DefiningMemory

Ahostoftermsandacronymsrelatetothememorytechnologyusedinpersonal
computers.Atechnicianmustunderstandthekeyconceptsinvolved.Youmustbeableto
identifythedistinctionsamongthemajormemorycomponentsandtodistinguish
betweenmemoryandstorage.
Allcomputermemoryisusedtoholdbinarystringsofdatatobemanipulatedbythe
CPU.Thinkofmemoryasavastbankofswitcheswithtwopositions:onoroff.Offis
giventhevalueof0onisgiventhevalueof1.Thisallowstheswitchestoholdbinary
databasedonwhethertheyareopenorclosed.Bystringingaseriesofswitchestogether,
largernumbersandcodevaluescanberepresented.

NonvolatileandVolatileMemory
Therearetwomajorclassesofcomputermemory:nonvolatileandvolatile.
Nonvolatile
memory
isretainedevenifthepowertothecomputerisshutoff.Thesetupdataheldin
CMOS(complementarymetaloxidesemiconductor),discussedintheprecedinglessons,
isagoodexampleofnonvolatilememory.Ifthedataislostwhenthecomputerloses
power,thememoryissaidtobe
volatile
.
Activememoryisastateinwhichablockofcodeordataisdirectlyaccessibletothe
CPUforreferenceormanipulation.Whendataislocatedoutsidethesystem'sactive
memory,itissaidtobeinstorage.Storagedevicesincludefloppydiskandharddisk
drives,opticalmedia,andtapeunits.

Activememoryisfasterthanstoragebecausetheinformationisalreadyonthesystem,
therearefewerphysical(andnomechanical)operationsinvolvedinobtainingthedata,
andtheCPUhasdirectcontroloverthememory.

ROM
ROM(readonlymemory)isnonvolatilememory,generallyinstalledbythevendorof
thecomputerduringtheprocessofmanufacturingthemotherboardorsecondary
componentsthatneedtoretaincodewhenthemachineisturnedoff.Withtheuseof
ROM,informationthatisrequiredtostartandrunthecomputercannotbelostor
changed.
ROMisusedextensivelytoprogramoperationofcomputers,aswellasindeviceslike
camerasandcontrolsforthefuelinjectorsinmoderncars.However,ROMplaysa
limitedroleinthePC(personalcomputer).Here,itholdstheinstructionsforperforming
thepoweronselftest(POST)routineandtheBIOS(basicinput/outputsystem)
informationusedtodescribethesystemconfiguration.Formoredetailedinformation,
referto
Chapter6
,"MotherboardandROMBIOS."
Inmostcases,atechnicianwillbeconcernedwithROMonlyifithasfailedandrequires
replacement,needstobeupgraded,orconflictswithothermemoryinstalledinthe
system.Arepairpersonortechniciandoesnotusuallydirectlycontroltheactualcodein
ROM.

RAM
RAM(randomaccessmemory)iswhatismostoftenreferredtowhenPCmemoryis
discussed.RAMistheformofvolatilememoryusedtoholdtemporaryinstructionsand
dataformanipulationwhilethesystemisrunning.Theterm
random
isappliedbecause
theCPUcanaccessorplacedatatoandfromanyaddressableRAMonthesystem.If
powertothesystemislost,allRAMislostaswell.
Usually,whenreferringtoRAM,wearespeakingofsomevariationofDRAM(dynamic
RAM)orthenewerSDRAM(synchronousDRAM).Thesearethemostcommonforms
ofRAMusedinthemodernPC.
DRAMworksbyusingamicroscopiccapacitorandamicroscopictransistortostoreeach
databit.Achargedcapacitorrepresentsavalueof1,andadischargedcapacitor
representsavalueof0.Acapacitorworkslikeabatteryitholdsachargeandthen
releasesit.Unlikeabattery,whichholdsachargeformonths,thetinycapacitorsin
DRAMholdtheirchargesforonlyfractionsofasecond.Therefore,DRAMneedsan
entiresetofcircuitryjusttokeepthecapacitorscharged.Theprocessofrechargingthese
capacitorsiscalled
refreshing.
Withoutrefreshing,thedatawouldbelost.Thisisanother
reasonDRAMiscalledvolatilememory.
AllPCCPUshandledatain8bitblocks.Eachblock,knownasabyte,denoteshow
manybitstheCPUcanmoveinandoutofmemoryatonetime.Thenumberisan
indicationofhowrapidlydatacanbemanipulatedandarrangedinsystemmemory.Don't
confusethisbytewiththeamountofsystemmemory,whichisusuallyexpressedin

