Vista and upgrading memory

[Guest]

I upgraded from 2 GB of Kingston HyperX RAM to 4 GB of matched Kingston Value
RAM. I can boot into XP on my dual boot just fine as well as boot into
Windows Vista safe mode, but when trying to boot into Vista regularly, I have
had it going for nearly 30 minutes now. The hard drive light is flashing and
the screen is black. With the light flickering it seems to be working, ut
why on earth would it take so long to boot into Vista and will it ever? I'm
highly confused.

 

[Neil Harley]

I upgraded from 2 GB of Kingston HyperX RAM to 4 GB of matched Kingston Value
RAM. I can boot into XP on my dual boot just fine as well as boot into
Windows Vista safe mode, but when trying to boot into Vista regularly, I have
had it going for nearly 30 minutes now. The hard drive light is flashing and
the screen is black. With the light flickering it seems to be working, ut
why on earth would it take so long to boot into Vista and will it ever? I'm
highly confused.

Try booting with just the Value RAM. If you can boot Vista in 'normal'
mode it would appear to be a 'mixed' RAM issue. I'm not sure but mixing
HyperX and Value may be the problem.

 

[JW]

Make sure you have the latest BIOS for your MOBO.
Also you may need to change a BIOS setting see the following:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

 

[CJM]

Did you add 2GB of Kingston value RAM? Or did you replace it with 4GB of
Value RAM?

If you are mixing ram, you need to specify in the BIOS the speed and timings
of the worst performing RAM (presumably the Value RAM).

If it is all the same, try using 2GB at a time. Then run Memtest on each
pair to check for faults in the RAM.

CJM

 

[Guest]

well I played around some more. It is all Kingston Valur RAM identical. It
seems that if I install up to 3 GB Vista sees it and works fine. When I
install the 4th stick regardless of which stick I use and what slot I put it
in, Vista crawls and the cpu meter shows 100% maxed out all of the time. Now
I'm really confused. Any input?

 

[CJM]

well I played around some more. It is all Kingston Valur RAM identical.
It
seems that if I install up to 3 GB Vista sees it and works fine. When I
install the 4th stick regardless of which stick I use and what slot I put
it
in, Vista crawls and the cpu meter shows 100% maxed out all of the time.
Now
I'm really confused. Any input?

OK... check with your motherboard manufacturer - this may be a known issue
and there may be a BIOS update to fix it. There also may be a way of
configuring what you have to make it work.

Regardless, it points towards a mobo configuration issue or fault.