Installing new RAM

[randomguy132]

So I was upgrading my RAM from 1gb to 2gb. I had 2x512MB sticks, so I upgraded them both to 1gb sticks.

I take them out, and put in the new ones, the computer disapproves.
I take them out again, put them in again, computer still disapproves.
I switch 1 stick with the other, and it works.

This seems very odd to me; has anyone else ever encountered this?

[carpefile]

Sure. Stuff like that happens all the time. I run into stuff like the pc not recognizing ram, hard drives, optical drives, vid cards, etc. Take it out and put it back a couple times and bingo, all's well again.
We call'em gremlins, I'm sure others have their own name for it.
Whatever can be plugged into the pc can be un-recognized.

[randomguy132]

Yeah, that part was old to me, but the fact that them switched worked on the first time was new to me. You think that was a coincidence? So if I had tried taking it out and putting it in one or two more times it would have worked without switching?

[drtoker]

you may want to run memtest, maybe there is a bad (sector?) on one of the sticks, and it only freaked out when it was in the primary slot, and now that it is moved to the secondary slot, it isn't using the bad (sector?) anymore, so the system thinks everything is ok?

http://www.memtest.org/

[bobhss]

Maybe there's a place in your BIOS to change the RAM settings? Just thinking out loud.

[hdneto17]

yea, it looks like the system working is just temporary until the bad sectors of ram stick 2 is seen. tell us how it goes with your system after a while

[DwarfBaby]

What is the brand of memory and where did you get it?

[carpefile]

Sure, run memtest.
Don't freak out until it shows bad sectors though. Most likely it just didn't seat right at first.
Always go with easy first. Try switchin them again and see if the error returns.

[randomguy132]

Thanks, I'll run memtest tomorrow and post the results here.

It's Crucial 2x1GB PC2-5300 667MHz DDR2 200 pin SODIMM, and I bought it off Buy.com.

[DoubleIPA]

If both work individually but not together in a pair, it may be a bug or limitation in your motherboard's BIOS. There are plenty of documented bugs with all the major manufacturers where after installing a certain amount of memory you will experience crashes. Many boards still don't support 4GB or more properly (essential for true 64bit support). It also may be a chipset limitation.

What motherboard are you doing this upgrade on? Brand/model?

[randomguy132]

If both work individually but not together in a pair, it may be a bug or limitation in your motherboard's BIOS.

No, they work together.

What motherboard are you doing this upgrade on? Brand/model?

Sorry, this is a laptop, it was a little hard to track it down. I'm not really sure, it's just whatever came in the Dell Inspiron E1505. I found a link to it here (http://www.laptopking.com/partpicture_LK.asp?ref=1266&category=boards), but the info is fairly limited.


I started to run Memtest. I had no idea it was such a long process. I first ran it for 2 hours and it was still going. I needed to use the computer so I cancelled it, and then did it overnight last night.

It ran for 8 hours and did 13 runs. It was still going, but I cancelled it at that point. Is there a finite number of runs it's set to do, or does it just go until you cancel it?

Anyhow, out of those 13 runs, no errors were found.

[XKS]

I had the very same problem when it came to building my computer: one stick would work fine on its own, but with both sticks in the computer would either not boot into the BIOS, with the fans spinning loudly, or I would get a Blue Screen of Death.

So, it turned out the RAM was defective and I got new sticks and it worked.

[Jorge]

it turned out the RAM was defective and I got new sticks and it worked

Has happened to me in the past with memory. I remember the last time it happened, i got all excited to get more RAM and when I installed it one of the sticks was defective so I had to go all the way back to the store and return it. Was a pain but when I get them working it was worth it.

[Krell]

I'd say 90% of the memory problems posted here historically were related to user error.


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