Screen break up and boot up hanging.

[Guest]

Since increasing my RAM to 1G I have experienced the following problem.
Firstly the boot up screen had a few stray characters appearing then the
Windows logo was very distorted and the final screen page had numerous
distortions appear for the first few minutes. This cleared and all was well.
Except that during shutdown the computer restarted and I had to press and
hold the stop button. This situation carried on for a few days. Then
yesterday the windows logo was much more broken up and almost disappeared.
Then the boot up routine stalled / hung.
I fiddled with all the external connections and the boot up continued and
the distortions disapperaed. This morning the same thing happened and I
noticed that the fan was noisy too, until it warmed up. Has any one got any
advice as I dread to shut the computer down whilst it is running so well at
the moment.

 

[Brian A.]

Since increasing my RAM to 1G I have experienced the following problem.
Firstly the boot up screen had a few stray characters appearing then the
Windows logo was very distorted and the final screen page had numerous
distortions appear for the first few minutes. This cleared and all was well.
Except that during shutdown the computer restarted and I had to press and
hold the stop button. This situation carried on for a few days. Then
yesterday the windows logo was much more broken up and almost disappeared.
Then the boot up routine stalled / hung.
I fiddled with all the external connections and the boot up continued and
the distortions disapperaed. This morning the same thing happened and I
noticed that the fan was noisy too, until it warmed up. Has any one got any
advice as I dread to shut the computer down whilst it is running so well at
the moment.

Did you install the correct type of memory module(s) for your machine?
Does the new memory module(s) match the type that was already installed?
Does your machine require/suggest that you install the modules in pairs?
What happens if you remove the new module(s) leaving the original in?
What happens if you remove the old module(s) leaving the new in?

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Guest]

Brian, Thank you for your reply.
The memory modules do match.
I have a pair of 256Mb and 1 512Mb RAM. It is recognised as 1Gig and the
performance has improved tremendously.
Is there any tests that I can carry out without shutting down the computer.
I dread stopping it as I feel it may never start again.

 

[Guest]

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/DiagnoseXP.html
See step 7, run the memtest86+ app.. Step 8 may apply or help too..

Also, the free Everest Home edition should help you to ID your systems
hardware, mem modules, etc, allowing you to create a quick report to text, so
that pertinent parts can be pasted to your posts in the future, rather handy
tool to have around..
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
Hope this can help..
Cheers
j;-j