Engreeks1

Hi There,

System specs:
Manufacturer: Dell
Processor: Intel q6600 2.4ghz
OS: Vista home premium (no sp1)
Ram: (this is the problem) corsair xms2 2x2gb ddr2
HD: 250gb
MoBo: Dell proprietary
AntiVirus: Symantec
PowerSupply: Dell 350watt

I just bought a new dell 530 with vista home premium (no service pack 1 yet) and tried to upgrade the ram. The system originally had 2x512mb modules which worked fine (except for the low quantity).

I bought some corsair xms2 2x2gb ddr2 modules to upgrade the system to 4gb of ram. Today, I took out the two old 512mb sticks and replaced them with two 2gb sticks, so the system now has 4gb of ram.

Unfortunately, when I started up the machine I ran into major problems. I have already tried replacing the new ram with the old ram, and the system works fine with the old ram. So, based on my limited knowledge of computers, I think the problem is with the new ram.

I've included a detailed description of everything I've done below, but basically windows will not startup with the new ram. I apologize in advance for the long-windedness of this post!


The first time I started up, i got past bios, and past the windows loading screen with the green bars that move left and right, but after that I got a black screen with just a mouse cursor. The system got stuck there.

I forced a restart by holding down the power button, and the next time windows made it past the login screen and onto the desktop. The mouse movement worked, but I couldn't click an anything, and that loading circle next the the mouse cursor would not go away. The keyboard windows key did not respond. I then tried ctrl-alt-dlt, which brought up a selection screen - I choose to launch task manager, and then the computer froze again.

I forced a restart again and this time I started up in safe-mode. I got stuck at that black screen with a cursor again, but this time after about 3 minutes the login screen loaded successfully. I was able to login and safemode seemed to be working properly, so I ran mdsched to test the ram. Mdsched restarted teh computer automatically, so I didn't actually get to see what the results were, but at 80% done there were no errors.

Do you know where I can access the mdsched log?

So thanks in advance for your help! Please let me know if you need any further information to help me out. It's really amazing that forums like this can exist for free!

Eric

speedster123

first try clearing the cmos, pull the battery out for 30 min after you unplug it and destatic yourself.

otherwise bump the voltage up a tad on the ram from the bios.

also see if it boots with 1 stick

__________________


Infection Detection and Removal
Thermal Grease Instructions
Bench Test

Engreeks1

Is the CMOS that little round battery on the motherboard? How do I remove it?

Thanks,
eric

dai

usually there is a release clip on one side
most m/b's default the voltage at 1.8v lift it to 2.1v
turn the computer off
remove the power lead from the back
take the side off
remove the cmos battery
move the cmos jumper from pins 1 and 2 to pin 2 and 3 and the back to pins 1 and 2
replace the battery
put the side on
replug in the power lead
boot the computer
make sure the ram is seating don't rely on the clips clicking over as it is not always seated when they do

__________________

Engreeks1

I tried one dimm and it works fine. Does that mean the voltage is to low to handle 4gb?

I'm in the bios now (i pressed f2 to enter the setup mode when the dell logo is displayed immediately after startup), but I can't figure out how to change the memory voltage. I looked in every menu item - i couldn't find it in "advanced bios settings." The only option there was "cpu settings." I also looked at the "advanced chipset settings," but the only options in there were "init display first" "video memory size" "dvmt mode" "dvmt/fixed memory size."

Is it possible that dell restricts its bios so I cannot change the ram voltage? I haven't had a change to try taking out the cmos yet.

Thanks so much for your help!

dai

mines on the advanced page as dram frequency
can you disable the dell splash screen in there

__________________

Engreeks1

Ok - so I've done more investigation. It turns out these memory do indeed require 1.9-2.1v to run without errors. However, dell's mobos only provide up to 1.8v, and their bios is crippled so you cannot increase the ram voltage.

To test this, I put in the 2 2gb (800mhz) sticks and 1 512 (667mhz) stick. The idea was that the 1 512mb stick would force the mobo to run the 2gb sticks at 667mhz, a frequency at which they would be able to run at only 1.8v. The computer booted up with no problems in this configuration, and windows recognized 3.24gb of ram (since it's 32bit).

So, for me, time to RMA this ram and settle for 3gb.

Thanks again for all the help dai and speedster have provided!

speedster123

good luck
ocz is a nice make

__________________


Infection Detection and Removal
Thermal Grease Instructions
Bench Test