Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Computer not liking RAM

Options
  • 15-02-2011 12:47am
    #1
    Dinge
    Closed Accounts Posts: 30 ✭


    I've a Dell Vostro 200 - this one to be specific. It has 4 slots for RAM and for most of its life to date, it has been running with 2x512 and 1x1gb sticks. Anyway I bought another stick of 1gb RAM for it so that it would have 3gb. I opened up the computer, popped in the RAM and turned it on.

    At first the Dell splash screen sort of showed up but it looked a bit stripey and it froze. So I opened up the machine, rejigged the RAM and tried again. Same result. At this stage, I took all the RAM apart from the brand new stick and turned on the computer. It booted happily and I was able to log into Windows.

    I then turned the computer off, put in the rest of the RAM and turned it on. I got no further than two error beeps and it refused to boot up. According to Dell's website, two beeps means it's not seeing memory. I've tried unseating and reseating the memory, putting it in different numbers of RAM in different order and checking the cables. No luck.

    I'm no expert on this sort of thing I'm afraid. I'm more of an enthusiastic amateur than a PC builder. My digging around the innards of a PC doesn't extend much further than putting in the odd stick of RAM and hard disks. By the looks of things, that might be where I should stop :D

    And so, I'm stumped as to what to do next.


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Nothingbetter2d
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭Nothingbetter2d


    ok some quick questions

    1. is all the ram the same speed?

    different speed ram sticks will always have problems running together
    ram runs best in matched pairs on older motherboards or in newer motherboards matched triplets

    2. what is the max ram your motherboard can handle?

    putting ram modules greater than your motherboard was designed to handle will usually yield errors


    3. is your pc overclocked?

    some rams suck for overclocking.


  • Options
    #3
    Dinge
    Closed Accounts Posts: 30 ✭Dinge


    1. The two 512mb sticks are 1024MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
    The one I just bought is a Kingston 1GB PC5300 (667MHz) DDR2
    I'm not sure about the other 1gb stick. It has been working fine in the PC for the past two and a half years.

    2. I don't know

    3. No, it's not overclocked.

    My problem now is that even if I put back in the original 2x512mb sticks of RAM that the computer shipped with, it's error beeping as soon as I power it up.


  • Options
    #4
    Dinge
    Closed Accounts Posts: 30 ✭Dinge


    Yes. I've tried single sticks in the different slots. No use. Every time I plug the machine back in and power it up, it does the two beeps thing.


Advertisement