[NCLUG] Memory Woes

[Marcio Luis Teixeira]

Hi there,

I recently purchased a 128MB DIMM on eBay and something funny is happening.
When I pop it in my box, it shows up as 64MB.

Anyhow, at this point I am assuming it is ignorance on my part, so I am 
posting the information I have verbatim here. It appears to me as if the 
memory is compatible with my board, but please let me know if you see 
anything that indicates this may not be the case. The motherboard is an Iwill 
PIILS motherboard. In the manual, it is written:

"The motherboard has four dual inline memory module (DIMM) sockets,
which supports memory size from 8 MB to 512MB with SDRAM and
1GB with EDO RAM. The motherboard supports the following memory features:
   * JEDEC MO-161 compliant 168-pin DIMMs with gold-plated contacts
   * 3.3V memory module only
   * EEC logic detects multiple-bit errors and corrects single-bit errors 
(SDRAM)
   * Unbuffered SDRAM or 60-ns 3.3V EDO DIMMs.
   * 4/16/64 Mbit DRAM technology
   * Symmetrical and asymmetrical DRAM addressing
   * Single-sided or double-sided DIMMs
   * 3.3 V EDO and SDRAM DIMMs can be installed on the same board"

Now, the RAM chip came in a little silver packet labeled "128MB Unbuffered 
3.3V 4K DIMM".  The DIMM itself is labeled 16X64U34K110, which is the correct 
part number, according to the packet and also to Viking's web site. The 
memory came in a factory sealed packet, so it doesn't appear to be that the 
RAM was pulled from a computer and placed in an incorrect packet.

At this point I am stumped. Any ideas as to what could cause half of a memory
DIMM's capacity to vanish into thin air?

A couple miscellaneous questions:

   1) What does the 4K in the name mean?

   2) Does the part code 16X64 mean that the memory chip is made up of sixteen 
64Mbits RAM chips in parallel? If so, perhaps my next job is to read off the 
identification on the individual RAM chips and look them up on the OEMs site 
to make sure they are the right chips. This would at least let me know if 
Viking mislabled their lot of DIMMs (if the OEM chips were themselves 
mislabeled, then, well, I would be screwed).

Anyhow. Any ideas would be appreciated. My BIOS has a lot of options related 
to RAM timing parameters, which I haven't messed with. I assume these won't 
manifest themselves as missing memory, so I haven't played with them any -- 
should I?

Marcio Luis Teixeira