Having some computer agro with my vista machine. Ive brought some new memory for my vista machine. It was running 1 gig in 2x 512meg ddr400 in 184 pin configeration Ive brought some new memory in the following format. 2x 1gig ddr400 in 184 pin configeration. The main board is a asus k8v-x se. The max memory it will surport is 2 gig and the memory ive brought for it should be fine. Ive installed memory and now the system will not boot. Ive tried to refit the old memory and it still doesn`t want to know. Ive tried everything i know from attempting a safe mode boot to using the install disk to try and repair the boot sector. Ive ran the vista memory tool and it says that there is hardware problems but its not specific as to what the problems are.( i`m guessing memory) It says to use the install disk and use the "repair windows" option but this has failed to sort out what ever the problem is. When i go into the bios screen the board has detected the new memory and displays the right ammount of memory. Ive tried to do some research on `tinternet and it seems a common problem but i cant seem to find a fix for it. I`m thinking of just doing a low level format but there`s some stuff on the disk that i dont realy want to lose. Was wondering if anyone has come accross this problem or are aware of a fix.
Download a program called memtest86 from the following site. http://www.memtest86.com/ (Click on Free Download on the left) Burn the ISO file to a CD and boot your computer using the CD. It will run tests on your RAM and let you know if you have any problems. If you receive errors, then you'll have to RMA the bad memory. You can also try booting your computer with only 1 stick of memory to see if it will work. If it still won't boot, switch to the other stick. If both sticks are bad, it may be a compatibility problem with your motherboard. You can also check to see if there is an update available for your BIOS.
thanks for the advice. It would seem that vista is very sensitive to having memory upgrades. Apparently its a common problem. Something to do with the way vista uses memory. Apparently, when booting, vista uses the same part of the memory every time. Changing the memory confuses the F@@k out of it. From what i understand the only proper way to do it is up grade the memory the same time as a low level format is carried out. Can anyone confirm this?
was this on a desktop or a laptop? i just put in two one gb sticks of ddr2533mhz 622fsb and i did not have any problems at all, and i have vista home on my laptop! did you unplug your system before you did this? you know that you are to do that!
yeah, i unplugged it and even wear anti static gloves. To be honest i`m not going to know if ive got bad ram or not until i do a low level format (which i`m about to do.) Will let you know how i get on. It was on a desk top by the way.
You don't even need a hard drive to test your memory. Simply boot your computer using a CD with the memtest86 ISO burned to it. The last time I had a bad stick of RAM, the vendor let me RMA it by simply giving them the error codes from the memtest86 memory test. I'd highly recommend performing the memory test before formatting your hard drive.