megabytes(MB).Systemmemoryisthetotalamountofactivememorythatisavailable
totheCPUasatemporaryworkarea.
EachtransactionbetweentheCPUandmemoryiscalleda
buscycle
.Theamountof
memorythataCPUcanaddressinasinglebuscyclehasamajoreffectonoverallsystem
performanceanddeterminesthedesignofmemorythatthesystemcanuse.Thewidthof
thesystem'smemorybusmustmatchthenumberofdatabitspercycleoftheCPU.
Allcomputershavesomeformofmemorycontroller,whichhandlesthemovementof
datatoandfromtheCPUandthesystemmemorybanks.Thememorycontrollerisalso
responsiblefortheintegrityofthedataasitisswappedinandout.Therearetwoprimary
methodsofensuringthatthedatareceivedisthesameasthedatasent:parityand
errorcorrectioncoding(ECC).

Parity
Parity
isamethodofensuringdataintegritythataddsanextrabit(theparitybit)along
witheach8bitbuscycle.Therearetwokindsofparity:evenandodd.Bothusea
threestepprocesstovalidateabustransactionhowever,theydoitinoppositeways.

InStep1,bothmethodssetthevalueoftheparitybitbasedontheevenorodd
numberthatrepresentsthesumofthedatabitsasthefirststep.

InStep2,thestringgoesintoDRAM.

InStep3,theparitycircuitchecksthemath.Iftheparitybitmatchestheparitybit
ofthenumberthatrepresentsthesumofthebinarystringsent,thedataispassed

on.Ifitfailsthetest,anerrorisreported.Justhowthaterrorishandledand
reportedtotheuservarieswitheachoperatingsystem.

ECC
Amorerobusttechnology,
ECC
candetecterrorsbeyondthelimitsofthesimplerparity
method.Itaddsextrainformationaboutthebits,whichisthenevaluatedtodetermineif
thereareproblemswithindividualbitsinthedatastring.

AccessSpeed
Accessspeed,denotedinnanoseconds(ns),istheamountoftimeittakesfortheRAMto
providerequesteddatatothememorycontroller.Here,smallerisbetter.Besuretobuy
RAMthatisatleastasfastasthatlistedasstandardforthecomputerinquestion.
Atypicaltotalresponsetimefora70nsDRAMchipisbetween90and120ns.This
includesthetimerequiredtoaccesstheaddressbusanddatabus.Most486and
Pentiumbasedmachinesuseeither70nsor60nsDRAMchips,although50nschips
arenowavailable.Theaccessspeedofachipisusuallyprintedonthechip(oftenaspart
oftheidentificationnumber).
Hereareafewimportantthingstorememberaboutaccessspeedwhenaddingmemory:

Anyaddonmemoryshouldbethesamespeedasorfaster(lowernumber)than
anyexistingmemory.

Youcannotmixmemorymoduleswithdifferentspeedsinthesamebank(abank
isasetofseveralmemorymodules).

Youshouldcheckthemotherboardspecificationsfortherecommendedmemory
chipspeed.

