Hi, I got a second hand laptop (dell inspiron) it has a pentium 4 2.8 ghz processer and 512mb (2x 256) ram. Decided to upgrade to 1gb and bought two identicle 512's but after fitting computer would not boot (blank screen) after experimenting it needs at least one original 256mb card to boot so now I have one 256 and one 512 which works ok but is there any way of using the other 512 that I have paid for?
ram issue
- Thread starter sudoq
- Start date
How have you tested the memory to date and what BIOS settings have you adjusted?
What's the spec of the new memory - use CPU-z to get this information from the SPD tab?
Ideally, you need to test each new stick with memtest for a few hours to make sure that both sticks are error free.
If they are corrution free then it may be that you need to adjust a memory setting in the BIOS to get things stable using 1Gb. On desktops this would normally be the MCH (Northbridge[NB]) voltage so that the memory controller gets a bit more juice to compensate for the extra work load.
When you're next in the BIOS have a poke around under memroy settings and if you see something labeled MCH or NB Voltage bump it up an increment or two and then test the 2 x 512Mb Sticks.
EDIT: Oh, and welcome to the fourms.
What's the spec of the new memory - use CPU-z to get this information from the SPD tab?
Ideally, you need to test each new stick with memtest for a few hours to make sure that both sticks are error free.
If they are corrution free then it may be that you need to adjust a memory setting in the BIOS to get things stable using 1Gb. On desktops this would normally be the MCH (Northbridge[NB]) voltage so that the memory controller gets a bit more juice to compensate for the extra work load.
When you're next in the BIOS have a poke around under memroy settings and if you see something labeled MCH or NB Voltage bump it up an increment or two and then test the 2 x 512Mb Sticks.
EDIT: Oh, and welcome to the fourms.
Last edited:
Hi, thanks for the reply, I have not touched the bios yet. The bios does not load with both 512's installed. I have windows 7 installed hence the need for more memory. 7 tells you how much ram you have and it at 768 with a 512 and 256 installed. Will have a poke around in bios to see if I can make that adjustment.