Windows Xp Hangs after installing second memory bank

J

jpdemas

Hello I hope someone can help... this is the deal:

I have an old Compaq Presario 4110LA.
I had it running Windows XP Home SP2 with 128MB RAM... needless to
say... very slow
I decided to max out the memory on it and take it to 512M
I bought the recommended memory by Kingston for that specific model

The weird part:

When I install both memory DIMMS the system (in no predictable pattern)
just hangs... by that I mean the screen freezes and I cant do anything
with the keyboard or the mouse...

I thought it might be the memory...so I took out one DIMM and tried
them intermittently but no problem...

Then I thought it might be the memory slot on the MOBO... It works as
long as I install only one DIMM...

I tried then installing back both of them... thinking it might be that
I just set the memory incorrectly in the slot...

Bam... it froze again...

The BIOS runs the memory check and recognizes the memory...
Windows recognizes the memory...

Ahhh yes... I then looked at the event viewr and found an infamous
ACPI: writing to illegal memory location error... I thought it was a
BIOS problem... But when I only use one memory DIMM I still get the
same error and the computer works just fine...

Please advise...

Thanks
 
A

Alias

Hello I hope someone can help... this is the deal:

I have an old Compaq Presario 4110LA.
I had it running Windows XP Home SP2 with 128MB RAM... needless to
say... very slow
I decided to max out the memory on it and take it to 512M
I bought the recommended memory by Kingston for that specific model

The weird part:

When I install both memory DIMMS the system (in no predictable pattern)
just hangs... by that I mean the screen freezes and I cant do anything
with the keyboard or the mouse...

I thought it might be the memory...so I took out one DIMM and tried
them intermittently but no problem...

Then I thought it might be the memory slot on the MOBO... It works as
long as I install only one DIMM...

I tried then installing back both of them... thinking it might be that
I just set the memory incorrectly in the slot...

Bam... it froze again...

The BIOS runs the memory check and recognizes the memory...
Windows recognizes the memory...

Ahhh yes... I then looked at the event viewr and found an infamous
ACPI: writing to illegal memory location error... I thought it was a
BIOS problem... But when I only use one memory DIMM I still get the
same error and the computer works just fine...

Please advise...

Thanks

I have the same problem with an old HP. I think the assh*les set the MB
to only take 256MB of RAM.

Alias
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

Download and run the Windows Memory Diagnostic Utility
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| Hello I hope someone can help... this is the deal:
|
| I have an old Compaq Presario 4110LA.
| I had it running Windows XP Home SP2 with 128MB RAM... needless to
| say... very slow
| I decided to max out the memory on it and take it to 512M
| I bought the recommended memory by Kingston for that specific model
|
| The weird part:
|
| When I install both memory DIMMS the system (in no predictable pattern)
| just hangs... by that I mean the screen freezes and I cant do anything
| with the keyboard or the mouse...
|
| I thought it might be the memory...so I took out one DIMM and tried
| them intermittently but no problem...
|
| Then I thought it might be the memory slot on the MOBO... It works as
| long as I install only one DIMM...
|
| I tried then installing back both of them... thinking it might be that
| I just set the memory incorrectly in the slot...
|
| Bam... it froze again...
|
| The BIOS runs the memory check and recognizes the memory...
| Windows recognizes the memory...
|
| Ahhh yes... I then looked at the event viewr and found an infamous
| ACPI: writing to illegal memory location error... I thought it was a
| BIOS problem... But when I only use one memory DIMM I still get the
| same error and the computer works just fine...
|
| Please advise...
|
| Thanks
 
K

Kenny

May or may not work. Put the older memory in the first slot and look in
BIOS for "enable RAM timing by SPD" or wording similar.
What this does is set the memory timings by what's found in the first slot.
 
J

jpdemas

I think the crucial wep site is wrong... because I have 256MB running
just fine right now... And I had 128MB running fine before... If you
lok at the Kingston web site it says something different... by the
way... my model is the Compaq Presario 4110LA...

Thanks though!
 
J

jpdemas

You think I need to check the memory modules?

I did the following tests:

Ran the computer with dimm A in socket 1 --- ran fine
Ran the computer with dimm B in socket 1 --- ran fine
Did the same for socket 2 --- ran fine

it is only when I put them both in together that there is a problem...
 

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