Compaq 5050 BIOS

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

I have upgaded my "old" Compaq 5050 to having more memory:
two 256MB chips were added. But, when powered up,
it only recognized ~392MB memory. Do I have to upgrade my BIOS?
I don't see any BIOS chip on the motherboard.

[ajzchips]

You mean 384MB, I suppose.
Can we assume you previously had 128MB and then added 2x256MB DIMMs? Seems like only half of their capacity have been recognized, or one of your new 256MB DIMMs is "transparent".
Can you check the total with your previous 128MB DIMM and one of the two 256MB DIMMs? Repeat the test with the other DIMM.
If you see a total of 256MB in both situations, then you'll have to either upgrade your BIOS, or swap the new DIMMs for others with possibly more chips (i.e. if your current 256MB DIMMs have 4 or 8 chips, then try to get the 8 or 16-chip versions, respectively).

Presario 5050 Memory

The Presario 5050 does NOT have any memory integrated on the system board. The board has two DIMM sockets for memory. Both of these sockets are populated with a 64-Meg and 32-Meg module, totalling 96-Meg standard. These sockets can be populated with 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 MB 3.3V, unbuffered SDRAM DIMMs. The DIMMs can use either 16 Mbit or 64 Mbit technology. A maximum of 256 MB can be supported by installing two 128 MB DIMMs. All DIMMs plugged in must be compliant with Serial Presence Detect Revision 1. Support for DIMMs that do not correctly implement Serial Presence Detect Revision 1 is not in the BIOS - non-compliant DIMMs will not work in the system.

I am supprised to see that the board recognized anything above 256MB of RAM......

Toby

All DIMMs plugged in must be compliant with Serial Presence Detect Revision 1

Very important when purchasing DIMMS