[manzoor]

hi i just booted up my computer and i got a message which says


Memory Size Decreased


any ideas what could be wrong ?

i replaced and swapped my memory sticks and my 256 one is now working fine whereas when i put the other stick it boots windows xp and after while restarts

so its ensured that its a ram problem but can it be repaired

[MorphiusFaydal]

Replace the bad stick. Considering how cheap memory is, it'd be cheaper to replace the entire stick rather than find out which chip is bad, order a new one, and try and solder it back on.

As to what could be wrong: One of the memory chips on the stick of RAM is bad. Or multiple chips.

And the BIOS message is just reporting that it's seeing less memory than it remembered having at last boot up.

This post has been edited by MorphiusFaydal: 10 March 2008 - 11:30 AM

[aj32]

yeah, and if your going to try to go about doing that kind of soldering job, good luck!

[Trotter]

Ditto on the replacing the bad stick. Boot with one stick and then the other to find the culprit. unless it is some really old type of RAM it won't be too expensive to replace. DDR is getting a little high, but still not too bad. DDR2 is dirt cheap right now.

[MorphiusFaydal]

Trotter, on 12 Mar, 2008 - 12:06 PM, said:

Ditto on the replacing the bad stick. Boot with one stick and then the other to find the culprit. unless it is some really old type of RAM it won't be too expensive to replace. DDR is getting a little high, but still not too bad. DDR2 is dirt cheap right now.

The one that really blows is RAMBUS RD-RAM. I had to buy some for my server.

[manzoor]

bought it

corsair 256 for just 17$

******* ddr is too expensive as compared to ddr II

[MorphiusFaydal]

manzoor, on 15 Mar, 2008 - 11:55 AM, said:

bought it

corsair 256 for just 17$

******* ddr is too expensive as compared to ddr II

Because nobody makes it anymore. All new systems use DDR2

[2457]

agree, soldering memory chips is not just hard.
IT IS verry hard and just does not worth it.

I DID IT once, I soldered extra emory in my xbox.
(the place of memory is there, You can add +64 Mbytes with soldering)

Is one of the hardest thing I ever did...

[no2pencil]

2457, on 11 May, 2008 - 02:42 AM, said:

agree, soldering memory chips is not just hard.

Is one of the hardest thing I ever did...

Without surface level soldering tools, yes, this is very difficult & very dangerous!

Can you post a link to where the memory in the xbox is located (& more can be added)? I'd be extremely interested to give this a try.

[2457]

Well, all xbox mobo until v1.6 is a close relative to the SDK debug box, wich is only different in haveing more RAM then the retail box.

Here is a picture of an xbox mobo:

xbox mobo

Finding a source for chips is not easy..
Back then I used dead boxes, to desolder the RAM, and implent it to my xbox.

The XEX files have built in limits NOT to try to use more than 64Mbyte of ram, but a simple patcher can get rid of it.

As You see on the picture, the place for memory is prepared.
the hardware can and will addres it, speed difference is NO issue.
At every startup the box will try various settings and determen what can the memory take.. (thats becouse back then MS made them, they had to work with all sorth of memory, and a FIX speed/latency was not a suitable option. Hence, some boxes run games slower than others..)

So if You patch the XEX files, to use the xtra memory, game load times decrese. Specialy when useing a proper HDD with a proper 80 pin conductor cable.

And thats about it.
Just pay attention to what You are doing, the quality of them boards open new ways to describe SHIT.

Linux addresses and uses the extra ram without any patching.
Too bad the box can only handle 1 single HDD..
With USB You can hook up more, but the speed is rather slow..
real dead slow..

I was able to get the box working in cars too, nice thing.
WIth aladdin xt chips it is able to utilize laptop HDD, wich is more suitable for cars.. IS a nice lil headunit for a car stereo. (5.1 sound, LOLzz.) and is able to handle pc dvd-rom drives, LG had one that could be modded to completly replace the original.
But I just put the originals panel in the box, with no lens and such, to keep sieze down. AND power consumption.