500S memory upgrade

I'm looking to upgrade the memory in a Gateway 500S. It has a 2GHz P4 and
266MHz PC2100 DDR memory in one slot. Is the RAM standard? According to
something I read, Gateway had tweaked the BIOS somehow and standard DDR RAM
isn't compatible with these. I've found Gateway-specific RAM listed for
these on some sites, but it's double the price of the standard stuff. Has
anyone had success upgrading these with RAM not specifically designed for
this machine? Thanks.

John

More dis-information from an uninformed source. The motherboards in Gateway P4
systems are generic. The memory is generic. But generic from a reputable
source like Crucial. Save yourself a few bucks.

Also PC2700 memory would work just fine, probably at the same price.

DO NOT get ECC memory. Non-parity memory will do... Ben Myers

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:17:59 -0500, "JDB" wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade the memory in a Gateway 500S. It has a 2GHz P4 and
266MHz PC2100 DDR memory in one slot. Is the RAM standard? According to
something I read, Gateway had tweaked the BIOS somehow and standard DDR RAM
isn't compatible with these. I've found Gateway-specific RAM listed for
these on some sites, but it's double the price of the standard stuff. Has
anyone had success upgrading these with RAM not specifically designed for
this machine? Thanks.

John

Ben,
Thanks for the info. I tried Kingston Value RAM DDR PC2700 - it says
it's backward compatible with PC2100. When I installed it in the empty
slot, the PC booted up fine. As soon as I tried to run anything, it
rebooted itself. After four or five times I removed the card and the PC
runs slow as usual but otherwise fine. Maybe the card is bad? I've
upgraded other PCs with KVR and never had a problem.

John
ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
More dis-information from an uninformed source. The motherboards in
Gateway P4
systems are generic. The memory is generic. But generic from a reputable
source like Crucial. Save yourself a few bucks.

Also PC2700 memory would work just fine, probably at the same price.

DO NOT get ECC memory. Non-parity memory will do... Ben Myers

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:17:59 -0500, "JDB" wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade the memory in a Gateway 500S. It has a 2GHz P4
and
266MHz PC2100 DDR memory in one slot. Is the RAM standard? According to
something I read, Gateway had tweaked the BIOS somehow and standard DDR
RAM
isn't compatible with these. I've found Gateway-specific RAM listed for
these on some sites, but it's double the price of the standard stuff.
Has
anyone had success upgrading these with RAM not specifically designed for
this machine? Thanks.

John

ValueRAM is the one to avoid - Kingston's regular line of RAM is fine -
ValueRAM is whatever they can buy cheapest as needed.

Crucial, datamem.com, and others are all good sources of RAM as well.


JDB wrote:
Ben,
Thanks for the info. I tried Kingston Value RAM DDR PC2700 - it says
it's backward compatible with PC2100. When I installed it in the empty
slot, the PC booted up fine. As soon as I tried to run anything, it
rebooted itself. After four or five times I removed the card and the PC
runs slow as usual but otherwise fine. Maybe the card is bad? I've
upgraded other PCs with KVR and never had a problem.

A further update on this one.

Gateway "tech support" has given me a complete run around. I ask them if
the 500S will support industry-standard RAM, they answer "the suggested
solution is..." and point me to their system-specific RAM at twice the
price. Three times we did that dance. I queried Crucial, who show a
standard RAM and a Gateway 500S RAM with different part numbers. According
to their rep, the parts are the same, just carried under two different
numbers - a "base number", and an "external number".

Looks like the Gateway 500S will indeed take industry-standard RAM, but you
won't find that out by talking to Gateway.

John

"JDB" wrote in message
news:8bq1e.134864$%U2.133847@lakeread01...
Ben,
Thanks for the info. I tried Kingston Value RAM DDR PC2700 - it says
it's backward compatible with PC2100. When I installed it in the empty
slot, the PC booted up fine. As soon as I tried to run anything, it
rebooted itself. After four or five times I removed the card and the PC
runs slow as usual but otherwise fine. Maybe the card is bad? I've
upgraded other PCs with KVR and never had a problem.

John
ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
More dis-information from an uninformed source. The motherboards in
Gateway P4
systems are generic. The memory is generic. But generic from a
reputable
source like Crucial. Save yourself a few bucks.

Also PC2700 memory would work just fine, probably at the same price.

DO NOT get ECC memory. Non-parity memory will do... Ben Myers

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:17:59 -0500, "JDB" wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade the memory in a Gateway 500S. It has a 2GHz P4
and
266MHz PC2100 DDR memory in one slot. Is the RAM standard? According
to
something I read, Gateway had tweaked the BIOS somehow and standard DDR
RAM
isn't compatible with these. I've found Gateway-specific RAM listed
for
these on some sites, but it's double the price of the standard stuff.
Has
anyone had success upgrading these with RAM not specifically designed
for
this machine? Thanks.

John