Memory stick ID

for the first one:

28092101 100 64 For second one (this one has a sticker in from that says its 64M SDRAM) 28061401 100 64

There are florescent sticker on the back of both with "warranty void if removed" on them with the following numbers for first one: (the letters 'CC' written in black marker on top of the sticker) X1312 warranty void if removed

000921 for the second one: (the letters 'CC' written in black marker on top of the sticker) X1214 warranty void if removed 000608

The ICs on the first one have the following markings: TECHLab TLS39S6480T-75

0032

The ICs on the second one have the following markings Tlnnovation TC81V66841TL-8

0023

any ideas on the speed? (PC???) I know the second one is 64M any clue on the first one? Does the white sticker mean that they are PC100? last question.... I have a new pC which uses PC133 memory sticks.. what would happen if I used PC100 sticks in them?

Most likely PC100, based on the 100 on the stickers and the 7.5 and 8 ns timing on the chip part numbers. I also don't think PC133, 64M dimms were very common.

You could probably use the chips on a PC that calls for PC133 if you set the memory timing in the bios appropriately (ie, slower).

-Chris

AFAIK, they are not called "memory sticks." They are called DIMM's.

I didn't find anything searching for the chip vendors. I would definitely just put the "sticks" in the new PC and see what happens.

FYI, here is roughly what happens when an Intel architecture PC boots up:

First, it tries to establish that it has at least 640 KB of useable RAM. It does this at the most conservative possible settings regarding RAM speed and wait states and so on.

If it cannot do this, it will not boot.

If it succeeds, it will set up a stack, and the BIOS can then go on to more complicated tasks.

At some point the BIOS will use the SMBus to interrogate all the DIMM's it finds. Each DIMM has a small serial ROM on it which is connected to this SMBus. Once the BIOS interrogates all the DIMM ROM's, it sets up the various chipset registers so that all the RAM banks will operate in the most optimal way possible. In some cases, it may have to slow down for the sake of the slowest DIMM module. So it is a good idea to keep all the DIMM's operating at one speed. For example, I wouldn't add a 100 MHz DIMM to a system that already had 133 MHz DIMM's, since it may slow the whole bus down to 100 MHz.

Anyway, I think you are pretty safe to just put it in there and see what happens. You should be able to find out from the OS what speed the RAM is actually running at.

If you DO wreck your computer or RAM, however, I will not accept any responsibility, and I won't help you pay to replace it. ;-)

--Mac

The BIOS should not allow you to touch these memory parameters. If it does, I wouldn't touch them.

The timing parameters reside on a small serial ROM on the DIMM module. The BIOS gets these parameters by reading this ROM. Unless you have swapped the SDRAM chips on the DIMM, there should be no reason to change the settings.

--Mac

My guess. like yours, is that they are 64MB, PC100 sticks.

I have some PC100 memory sticks which work fine at 133, and some that don't.

Google for Memtest86, which is a free downloadable memory tester. With it, you can test them yourself without taking a chance of messing up your OS. The current version is 3.2.

Memtest86 creates a bootable floppy disk that all the tests are done from, so this is all done without involving your hard disk or the OS on it.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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