Upgrade RAM on HP laptop to 4GB Vista 32-bit won't boot

[jbessell]

I've done a lot of searching tonight so I know I'm not the first one
to have this issue, but I haven't found any kind of satisfactory
solution. Here is my situation:

I have an HP Pavilion 6716 laptop with Quanta 30CC 79.26 mother board
with a bus clock of 533 Mhz. I currently have two DDR2 PC2-5300 1 GB
sticks of RAM in the machine (from factory) and all is well. I
confirmed with HP that my machine can handle 4GB so I got two DDR2 667
2GB sticks of RAM (Kingston). If I put either one of the new sticks of
RAM in I have no problems (first or second slot, makes no difference).
But if i put both in I get the BSOD and first a PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
error, then a reboot and then a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error and
that's all she wrote. Put back the original RAM and all is well.

I've read all about the MS KB929777 and I've uninstalled the patch
then re-installed and it made no difference. Is there anything anyone
can tell me or am I just shafted at 2GB RAM?

Tks.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Will it boot with 3GB (1x2GB and 1x1GB)?

 

[jbessell]

Will it boot with 3GB (1x2GB and 1x1GB)?

Colin,

I tried that as well, no luck and same error codes.

 

[jbessell]

Colin,

I tried that as well, no luck and same error codes.

Okay, here's an update. I contacted HP again and got a lovely woman
who actually knew what she was talking about. I upgraded the BIOS from
F.33 to F.33A and I was able to get it running with 3 GB of RAM. 4
still causes it to not boot, but at least I'm getting somewhere. In
addition she went and talked to a higher tech and he's aware of a
problem with the HP laptops and 4 GB of RAM and is going to try and
track down a patch or fix for me. It'll take him a couple of days, but
I really think he's going to. So, I'll update again once I hear from
him.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Sounds like HP will get you going again. Good luck.

 

[IkidUnot]

A number of us would really like to know what happens, so please do update
us. Thanks, in advance...

 

[jbessell]

Well here's the update - no one wants to tell me anything. What I mean
is that I haven't heard back from HP, can't get the same rep I talked
to before (all I have is a first name) and my ticket has been closed.

What I can tell you if you have an HP Pavilion laptop and get a blue
screen when you try to run Vista 32-bit with more than 2 GB of RAM is
to get the newest bios (in my case F.33A) and you will at least be
able to run 3 GB of RAM. I was told the issue is with HP, not
Microsoft so I doubt SP1 will help.

Maybe there will be a new update maybe I will get contacted. But at
this stage of the game it looks like I'm as far as I'm going to get.
That being said, things seem stable with 3 GB RAM and it's enough for
me to run CS3 the way I want to so I won't complain too much.

Thanks to everyone for their assistance.

 

[Charles W Davis]

Even if you were to receive the changes you want, you will still be limited
to approximatly 3.2 GB.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Thanks for taking the time to update everyone.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You snipped so much that I am not sure where in the thread you are fitting
this, but there would not be nearly the benefit with a 3GB system as there
would be with a 1GB or 2GB system. Use the Reliability and Performance
Monitor in Administrative Tools to see how heavily used your disk drive is
now. You can set it up to provide you with a report. If it reports heavy
paging file activity then a ReadyBoost compatible device will help.