Gateway Profile 3 Memory Upgrade?

Question

one of my relatives has a Gateway Profile 3 computer that he is trying to put some additional memory in.

http://support.gateway.com/support/manlib/Profile/Profile3/8508183/8508183.htm

He got one 512MB PC133 SDRAM but it is only showing 256MB available. he can live without the other 256MB if there is a hardware limitation of only 256MB per slot. The main thing, though, is he gets a warning/error when he boots about the system memory running at 100MHz and the physical ram being 133MHz (I don't have the exact error text). The computer still boots and works ok, but this is a keyboard response that needs taken every time he boots.

Does anyone know how we can remove this message, since from the specs and support at Gateway we should be able to use PC133 in the computer?

Gateway support hasn't been much help.

I think it is AMI Bios version 2.01a

Answer 1

You need to change that setting in the BIOS setup. It is currently set to 100Mhz and you can change it to 133Mhz, as long as the RAM is capable of that speed.

Answer 2

Seems to me he is using 2 memory sticks and one is either failing or is not recognized. Boot the PC with each stick individually (remove one, boot, check for the error; shut down, swap sticks, boot and check for the error). Make sure the power is off and unplugged before even touching the memory sticks.

If no error happens with each stick alone, try changing the slots (simply swapping them around). Sometimes, as weird as it seems, a motherboard can be picky about where a memory stick is.