when Upgrading RAM Certain Stuff Stops Working!

**PowerMan57two** · November 25th, 2008, 08:25 PM

Okay, so I finally got the correct RAM for my desktop. I have an Acer M5100 and it can handle up to 8GB of RAM. So I bought 4 2GB Kingston RAM chips. All 667Mhz. So I put in all 4 chips, when my computer gets to the login screen where you type your password-- it's all white and frizzy and you can see the Vista login stuff behind. When you type in the password, the desktop comes on and the white stuff goes away.

Next, my sound completely stopped working when upgrading the RAM. It now says something like High Definition Audio Device HDMI or something like that down in the system tray for my sound.. and when I play sound, only this horrible static comes out. (Yes I checked the cable! It didn't come halfway unplugged from the back of the computer!)

I thought maybe to do a BIOS update.. I have version 2.4. but I cannot figure out where to go to see if this will help or even if there is a BIOS update! Acer's website sucks! I don't even know if it's the BIOS.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

**mountain_rage** · November 25th, 2008, 08:48 PM

Did you try removing your sound card drivers and reinstalling them???

**PowerMan57two** · November 25th, 2008, 09:10 PM

Yes, still nothing. Even the video driver I did the same and nothing =(

**Mels_Smileys45** · November 25th, 2008, 09:20 PM

Wow, that is strange. Sorry, I have no solution but I had to comment on the weirdness.

**mountain_rage** · November 25th, 2008, 09:20 PM

Just out of curiosity, are you running a 32 bit or 64 bit version of windows? 32 bit can only handle 3 gigs of ram. Not sure what happens if you surpass its limit.

edit: Never mind your other thread mentioned 64bit vista.

Hmmm I'm kind of baffled here, is there a possibility you knocked your sound card out of place when you installed the ram?

**PowerMan57two** · November 25th, 2008, 09:21 PM

64 bit windows vista ;-)

**PowerMan57two** · November 26th, 2008, 09:46 AM

Any ideas on where to go to flash the BIOS? I can't seem to find any files on the acer.com website!

**RACKnRAIL** · November 26th, 2008, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by PowerMan57two

Any ideas on where to go to flash the BIOS? I can't seem to find any files on the acer.com website!

You need to be very sure you download the exact update for your motherboard (bios). It's usually a very easy to do, but the wrong update can be disastrous. Just make sure you read the exact name and numbers from your motherboard. For example, asus p4p8x - pe. Go directly to Asus or Gigabyte, etc...for your motherboard.

**PowerMan57two** · November 26th, 2008, 10:32 AM

Sweet! Will do! I'll try when I get home. Also, my IT guy at work said to put in the old RAM, update BIOS, then stick new RAM back in. I'll post results later on!

Thanks,
PM572

**wapazoid** · November 26th, 2008, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by PowerMan57two

Okay, so I finally got the correct RAM for my desktop. I have an Acer M5100 and it can handle up to 8GB of RAM. So I bought 4 2GB Kingston RAM chips. All 667Mhz. So I put in all 4 chips, when my computer gets to the login screen where you type your password-- it's all white and frizzy and you can see the Vista login stuff behind. When you type in the password, the desktop comes on and the white stuff goes away.

Next, my sound completely stopped working when upgrading the RAM. It now says something like High Definition Audio Device HDMI or something like that down in the system tray for my sound.. and when I play sound, only this horrible static comes out. (Yes I checked the cable! It didn't come halfway unplugged from the back of the computer!)

I thought maybe to do a BIOS update.. I have version 2.4. but I cannot figure out where to go to see if this will help or even if there is a BIOS update! Acer's website sucks! I don't even know if it's the BIOS.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Regarding your sound,

Is that the only audio chipset in your system, meaning onboard audio only? Or do you have an independent audio card installed as well? If you're using a PCI audio card, you'll definitely want to disable onboard audio through the bios. What does your device manager report? Did you recently install Vista x64? If so, were drivers for your sound device automatically installed? Try to identify the audio chipset, then see if 64-bit drivers are available from the manufacturer's website.

**mountain_rage** · November 26th, 2008, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by RACKnRAIL

You need to be very sure you download the exact update for your motherboard (bios). It's usually a very easy to do, but the wrong update can be disastrous. Just make sure you read the exact name and numbers from your motherboard. For example, asus p4p8x - pe. Go directly to Asus or Gigabyte, etc...for your motherboard.

Flashing Bios is not as risky as it used to be. Most motherboards have a backup bios that you can flash back to in the event that you screw up. Its usually just a matter of moving a jumper.

**RACKnRAIL** · November 26th, 2008, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by mountain_rage

Flashing Bios is not as risky as it used to be. Most motherboards have a backup bios that you can flash back to in the event that you screw up. Its usually just a matter of moving a jumper.

The key word is most motherboards.

I have only had to flash the bios in a computer a few times, so far. They have all worked flawlessly, however, I would still exercise caution if it was my computer.