Wow, that is an interesting mathematical relation. I am not sure that it
enters into this problem, but it may.
Unfortunately, I can not do anything about the experiment you suggest because
this PC has 16MB soldered to the MBoard, and there is just the one slot for
expansion. The PNY SDRAM I am using meets all the COMPAQ tech  specs (std.
SDRAM, 168-pin, 3.3volt, 10ns (100mhz), unbuffered, non-parity, gold contacts).

I did get an e-mail from a reader that said she had the same problem.
She said that it had to do with the density of the RAM (my chip is high-density
 = 4 chips/each 8MB, vs 8 chips/2MB), and that I just have to make sure
I get the right SDRAM configuration.
Since that reply, I have found another lead on a
 post on the COMPAQ website by
another user telling the same story. The COMPAQ moderator has no data about this, but then again, I'm sure they don't put their top engineers on their forum boards ;)
So, I am going back to COMPUSA, technical data in hand, to exchange for a low-density SDRAM module.
If and when it works, I will re-post with the result.
Thanks.

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