I bought two sticks of 240-pin DIMM 1Gb DDR2 PC-4200 from crucial. My system has four memory slots, with four 256mb sticks in it. If I replace the sticks in slot 1 and 2 with the 1gig sticks, when I boot up the system it tries to run XP then goes to a blue error screen saying “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME”. When I put the 1gig sticks in slots 3 & 4 the system will not start up at all, but the system internal speaker starts beeping until I cut the power. I have tried every configuration of using and removing the 256mb sticks but they do not seem to change anything. When I was buying the memory, I used the crucial system scanner which detected my system as a Dell Dimension 5150 but it is actually a Dimension E510, however the memory for both systems seems to be identical. I have updated to the latest Bios (version A07). I do not think it is a problem with the memory itself because when go to the bios setting it shows the 2.5gigs under the system info tab. System Specs: Processor: Intel Pentium 4 640 (3.2 GHz) OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Graphics Card: Ati Radeon X600 256mb Motherboard: Dell ORD203 The memory kit I got is here: http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=7762DEDDA5CA7304 Any help would be much appreciated as the 1gig of ram is just not cutting it anymore!
have you tried the ram in slots 1 & 3 or 2 & 4 as the board uses dual channel ram? http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/en/sm/techov1.htm#wp1058472
Go to the source and call Crucial Customer Service. I have on occassion. They are prompt, friendly, and will help you. Customer Service Toll-free for US and Canada 800-336-8915 Phone 1-208-363-5790 Hours (MST): Monday - Friday: 7am - 6pm Saturday: 8am - 2 pm (chat only)
First of all, thanks very muchly for taking the time to help. But sadly I did place the ram in the 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 positions, both with and without the original two 256mb sticks but with both configurations I still got the “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” error. I have also tried contacting Crucial directly and so far all they say is “try updating the Bios” however I do intend to continue trying to find an answer to my problem from them as well.
tell them that your bios is the latest version. bios link http://support.dell.com/support/dow...-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=192898
Out of desperation I decided two once again try the ram sticks in each slot once more and it paid off. I have no clue why it did not work the first time, but putting the 1gig sticks in slots 2 & 4 and putting the 256mb sticks in slots 1 & 3 did the trick. Thanks to all for the help!
