[wplug] Gigabyte GA-7VKMLS memory problem

[Vance Kochenderfer]

Feel free to blow by this article if it seems boring - I'm mainly trying
to put this in writing to help anyone who's experienced similar problems
and get the solution into the Google cache.

The problem: one of the Microtel machines (the SYSMAR550) from walmart.com
with a Gigabyte GA-7VKMLS motherboard, a 1.2GHz Duron, and 128 MB of RAM.
Adding an extra 128 MB causes the machine to not boot, or fail memtest86
test 5.  Memory added is Viking PC13316X64-CL3 128MB PC133 CL3 DIMM.
<http://www.vikingcomponents.com/pp/PC13316X64-CL3.html>
<http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-136-114&depa=0>

The solution: disabling caching in memtest86 eliminates errors, but is a
less-than-ideal solution (plus there seems to be no way to disable cache
via the BIOS).  I flashed the latest BIOS update (a Windows self-
extracting RAR archive), but this didn't seem to do much (but probably
didn't hurt).  I finally removed the new stick and went into the BIOS and
lowered the memory bus speed manually to 100 MHz.  After reinstalling, I
had no errors when running memtest86 overnight, and the system (Mandrake
9.1) seems stable.

The lesson: unless you're going bargain basement, as I was in this case,
stick with high-quality memory like Crucial.  Or try to match your new
DIMM to the one that's currently installed (I think this system has
<http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-133-012&depa=0>).
It seems RAM compatibility is more problematic than you might think.

Hope someone somewhere finds this useful.

Oh, and ho ho ho and all that jazz!

Vance Kochenderfer        |  "Get me out of these ropes and into a
vkochend at nyx.net          |   good belt of Scotch"    -Nick Danger