Now, I am trudging through windows XP with a measly 256mbs of RAM and ready to hang myself it's so slow. I assume it's a mobo problem, as I got this PC used, but sadly, the stupid BIOS for this computer doesn't allow me to do things like adjust RAM voltage, etc. The 4 memory sticks are all the same exact 256mbs and all made by the same company. A second stick should go into Slot 2, which isn't next to Slot 1.

The odd thing is, if I connect the 3 sticks into the slots after I boot up my PC (being grounded of course), both CPU-Z and SpeedFan (programs that can detect hardware) BOTH detect the 3 sticks, but alas, they go unused. In the case of a motherboard with four RAM slots, it's probable you'll want to install your first RAM stick into the slot labeled 1. I have tried swapping the memory sticks with new ones that I'm sure work, as well as replacing the power source of my PC with a newer one that I know works, and cleaned the memory slots as best I could with compressed air, etc, and no dice: they still fail. Then, a week ago, slots 1 and 2 also went dead. So I trial and errored until I pinpointed it to the 3rd slot malfunctioning. sticks of RAM can be installed into the motherboard, but they share the same channel. Greetings I have this old HP Compaq d530 Small Form Factor PC that I got used about a year ago, and 6 months ago it's 3rd DIMM (RAM) slot stopped working, as in gave me 5 beeps on startup, which is this models beep code for a RAM issue.

3 sticks of ram 4 slots