RAMPackaging
Overtheyears,thewaymemoryhasbeenpackagedandplacedonthemotherboardhas
changedseveraltimes.Asfasterprocessorsdevelopedandsystemrequirementsfor
applicationsincreased,sodidtheneedformoreandfastermemory.Thenewmemory
designsoftenrequirednewpackagingandconnectiontechnology.Thattrendwill
continue,andtechniciansmuststaycurrentonthedifferentmemorytypesandtheir
appropriateapplications.
EarlyversionsofRAMwereinstalledassinglechips,usually1bitwideDIP(dualinline
package),asshowninFigure7.1.Insomecases,thiswassolderedrightontothe
motherboard,butmostoftenitwasseatedinasocket,offeringasimplermethodof
removalandreplacement.Someoldermachineshavespecialmemoryexpansioncards
thatcontainseveralrowsofsockets.Thesecardsareplacedinaslotonthemotherboard.
Toupgradeoraddmemory,newchipshadtobeindividuallyinstalledonthe
motherboard(eightorninechipsperrowninechipsifusingparity).Thiscouldbe
challenging,becauseeachchiphad16wiresthatneededtobeperfectlyalignedbefore
insertionintothebase.Thenotchinoneenddenotedthesidethathadpin1.

Figure7.1

ADIPDRAMchip
Astheamountofmemoryandtheneedforspeedincreased,manufacturersstartedto
marketmodulescontainingseveralchipsthatallowedforeasierinstallationandlarger
capacity.Thesemodulescomeinavarietyofphysicalconfigurations.Techniciansmust
beabletoidentifyboththetypeandamountofmemoryacomputerrequiresforoptimum
performance.
TIP

IdentifyingtheamountofmemoryactuallyworkingonaPCiseasyifthe
PCisoperational:Simplybootthesystemandviewthememoryvalues
givenduringthePOST.Insomecases,thisisalsoausefulwayto
determineifamemoryblockisimproperlyinstalled.Ifthatisthecase,the
computermightfailtobootorthePOSTmightreportalowerfigurethan
theactualamountofRAMpresent.

SIPPs
OneofthefirstmoduleformsofDRAM,theSIPP(singleinlinepinnedpackage)isa
printedcircuitboardwithindividualDRAMchipsmountedonit,asshowninFigure7.2.
Physically,aSIPPmodulelookslikearectangularcardwithasinglerowofpinsalong

oneedge.TheSIPPhadaveryshorttimeinthesunduetothefragilenatureofthese
pins.

Figure7.2

SIPP
CAUTION
Youwon'tlikelyseeanySIPPs,butifyoudo,takespecialcarewhen
replacingtheminthemotherboard.SIPPshavearowofpinsalongone
side.Thesepinsareeasilybroken,andcareshouldbetakentoavoid
damagingthemduringinstallation.

SIMMs(30Pin)
SIMMs(singleinlinememorymodules)quicklyreplacedSIPPsbecausetheyareeasier
toinstall.TheyaresimilartoSIPPswithoneexceptiontheyrequirenopins30pin
SIMMshave30contactsinasinglerowalongtheloweredge(seeFigure7.3).A30pin
SIMMcanhaveasfewastwoorasmanyasnineindividualDRAMchips.Although
SIMMmodulescanhavepincountsashighas200,inPCs,30and72pinversionsare
themostcommon.
Figure7.3

30pinSIMM
CAUTION

AvoidtouchingthecontactsonSIMMs,anduseproperhandlingtoreduce
theriskofdamagefromelectrostaticdischarge(ESD).

MemoryConfiguration
Thecapabilityofthecomputer'sCPU,itsmemoryconfiguration,anditsoperatingsystem
allplayrolesinhowthecomputer'smemoryisallocated.Techniciansshouldunderstand
thetermsandprocessesinvolved,bothfortheirownbenefitandtoexplainthedetailstoa
customerifthequestionarises.
Thepowerofaprocessorisoftenexpressedbyhowmanysuchpiecesitcanhandleata
time.Forexample,theoriginalIntelPentiumisa64bitCPU,meaningthatitcanhandle
64bitsatonce.Thatamountsto8bytes(88).Thesetermsalwaysrefertobytewide
memory(8bits).
Whenthebuscycledemandisgreaterthanthenumberofbitsamemorymodule
provides,moremodulesmustbeaddedtobeabletomeetthedemand.Themostcommon
approachistoemployabankofmodules,matchedtothebitwidthequaltothedata
demandsoftheCPU,andtheentiredatabus.WhenmostnewCPUsareintroduced,the
widthofthedesignisthesameastheoldmemorytypes,andmodulesmustbeusedin
banksuntilanewmemorydesignisavailable.Forexample,an8bitdatabus(8086or
8088)needs8bitwidememorytofillonebank.A16bitdatabusrequires16bitwide
memorytofillonebank,andsoon.Ifyouinstall30pinSIMMs(eachis8bitswide)on
a16bitmachine,youwillneedtworowsofchipstocompletelyfillthedatabus.

