 1Gig SIMMs instead of a pair of reasonably priced 512K SIMMs </sarcasm>
>
> I don't know the "real cause"(tm) but I suspect it has to do with
> tolerances, timing, and evil gremlins that live under SIMMs and exact a
toll
> on non-union data.  At these speeds 1-half of one percent error can exceed
> the noise-floor almost immediately.
>
> Rob.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
> [mailto:linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org]On Behalf Of Brien
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 7:59 AM
> To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
> Subject: my dual channel DDR 400 RAM won't work on any linux distro
>
>
> (I posted this on some forums and they recommended that I try here)
>
> Hi,
>
> I have a Gigabyte SINXP1394 motherboard, and 2 Kingston 512 MB DDR 400 (CL
> 2.5) RAM modules installed. Whenever I try to install any Linux
> distribution, I always get a black screen after the kernel loads, when I
> have dual channel enabled; If I take out 1 of the RAM modules (either
one),
> everything works as it should -- it's not a bad module (works perfectly
> under Windows by the way). I can't disable dual channel without taking out
> half of my RAM, and I really do not want to run with only half of it. Does
> anyone have any idea how I can fix this problem, or is it something that
> needs to be updated in the kernel?
>
> Thanks for any info.
>
>
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