I got a new-to-me (AKA "used") HP Pavilion! got a good deal from a friend, loaded with the original software and recovery disks.

Question for you hardware gurus-- it has 1 stick 128 MB PC133 RAM. and the other slot is empty.

I took 2 sticks of 256MB PC133 RAM and replaced the 128MB, and it didn't work-- just beeped when I turned it on. I removed 1 stick-- same problem. Put the 128MB back in and it works... the 512MB used to work in my old Sony-- why doesn't it work in this system?

Also, my other motherboard on my old computer has 3 slots, and only recognizes each of these 256MB sticks as 128MB (or 256 combined)... the motherboard will take up to 798MB, so anyone know why it won't recognize the full 256MB on each stick for my other computer?

Its not fried, to the best of my knowledge, since it worked in the Sony system as 512MB...

Check with HP; some places use crappy motherboards. A lot of our older (circa 2k) Dell pc's wouldn't accept more than 384mb of ram.

It might be limited to 2 128mb sticks.

Not that it matters; pc133 is dirt cheap these days. Or was, anyway. $20 for a 128mb pc133 module according to pricewatch.com.

Check HP's site, that's probably your limitation.

Quoted: Check with HP; some places use crappy motherboards. A lot of our older (circa 2k) Dell pc's wouldn't accept more than 384mb of ram. It might be limited to 2 128mb sticks. Not that it matters; pc133 is dirt cheap these days. Or was, anyway. $20 for a 128mb pc133 module according to pricewatch.com. Check HP's site, that's probably your limitation.

Dang... a couple years ago I paid $20 for each 256MB PC133! hehe.. it don't matter-- I might steal 128 from my old computer and replace it with 256MB but it will see it as "128" hehe...