NOTE
Eachoftherowsthatmakeabankmustbefilledwithidenticalchips(size
andspeed).SeeFigure7.4.

Figure7.4

Banking

Mostmotherboardsprovideseveralrowsofslotsforaddingmemory,oftenreferredtoas
banks.Becarefulwiththeword
bank.
Itisusedtodescribethenecessaryrowsofchips,
aswellastheslotsintowhichtheyareinserted.
SIMMsusuallyrequirematchedpairstoformabankofmemory,whereasDIMMS(dual
inlinememorymodules)requireonlyonecard(wewillexaminedifferenttypesof
moduleslaterinthischapter).TocalculatethenumberofSIMMsneededtomakeone
bank,usethefollowingformula:DividethenumberofdatabitsperCPUcyclebythebit
widthofthemodule.(For30pinSIMMs,thatisalways8bits.)A32bitexternaldata
buswith30pinSIMMsrequires32(thewidthofthedatabus)dividedby8(thenumber
ofbitsperSIMMmodule),or4modulesperbank.
Therearesomerulestofollowwhenbanking:

Allrowsinabankmustbeeithercompletelyfilledorcompletelyempty.

Eachbankisnumbered,startingwithbank0.

Inmostsystems,DRAMshouldbeinstalledinbank0beforeanyotherbankis
used.

Refertothemotherboarddocumentationforbanknumberingandinstallation
directions.

SpecifyingSIPP'sandSIMMs
WhenspeakingofDRAMSIPPsandSIMMs,weusetwovaluestodeterminehowmuch
memoryaunitcanhold:

Width.
1bit,4bits(anibble),8bits(abyte),or16bits(aword),andsoon.

Depth.
Howdeepthechipis:256KB,1MB,4MB,8MB,16MB,32MB,and
soon.

YoucandeterminethesizeoftheDRAMchipbycombiningthedepthandwidthofthe
chip.
HereareafewpointstorememberwhenspecifyingDRAM:

Whenupgradingmemory,youaddmegabytes.

WhenpurchasingDRAM,youbuybits,usuallyintheformofMB.

Calculatechipsizebymultiplyingdepthbywidththeresultismeasuredinbits.

OneKBofmemoryisequalto8192bits(10248).

OneMBisequalto8,388,608bits(102410248).

ThefollowingtablelistscommonDRAMmodulesizes.
Chip(DepthWidth) NumberofChipsperModule MemoryperModule
1MB1
8
1MB
1MB4
2
1MB
1MB16
1
2MB
2MB8
1
2MB
4MB1
8
4MB

4MB4

4MB

The72PinSIMM
Withtheadventof32and64bitCPUs,thebankbegantotakeuptoomuchspaceonthe
motherboardandaddedtothecostofmemory.(Theboardthathousesthechipsoften
costsmorethantheDRAMchips.)Enter72pinSIMMs,with72pinsoneachcard.One
oftheseisfourtimeswiderthana30pinSIMM,whichis8bitswide(seeFigures7.5
and7.6).Therefore,amotherboardrequiringfourrowsof30pinSIMMstofillonebank
needsonlyone72pinSIMM.VirtuallyallPentiumandPentiumProsystemsuse72pin
SIMMs.
Because72pinSIMMsare32bitswide,theterm
x32
isusedtodescribethem.A1MB
32SIMMcontains4MBofRAMbecauseitis4byteswide(1MBofRAMis
1,048,57632,whichequals4MB).Remember,memoryismeasuredinbytes,and
chipsaremeasuredinbits.
Figure7.5

A72pinSIMM

TherearemanyvarietiesofSIMMsonthemarket.Thefollowingtablelistssome
common72pinSIMMs.
Configuration
Memory
4MB36
16MB,parity
8MB32
32MB,noparity
8MB36
32MB,parity
16MB32 64MB,noparity
16MB36 64MB,parity

Voltage
AllearlyPCsused5voltcircuitstopowercomponents,includingmemory.Today,the
trendistouse3.3voltpowerunless5voltsarerequiredforaspecificpartofthesystem
(suchasaharddiskdrive).Besuretocheckthevoltageofthememorybeforeinstallinga
module.

