It sounds like you have gone over the motherboards ability to cache
memory. Meaning that the memory above that level is used FIRST instead
of the cached memory. Meaning that you should get your motherboard
book out and check it to see how much memory the motherboard will
cache. If it is in fact less than 256 meg than remove the extra memory
to speed the machine back up. Older boards didn't forsee the need for
lots of memory it, like computers themselves, has evolved. Sure the
machine can "accept/handle/take" the 256 meg but how much does it
cache? Often a BIG difference.

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 04:51:36 -0700, "John" <jphallows@hotmail.com>
wrote:

-- Have you checked your Smoke Detector...LATELY?

Some older systems had a 64MB caching ability natively as part of the
chipset on the motherboard.  Intel TX chipset series for instance.  Your
system doesn't seem to fit this.

Windows operates from the top down utilizing memory.   So, if you had such
problem it would have manifested itself with your previous memory.  If
Windows cannot cache the highest part of memory, it operates terribly slow.
Not just a minor slowdown here, talking many, many times slower.

If its a visible but minor slowdown, I would consider it normal on some
systems when adding additional memory.  The slowdown is due to the way the
chipset IDs the RAM, then divides the memory by 2, then terms each memory
module as two banks.  Then associates the banks of different memory modules.
Another words, its switching back and forth between the two memory modules
as bank 1 and 2, then between the two memory modules as banks 3 and 4.
There is no solution, as its built into the bios to operate memory modules
that way.  This is as simple as I can put it.

Windows has nothing do with this, and no say in the matter.
I would live with the minor slowdown.
Dave