My 512 DDR400 will only register as 256MB..can you help me?

[al shizzle]

I recently bought a new mobo with the NForce2 chipset and an Athlon XP 2800+. I grabbed a stick of some generic PC3200 512MB ram from the store and threw it in. Everything runs fine, but it only registers 256MB in BIOS and windows. What did I do wrong?

[primesuspect]

maybe you got ripped off.

If it only registers as 256, take it back to the store and get a different brand.

[mmonnin]

Does it say on the stick what the size is if it doesnt have heatspreaders covering the writing?

[al shizzle]

so you don't think it has anything to do with this dual memory banks thing I've been hearing about? Or are there any settings in BIOS that would cause this.

[al shizzle]

The sticker on the strip says 512MB, but would it say individually on the little black chips?

[primesuspect]

No bios setting would cause that, nor would any dual memory banks. If you have only one stick, it doesn't matter what bank you stick it in. If you want dual channel performance, put two matched sticks in slots 1 & 3. It has nothing to do with ram capacity.

You have bad ram or incompatible ram.

[al shizzle]

ok thanks a lot. I think I will go back to the store and ask for compatible memory.

[WuGgaRoO]

perhaps itsjust that one chip, tell him to test it in one of the systems he has lying around and see what happens there

[mmonnin]

It might say on the stick.

I have a stick here that has some writting on it that says: 256MB32M8DC. I am sure a lot of sticks say the size on them.

Do you know what brand they are?