I am trying to make a P120 machine with an Award BIOS appreciate that four 4Mb SIMMS adds up to 16Mb.
Every time I insert the RAM into the slots, all it will recognise is 8Mb. The frustrating thing is that until I pulled the SIMMS out (to check whether a couple of other RAM sticks were working) I had 16Mb. I thought I replaced the SIMMS in the exact order that they were prior to removal.
Any ideas as to how I can get the other 8Mb to be noticed?
The original Pentium cpu required the use of pairs of sims to work. The first and secound slots should have a pair of sims that are identical. The third and fourth slots should have a pair of sims that are identical. You are seeing only 8MB, because one of the pairs are not working correctly. Only one of the sims have to be giving you problems, to put the pair out of commission.
Remove the sims, and reinstall them making sure that they seat properly into the slot at an angle. Push the sims into an upright postion that locks them into place with the side clips.
Try the computer again. One of the sims are bad if you still get a reading of 8MB. Remove one pair at a time to find out which pair has the bad sim.