I recently bought a 2GB (2x1GB) RAM Upgrade for my Dell Dimension 4700 and tried to install it in my comp. The fact that I'm using my lptop shows something is wrong. I mounted the original RAM sticks in a pair with the new ones in a pair also (P.S. I know its white to white and black to black in pairing in case you were about to ask if I'd gone wrong there) and I got a BIOS + video card error. I upgraded from Dell BIOS 03 to BIOS 10 and got the same message. I currently have it mounted in what the Bios calls a: 'Dual-Assymetric' fashion and it works better BUT when it boots up normally it gets to the welcome screen, plays the windows tone and halfway through the tone it returns suddenly to the boot up screen and begins to do this in a never-ending loop! Please help me! I know nothing is broken because when i mount the old ones as they originally were mounted it works perfectly. Sorry for such a long post but I'm so baffled I figure I must have done something wrong, if so please tell me!
Firstly I would check your system can actually accomodate the new RAM. This means checking the maximum capacity your motherboard can support, RAM speeds etc. Looking into it, the Dell Dimension can support up to 4Gb of 533Mhz RAM. As long as the RAM you have purchased is this kind you should be fine. "Dual Asymmetric" mode typically means that you have populated both channels with different sized RAM. What I would do is check page 56 here and it shows exactly which slots / memory combination you need to go with. I would then try booting the system using only a single stick of the new RAM. If it works, swap it with the other new stick. If this works try both at the same time (in dual channel and non-dual channel). If this works try it again with the new RAM. If the system stops working at any stage, then you more or less know where the fault lies. One thing I have noticed when upgrading RAM, is that dust can sometimes settle in the RAM slot's that were previously empty. This obviously means you have a good chance of a poor connection, and will give the impression of faulty RAM. My other point is to ensure that during the installation of the new RAM you didn't accidentily knock the graphics card free from its slot, as it is easily done. I can't see this being right though since the system works fine if you put the old RAM back in. Let us know how you get on.
Thanks, I have cleaned the connectors and remounted the RAM assymetrically and the computer works perfectly. I left them assymetrically mounted because of how I used to get that error message but should I mount them symmetrically? Is there any adverse effects associated with leaving them assymetrical? the Computer is getting 2GB of RAM extra so should I leave it be?
