ram upgrade comfirmation

[Guest]

I'm trying to verify that my ram upgrade from 2g to 4 g was basically a waste
of time with my 32 bit pc running vista ultimate upgrade from xp.
I've been having system lockups at start up and/or shut down/sleep that is
getting irritating. Not occuring every time but I am concerned about repeated
use of the power button. I've had to go thru rebooting to last known good
configuration to no long term avail.
I'm at the point to pull out the added 2g ram and revert to my previous
setup. If needed I can due a system "repair" but wanted to hold off on that
as a last measure to restore to a more stable state.
I'll keep searching thru other postings but any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Byron Hinson]

It may be more a case of the bios not supporting the newer RAM, lots of
times new bios updates fix the problems that newer, larger memory sizes
cause. Also the more new hardware especially memory and such like that gets
added to Windows system (especially an upgraded one) the more the need there
is to do a clean installation now and again to wipe the slate clean.

 

[Max]

The 'new' memory could be bad.
Download and run this from boot media:
http://www.memtest.org/

If it throws back errors (any) remove the new memory and run it with your
original memory.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Max,

Already ran a mem check during boot and no errors found.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Byron.

Bios reported the 4 gig but system did not show it but, from other posts, I
realize some mapping from vid card may be using it. However, I will use this
as a means to convince my wife of the need for an external HD <grin>, backup
what I have, and do a clean install.

 

[Byron Hinson]

Not showing the full 4gb is normal in 32-bit vista - if you want the full
load you'll need to upgrade to the 64-bit version!