Page 1 of 1

2 GB RAM upgrade slows PC down 50 times

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:44 pm
by bgiversen
I have an Elonex Exentia Gold with 2 x 512 non-ECC stick that works fine. Bios is MY86510J.86A.1056.P04.0503181008 dated 20/8/03.

I have tried 3 pairs of 1GB sticks and while they all work, with both sticks in, the PC is 50 (literally) times slower than with 1GB. Each stick works on its own in either slot but with both in, painfully slow. I've analyzed the PC with Sandra and it recommends ECC ram but both non-ECC and ECC works as described above.

The Elonex Gold is identical to the Gateway 610xl. Elonex went bust so I no longer have access to BIOS and driver downloads. Gateway have a Bios dated (released) March 2004 but when trying to flash it, I get a message saying this bios is older than the installed bios. The Gateway bios is MY86510J.15A.0040.P03 dated 3/24/2004. P03 makes me think its an earlier version but maybe not.

Two questions:

1. Is there a known (bios or other) reason for the slow performance with 2 x 1GB RAM installed.

2. Can I back up the existing Bios so I can try the Gateway one?

The Elonex runs Vista Home Premium.

Any help is appreciated.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:23 pm
by Denniss
The Gateway Bios is indeed one revision older than yours so better not test it. AFAIK your Bios Flashrom is soldered on so if this Bios does not work your board is toast.

Have you tried the following:
Reduce memory timings, especially the Command rate from 1T to 2T?
Reduce memory speed from your standard speed to 33 MHz (real MHz, not the DDR'ed one) slower?

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:10 pm
by bgiversen
Thanks

I'm game for trying your suggestions but would not know where to begin. The Bios menu i quite basic and certainly does not have any parameters that tinker with timings and speed.

Can you "talk" me though what I need to do?

Thanks

InsydeH2O

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:17 pm
by bgiversen
Having a look again at the BIOS editor - it is a InsydeH2O and even in the advanced settings there are only a few parameters to chnage such as Harddisk and DVD detection.

Is there a way of exposing unexposed settings?

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 2:02 pm
by KachiWachi
You can use something like Everest to view them.

Changing them is another story.

Thanks.

Is Vista the culprit??

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:03 pm
by bgiversen
Maybe this is not a hardware/bios issue at all!

The BIOS reads the 2048mb correctly and does not report any problem. Windows appear to start normally with the vertical progress bar running normally from left to right. Then, after 5 runs, it suddenly slows down to a trickle. In other words, it seems that the slowdown happens during the windows boot process.

I've created a Bootable CD with Microsoft Memory test on it and 1) it boots fine and 2) it appears to be running the tests at breakneck speed and 3) it reports NO issues.

What could Vista possibly be doing during the boot process to cause the slowdown with 2GB RAM that does not happen with 1GB Ram.

I am totally confused.