Laptops :: DSL 3.4 problem with RAM

I know that laptop memory is very iffy, especially for older computers, but I have a situation that I don't understand. I have an old Twinhead P88TE laptop that was running Windows 98 when it was rescued from the bottom of a closet. I decided to try DSL and I was happy with its snappiness compared to Win98.

The Twinhead had only one 64MB PC100 memory module in it; the manufacturer's website claimed it could use two 128MB modules (256MB in total). I bought and installed the new memory, repartitioned the hard drive to allow for a larger swap partition (>512MB) and discovered DSL refused to complete its boot sequence. Removing either of the 128MB modules would allow DSL to work. I tried both memory modules in each slot; the laptop would boot every time with only one but never with both installed.

I checked the BIOS and it correctly reported seeing the 256MB of memory. I also paid attention to the scrolling messages while DSL tried to boot; it also saw the memory.

As a test, I tried booting the Twinhead from another live cd (Puppy) with 256MB installed; the other distro worked fine.

What could be the problem? I'm wondering if DSL 3.4's Linux kernel may not like the extra memory. Would DSL-N with it's newer kernel boot up?

I run DSL on 512MB and 1GB machines with no problem.
Is the addition of ram modules using/changing an irq?
Is the memory speed matched? 2.4 might be more sensitive to such.
I would check both.

original here.