hey, i just bought some NEW ram for my laptop (Dell Inspiron 8000) and i put in 2x256
but its only reading what i had before, how do make it so it knows theres 512?

Thanksthe dell inspiron only has 2 RAM slots, what was the capacity of the RAM stick that you took out?it had 128 (2x64), i tried restarting but nuthintry it with just one 256mb stick. report back if it works or not.i did, and it does read it.....so im gonna try it again with both and restart, hopefully it works
THANKS for the help btw according to the specs here

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/notebooks/0,1000000338,10000051,00.htm

the max your laptop can handle is 0.5gb. that extra 12mb's might be whats impeding it from functioning. POP out the WORKING 256mb stick and put the other one in just to verify if both sticks work.well their both working properly, i put them in again and now its reading it
so i have 512, im geussing that there was dust or i just DIDNT put it in right
but thanks for the help! no problem, come back if you have any other computer-related questions. Quote from: homer on May 22, 2008, 06:24:57 PM

according to the specs here

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/notebooks/0,1000000338,10000051,00.htm

the max your laptop can handle is 0.5gb. that extra 12mb's might be whats impeding it from functioning. pop out the working 256mb stick and put the other one in just to verify if both sticks work.

Just to be clear: "0.5gb" = 512MB, so there is no "extra 12MB.

Just to be clear: "0.5gb" = 512MB, so there is no "extra 12MB." If there were, the OP would have 524MB total. 1GB = 1024MB, so half of that (or 0.5GB) is 512. Octal system and all. Wink