InstallingSIMMs

WheninstallingSIMMs:

AlwaysuseprecautionstoavoidESD.Referto
Chapter22
,"TheBasicsof
ElectricalEnergy,"fordetails.

AlwayshandleSIMMscarefullykeepyourfingersontheplasticedges.Thereis
littleworsethandestroyinga16MBSIMMbecauseofstaticdischarge.

AllSIMMshaveanotchononesidethatpreventsthemfrombeinginstalled
improperly.IfyoucannotinserttheSIMMeasily,it'sprobablybackward.

SIMMsareinsertedintotheslotata45degreeanglealongthewideside(see
Figure7.6).

AftertheSIMMissecurelyseatedintheslot,pushituprightuntiltheholding
clampsoneithersidearesecured.

IMPORTANT

SIMMsareextremelysensitivetostatic.Besuretohandlethemcarefully.

Figure7.6

InstallingSIMMs

Afterthechipisphysicallyinstalled:

Turnonthecomputer.IftheDRAMisinstalledcorrectly,theRAMcountonthe
computerwillreflectthenewvalue.

IftheRAMvaluehasnotchanged,itislikelythateitherabankisdisabledorthe
SIMMsareinstalledincorrectly.Checkthemotherboarddocumentationto
determineifajumperneedstobechangedtoturnontheSIMM.

Ifthecomputerdoesnotbootandthescreenisblank,theRAMwasnotinstalled
correctly.
NOTE
Whenacomputerisbooting,theRAMcountisbasedonunitsof1024
bytes.OneMBofRAMshouldshowas1024,2MBas2048,4MBas
4096,andsoon.MostRAMcountsappeartostopbeforetheygettothe
valueexpected(lessthan1MB).Inreality,thecomputerisfinishedand
movingontothenexttasksofastthattheresultdoesnotdisplayonthe
screen.IfthePOSTreportsthefullnumber,thememoryisallthere.Ifthe
POSTdoesnotreportthefullnumber,youshouldmakesurethatall
modulesareproperlyseated,oftherighttype,andworking.

AftertheRAMisinstalled,andtheRAMcountcorrectlyreflectsthenewvalue,
theCMOSneedstobeupdated.Onmostmachines,thisisdoneautomaticallyand
nointerventionisrequired.

Ifyougetanerrorsimilarto"CMOSMemoryMismatchPressFltocontinue,"access
theCMOSwiththeCMOSsetupprogram,thensaveandexit(changeswillbe
automaticallyrecorded).TheCMOSwillbereset.
Ifthesystemfailstobootorreportslessthantheamountofmemoryactuallyinstalled,
recheckthemodulestomakesuretheyareseatedproperlyaccordingtothemotherboard
manualandthattherighttypeandamountarepresent.

DualInlineMemoryModules
ThesenewermoduleslookmuchlikeSIMMs,butcomeinapackagewith168pinsand
haveadifferentwiringstructure,sothatonecardcanformacompletebank.Theseare
thememorypackagesusedonvirtuallyallnewmotherboards.
DIMMSarearealimprovementoveroldermemorymodules.Theyprovidelarger
amountsofRAMonasinglemoduleandareeasytoinstall.Theyslidestraightdowninto
aslotandaresecuredbyapairoflocksthatswingintoplaceabovethecardasitseats
fullyintheslot.Checkthemotherboardmanualorthevendor'sWebsitefortheapproved
listofDIMMmodules.Therearemanyvariationsinelectronicdesign(parity,nonparity,
etc.),andyoumustmakesurethattheDIMMwillactuallyworkwiththecombinationof
motherboardandCPUyouareworkingon.Justbecausethecardfitsdoesnotmeanit
willwork.

