[Ponyroper]

I think I may have made a big mistake. I just installed an additional 1 Gig RAM memory on my old Asus A7V600 board and didn't check first if it was compatible. When I restarted the computer I heard a "POPPING" sound and nothing would come up on the monitor. The memory I installed was PNY brand PC2-5300 DDR and the other 1 Gig on the board was an Ultra PC3200 DDR. After the "POP" sound I checked the Asus manual and it says the board only supports up to PC3200 DDR. What are the chances the popping sound was my motherboard saying 'Goodbye idiot"?

On a related question, if the motherboard is fried and I only replace it, what are the chances of my OS recognising the new board and booting up?

I'd appreciate any help I can get. Thanks.

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DDR2 RAM won't physically fit into a DDR motherboard. DDR2 has 240 pins, DDR has 184 pins. If you somehow got the RAM to go in, you probably irreversibly damaged the motherboard in the process.

As for a new motherboard working with your OS, if you have an OEM copy of Windows (it came pre-installed on the machine), then you will need to get a new copy. If you have a retail version, then doing a repair may suffice.

[stettybet0]

DDR2 RAM won't physically fit into a DDR motherboard. DDR2 has 240 pins, DDR has 184 pins. If you somehow got the RAM to go in, you probably irreversibly damaged the motherboard in the process.

As for a new motherboard working with your OS, if you have an OEM copy of Windows (it came pre-installed on the machine), then you will need to get a new copy. If you have a retail version, then doing a repair may suffice.

[Ponyroper]

Thanks stettybet, I did have to push pretty hard to get the memory seated and now that I look closely you are right, there are more pins in the new memory strip than my old strip. I guess it's time for a new rebuild again. Too bad, that Asus board really treated me good. Thanks for the tip on the repair install. If I can do that I will probably try to get a newer style board and processer. I'm not sure how new I can go. I have WinXP Pro. Will I be able to go to a newer board with a dual or quad core processer?

[stettybet0]

Windows XP supports dual-core and quad-core processors fine, but you will need to make sure that the rest of your components are compatible. Given that you were using DDR memory, I take it your machine is several years old. Thus, many of its components might not be compatible with a new motherboard and processor. You might be looking at a whole new computer