DELL RAM Problem - Please Help

[simastudillo]

My sis has a dell latitude 110l and she recently purchased a 512mb ram stick to upgrade her system from 256mb to 512mb.

Everything worked fine with the new ram stick but in the system panel the memory is showing as 248mb. To double check I had my sis visit the bios and it states the same thing. I also tried using CPZ-U and again it states 248mb.

Now I know what you are thinking....Maybe you purchased the wrong ram, well, no I didn't , in fact I purchased it from a a popular store on ebay that deals with RAM parts, I checked it stated 512mb 2700 333mhz ram module.

Anyway I contacted the "powerseller" and forwarded to him that perhaps he sent me the wrong module as I know it wasn't a mistake on my half. He replies that it can't be a 256mb stick as they only deal with 512mb modules and above..I checked to see if there was any truth in this by contacting customer support via telephone and I got the same reply.

Moving on...The seller asked me to make sure I installed correctly ( Like it's that hard to do!) and i told him yes I have got it in cause everything boots fine but its showing as 248 rather than 512mb. He then went on, as well as another advisor to say that perhaps my bios needs updating!!!!

Correct me if i am wrong, but I am assuming that if my laptop doesn't support it it wouldn't boot up fine right?

Please can someone help me. Is there a solution? Is the seller right? I checked the ram module and there is no lettering or numbering or nothing. It's a hynix brand.

[osprey4]

Send it back. Hynix is good stuff but that module must have a problem. I have seen modules show half the capacity they should.

I might even have a stick. I'll have to check tonight.

EDIT: Sorry, I sold the ones I had.

[Blitzkreig75]

I've had exactly this happen to me on older Dells. As to if a BIOS update will fix it, I've this to say:

You should ONLY update BIOS if the update fixes a KNOWN PROBLEM.

I read that from manufacturers' notes. Something to keep in mind. Read up on the notes to the BIOS updates, and if there's nothing clearly states about RAM capacity recognition, don't do it.

I agree with Osprey. Sounds like you may have got a mislabeled stick. You might find something if you search for a serial number or just ANY numbers you find on the PCB.

Hope that helps

EDIT~

Quote OP: Correct me if i am wrong, but I am assuming that if my laptop doesn't support it it wouldn't boot up fine right?

Not always. I've had these older Dells find only half the capacity if the size of the RAM exceeds the max supported.

[mypaperplates2]

I would say you need to check your motherboard first. Some motherboards do not allow you to upgrade anything beyond it's capacities. I faced the same problem with a new brand computer when I tried to upgrade the RAM to 4GB from 2 GB. The maximum capacity of my montherboard is 2GB.