CacheMemory
To
cache
istosetsomethingaside,ortostoreforanticipateduse.Earlyexplorerswould
arrangetohaveacacheoffoodorothersuppliespositionedalongtheirrouteoftravel.
Thismadetheirtraveleasiersincetheydidn'thavetocarryanythingotherthanessentials

neededforeachportionofthetrip.ThesameconceptcanbeappliedtoCPUoperations
andcomputersystemdesign.Caching,inPCterms,istheholdingofarecentlyor
frequentlyusedcodeordatainaspecialmemorylocationforrapidretrieval.Speedis
everythingwhenitcomestocomputers.MassstorageismuchslowerthanRAM,and
RAMismuchslowerthantheCPU.Thehighspeedmemorychipgenerallyusedfor
cachingiscalled
staticRAM
(SRAM).

SRAM
SRAMdoesnotusecapacitorstostore1sand0s.Instead,SRAMusesaspecialcircuit
calleda
flipflop
.TheadvantagesofSRAMarethatitisfastanditdoesnothavetobe
refreshedbecauseitusestheflipflopcircuittostoreeachbit.Aflipflopcircuitwill
toggleonoroffandretainitsposition,whereasastandardmemorycircuitrequires
constantrefreshingtomaintainanonstate.ThemaindisadvantageofSRAMisthatitis
moreexpensivethanDRAM.

Caching:TheLayeredLook
CachingisaverycommontechnologyinPCoperationsandcanbefoundonindividual
computers,peripheraldeviceslikegraphicscards,andonandaroundtheCPU.While
working,theCPUisconstantlyrequestingandusinginformationandexecutingcode.
ThecloserthenecessarydataistotheCPU,thefasterthesystemcanlocateitand
executetheoperation.Ofcourse,itwouldbeimpossibletokeepallnecessary
informationinactivememorycostandlogisticsmakeitnecessarytoprioritizehowlarge
thecacheisonasystem,andhowitisorganized.

Cachesareorganizedintolayers.Thehighestlayerisclosesttothedevice(suchasthe
CPU)usingit.OnearlyPCs,cacheswereusuallyseparatechips.Today,itisnot
uncommontohavetwolevelsofcachebuiltrightintotheCPU,butacacheisnotlimited
todynamicmemory.Massstoragedeviceslikeharddrivescanalsobeusedtostoreless
commonlyusedcodeordata.

InternalCache(L1)
Startingwiththe486chips,acachehasbeenincludedoneveryCPU.Thisoriginal
onboardcacheisknownasthe
L1
(level1)or
internalcache
.Allcommandsforthe
processorgothroughthecache.Thecachestoresabacklogofcommandssothatifawait
stateisencountered,theCPUcancontinuetoprocessusingcommandsfromthecache.
CachingwillstoreanycodethathasbeenreadandkeepitavailablefortheCPUtouse.
ThiseliminatestheneedtowaitforfetchingofthedatafromDRAM.

ExternalCache(L2)
Additionalcachecanbeaddedtomostcomputers,dependingonthemotherboard.This
cacheismounteddirectlyonthemotherboard,outsidetheCPU.Theexternalcacheis
alsocalled
L2
(level2)andisthesameasL1,butlarger.L2canalso(onsome
motherboards)beaddedorexpanded.WheninstallinganyL2cache,besuretocheckthe
CMOSsetupandenablethecache.Somecomputersystemsarenowalsoemployinga
Level3cache.

WriteBackvs.WriteThrough
Asmentioned,theprimaryuseofacacheistoincreasethespeedofdatafromRAMto
theCPU.SomecachesimmediatelysendalldatadirectlytoRAM,evenifitmeans
hittingawaitstate.Thisiscalled
writethroughcache,
showninFigure7.7.

Figure7.7

Writethroughcache

SomecachesstorethedataforatimeandsendittoRAMlater.Thisiscalled
writeback
cache,
showninFigure7.8.
Writebackcachesarehardertoimplementbutaremuchmorepowerfulthan
writethroughcaches,becausetheCPUdoesnothavetostopforthewaitstateofthe
RAM.However,writethroughcachesarelessexpensive.

Figure7.8

Writebackcache