New hardware installation problem - SPD not found.

[Arofanatics]

Recently I have decided to change my old Intel I740 graphics card with Nvidia Geforce 2 graphics card. Here's my situation.
My OS (Windows ME) was able to detect a presence of new hardware and automatically search for a coresponding graphics card driver and prompted for reboot. And out of sudden it came out this warning message: Warning: SPD not found at DIMM 3 and had the computer freezed after the Windows' "welcome screen".
I have tried the following:
- same card under another computer with WIN98 and it wentthrough without any sweats.
- Switch around the DIMM Bank# but returned the same error message except diffrent DIMM #.
- Tried to set my BIOS cas letency time to 3s
- Brought a new Ram (Ram type is Infineon PC-133 128MB)
Despite the above, I still can't have my graphics card sucessfully installed. Please Help, I'm stuck here..

[HAL9000]

I figure it's one of two things, if there is an option in your BIOS to set the SPD, it has now been enabled and your one stick didn't have a SPD to begin with, or the SPD has failed on your one stick of RAM.

[Cricket]

Hi Arofanatics,

I didn't know what "SPD" was, so I got this explanation from Crucial.com:

"SPD (serial presence detect) is a small non-volatile RAM chip attached to SDRAM modules that contains information about the memory. This information includes the number of row addresses, number of column addresses, error detection/correction, refresh rates, data width, and the interface standard. It also contains less important information such as the module serial number and manufacturer code. When your computer powers up, it sets the row and column settings and the timings for the module based on the information in the SPD.

SPD is required in SDRAM that is 66MHz, PC100 and PC133 compliant. Standards set by Intel and JEDEC ensure that data is entered in appropriate locations so the motherboard BIOS can understand what this data means. The SPD standard allows greater flexibility for incorporating identification of new features and technologies on memory modules.

All Crucial SDRAM has SPD."

Cricket

[Arofanatics]

HI Hal9000,

I can't find such option in my BIOS, please enlighten! Thanx a lot.

Hi Cricket,
Thanks for your info. Will check this out.

Guys, do you know any decent software that checks the ram configuration? (ie., w/o SPD?)
Anyone of you have similar experience in the installation problem, your assistant will be greatly appreciated.

[Arofanatics]

Guys,

Please response to my post above, I am really stuck here!
Would this be a BIOS problem or mobo itself? Please enlighten.
Do you have any source that leaks to this discussion, please direct me.

Thanx a lot!

[Cricket]

Hi Arofanatics,

One of your sticks of RAM has gone bad. Try removing all but 1 and reboot your system. If you don't get a error message, swap out that stick with another and try again. Keep doing it until you get the error message. When you get the error message, that is your bad stick of RAM and needs to be replaced.

You can download a free RAM tester called DocMemory from here: Simmtester

Test your RAM 1 stick at a time.

Cricket

[Arofanatics]

Hi Cricket,

Thanks! But,I got only a single ram (128MB) on my DIMM...
Also, in "www.pcguide.com/ref/ram/tech_SDRAM.htm", it wrote this:
Serial Presence Detect:
Some motherboards are now being created that require the use of special SDRAM modules that include something called a Serial Presence Detect (SPD) chip. This is an EEPROM that contains speed and design information about the module. The motherboard queries the chip for information about the module and makes adjustments to system operation based on what it finds. A great idea in theory, but you won't think it's great if you buy an SDRAM module without the chip on it when your board requires SPD...

It seems like my ram does not come with SPD to start with! Bad! Bad! Bad!

Regards,
Arofanatics

[mike breck]

It seems a bit suspicious (or coincidence) that the SPD error appeared after installing the Geoforce.

Try reverting back to your old graphics card and trying the old and new Ram stick seperately. Do you still get a SPD error with each stick and the old graphics card?