On around Mon, 17 Dec 2001 21:12:15 -0500, "Ian C." <[log in to unmask]> posted this message in news:internal.mailing-list.computers.pc-build . . . > Earlier today I attempted to upgrade a beige box (AMD800 w/128MB RAM, W98SE) > with a 256MB DIMM (Viking PC133). Successful memory check upon boot; but I > get either a windows protection error when starting windows, or BSODs (vcache > & vxd errors) if windows actually boots. This occurs whether the new DIMM > is installed by itself or with the original 128MB (also PC133). In the BIOS > settings (Award) the options for the DIMM sockets are "Normal", "Fast", > "Turbo" & "SDRAM 8/10ns". Tried 'em all to no avail. I thought bad memory, > but that very same DIMM is causing no errors on my own AMD950; been playing > Max Payne for the past 2 hours with it installed. Any ideas? Do you have an Abit motherboard? Check to see if you have a different CAS rating for one of your DIMM's. If one of your DIMM's is CAS-2 and the other is CAS-3, go into the BIOS and set the "SDRAM Cycle Length" to 3. It won't hurt to run a CAS-2 SDRAM DIMM at 3, but trying to run a CAS-3 DIMM at 2 can cause instability problems. If that doesn't work, go into the BIOS to load the fail safe defaults and then try booting into safe mode. If that works, reboot into regular mode. If that works, start setting your BIOS back the way you like it until you get the error again, then you'll know what the problem is. There are some things I can't enable in my BIOS. It will boot fine much of the time, but sometimes I do get blue screens as Windows starts, then Windows never completely loads and I have to reboot. But the more features you have enabled in the BIOS, like enhanced chip performance, RAM bank interleave, faster memory timings, etc.... the less stability you have. As far as performance, I have yet to see any real benefit performance wise from enabling those features, yet since I'm pretty stable I have stuff like enhanced chip performance enabled while memory timings are at 8/10NS. I have one 512 meg stick of SDRAM. Ethan PCBUILD's List Owners: Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]> Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>