Solved! New RAM but no OS boot?

[thescarecrow]

Hey all,

So this is just noob troubleshooting or something for most, but I'm pretty perplexed.

I just bought a RAM upgrade for my ancient school laptop (a Dell Inspiron 6000), went from 1GB of DDR2 (2 x 512MB) to 2GB (2 x 1GB). But it won't get past the "Starting Windows" screen when new RAM is installed. Oddly enough, it recognizes the RAM in Setup and can run Startup Repair processes. Is this an incompatibility issue? Or am I just missing something?

The new RAM is a 2GB kit of Crucial DDR2 667Mhz PC2-5300 SODIMMs. Anyone have suggestions or corrections?

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

If you've mixed different RAM types that can cause problems. Or is the new RAM right for the machine. Try with the old RAM only and the new RAM only and see if the problem goes away.

 

[thescarecrow]

Ya I had switched out the RAM back to the originals, and it booted fine. I haven't mixed the ram...there are only two memory slots and both are taken up by the new kit.

I am pretty sure that the RAM is compatible...used the Crucial memory compatibility thing and bought off of those results.

Edit***

New development. I just tried to boot on just one of the new RAM sticks...and it worked. So if I can boot on one, why not both, I wonder?

 

[Saga Lout]

Can you also boot with the other one? Also, are you certain both sticks of the old RAM were actually recognised and in use? I ask only in case one slot is damaged.

 

[thescarecrow]

Can you also boot with the other one?

Yes. I've tested both slots, and both work.

Something else of note: the max amount of RAM the laptop's manual says it can take is 2GB. In setup, the amount is stated as 2048MB when the new RAM is installed. Could that extra 48MB account for the OS boot fail?

 

[Guest]

No the 48 is kinda the difference between decimal and digital -- 8 bits=1 byte etc.

Saga's question could also be interpreted as asking whether you tested both sticks in one slot and then each stick in each slot -- basically to establish whether one of the sticks is faulty or one of the slots.

 

[jitpublisher]

The symptoms described here are those of memory requiring a higher voltage than the board is supplying. What is the voltage of the memory you had, and the memory you bought. Even if it is correct, sometimes you just need to slightly bump the voltage to the memory to get it working correctly in this situation. Can you adjust the voltage to your memory in laptops BIOS? If you can not, I am afraid you will have to return it and try something else.