In this case, the PC owner said that the system would freeze during the memory tests also. He was in a distant state, so I couldn't test the system myself, but I was fairly certain that he needed to replace a memory module, so I then had him try to determine what type of memory was in the system. So that he would not have to open the case, I asked him to go to http://www.unicore.com/biosupgrades/index.cfm and run the BIOS Agent to determine his BIOS ID string or go to Wim's BIOS and download CTBIOS to get the BIOS ID. From the BIOS ID, I might be able to identify the motherboard manufacturer and model at the WIM's BIOS website.
He said that the motherboard had a SiS chipset with Award BIOS 6.0 and that the BIOS ID string was 10/28/2004-SiS-661-6A7I4FK9C-00. If you want to know what the characters in an Award BIOS ID string represent see Identifying a Motherboard from the Award BIOS String, though I haven't updated that information for almost two years now.
Unfortunately, in this case I wasn't able to identify the motherboard manufacturer from his BIOS ID string by checking the Wim's BIOS site. And I only found a 3 references when I performed a Google search on "SiS-661-6A7I4FK9C-00" (I didn't find any if I included the 10/28/2004 BIOS date at the beginning of the string). But the search did allow me to determine the manufacturer was Foxconn. At Ockling P4 1.6a Help, I found a similar BIOS ID string, 01/22/2005-SiS-661-6A7I4FK9C-00, listed for a Foxconn 661M03-G motherboard.
I decided to have him go to the Crucial Memory website and run the Crucial System Scanner to identify the type of memory needed for his motherboard. That on-line tool is very useful in identifying what type of memory is needed for a system without having to open the system, but, unfortunately, in this case it was not able to identify the motherboard.
So I had him open the case and look for a number on the motherboard with a "661" in it. He said he found a model number near the motherboard that looked like "661M83C6L". When I told him I saw "661M03" listed as part of the model number for Foxconn motherboards, but no "661M83", he said that on closer inspection the "8" appeared to be a "0". The only motherboard that appeared to match on the Foxconn motherboard identification page was the 661M03-G-6L motherboard but he thought he saw 661M03C6L not 661M03G6L, but I believe what he saw as a "C" was actually a "G".
The user guide for that motherboard lists the following information for system memory:
System Memory
Two 184-pin DIMM slots
Supports PC 3200/PC 2700/PC 2100 memory
Supports 128/256/512 Mb technology up to 2GB
Though how can you get up to 2 GB of memory if there are only two memory slots that support a maximum of a 512 MB memory module? He said that he had 512 MB of memory in the system, but only one memory slot was occupied.
Image showing the Foxconn 661M03-G-6L motherboard
Foxconn 661M03-G-6L User Manual/Easy Installation Guide
References:
