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Computer wont work properly after inserting wrong RAM?
Hi, my computer does not recognize a 256mb double sided ram stick i have, the ram works in other machines so i know it is working but i accidental put it into my main computer and switched it on.
the thing didn't boot obviously so i took the 256 ram out and booted the machine up and it wouldn't boot.
So up to now i have tried all my ram sticks and nothing is working apart from one single sided 256mb stick. and when i put in a 512 with the 256 i get a green screen, and when i put in another 512 in i get a lot of red lines all over the screen.
So if i just leave in the single sided 256 the machine boots up, then loads windows, it hangs for a little while (2 Min's) on a black screen then comes the login screen.
so i go to log in, it wont log in. i think this may be because im using windows 7 and it needs 512 minimum right?
Any who, the long and short of it is since i put in ram the computer does not recognize, the thing has broken down on me :-(
i have troubleshooted as best i can, different ram sticks, striped the MOBO bare and reset BIOS, booted up with nothing, then added HDD, then added keyboard ect ect and so on.
nothing has worked for me.
Has anyone ever has the same problems as mine? and does anyone know a fix for me?
the computer is an Acer PowerSeries FV,
MOBO - 915-gv m5a rev1.0B
Intel Pentium 4 - 3.0 with H.T
using onboard graphics and sound and the old style HDD and DVD/RW (NOT SATA)
(did have) 3 - 512mb ram DDR....2 - PC2100U 266 and 1 - pc2700U 333 and 1 256mb DDR pc2700 333.
The double sided 256 that busted my comp was "M" MT16VDDT3264AG-265B1 pc2100 266mhz
Please help!! many thanks
2 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
The good news is, it doesn't sound like your computer is broken. And yes, you are correct in your assumption of windows 7 not having enough RAM currently with only 256 MB.
Also keep in mind, you are running Windows 7 on pretty much the bare essentials, an old IDE hard drive does not transfer data at good rates, a pentium 4is not ideal for windows 7 - so it is likely to hang as you have described. Also, are you running a 64 bit version of windows? That requires a lot more grunt to run properly than a 32 bit version.
As for memory, it is difficult to tell without seeing all the different memory sticks you used, but keep in mind, some memory sticks, although being appropriate for the motherboard (as you won't easily fit the wrong memory in), does not work with incompatible memory sticks. Your best and safest bet is to use the same brand, and even the same size memory in the available memory slots. It would benefit you if you removed the good working memory stick and took it to the store for them to get you another stick exactly alike. The two sticks working together should get your machine up and running, but with windows 7, it will not be pretty unless you upgrade!
Good luck...
- ?Lv 51 decade ago
Adding to what Blue said (good info), I think instead of buying another 256 you should just buy 2 larger sticks that your mobo supports. 512 is not enough, but you need to check your mobo manual to confirm what it supports. According to several sites, you can use 1 GB DDR-400 sticks, and you will see a vast improvement in performance.
Your issue also could be that the memory is set to a certain speed in the bios, and the memory you are trying will not support it. A Pentium 4 should be running 400 Mhz memory, and the bios is probably set to that.
