RAM troubles

Post by **4g3nt_Smith** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 7:53 pm

i've got an old Del Dimension L733r computer, that shipped with 65 megs of RAM and WinME. I got two 256 MB PC100 SDRAM sticks to put in it, both of which exactly match the specs of the DIMM's Dell sells to put in it. I put them in, and on each cold start, it will go into the OS perfectly fine, or boot to whatever disc I have in just fine. But that only lasts for about 10 seconds, then ME will lock up, the XP install disc stops responding, and the MEMTEST disc gets multi-colored bands across the screen and locks. After that, the BIO's would scan the RAM on startup and only make it to 68 megs before locking up. I tried one stick in conjunction with the original 64 meg DIMM, and got the first behavior every time, the BIOS scans all the memory fine, but the OS/Boot is still fuckered. Being a dell, I'm half tempted to just throw it off as some incompatibility with non-Dell RAM they threw in (much like the ATX-esque PSU's that weren't actually ATX, in the past), but then that would mean I had 512 megs of old, outdated RAM that will only work in a handful of machines, none of which I have.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:06 pm

we'll considering its windows ME.. it will allways have an issue with having 512 megs of ram.

Take a look at the memory Testing programs here, make a Dos boot disk, And boot off of it and try one or both of the memory Testing programs to make sure that there is no hardlocks/arguments with it.

http://motherboards.mbarron.net/download/

Also, make sure when you install them to pop into the bios, poke around and save the changes.. i know it seems odd... but sometimes it Does Work.. ( for some reason )

Post by **4g3nt_Smith** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:10 pm

ME is even having issues with the 320 I tried. Also, I did the bootable MEMTEST disc, and it gets about half a percent done before freaking out and doing the multi-colored bars and locking up.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:20 pm

Ohh sorry, i was thinking that you where refering to the Memtest that was built on to the older motheboards..

Errr, poke around the bios and see if there is a section that Will allow you to adjust the Speed/timming of the Ram and etc.. there SHOULD be.

Post by **4g3nt_Smith** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:22 pm

Not on Dells, and not on a machine this old. Its using PC100 SD, so all the timings and whatnot are static.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:23 am

No, sorry.. they are not Static...

Jesus, Ram timmings and shit when't even static back on my 486, there is allways things that need/can be changed.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:26 am

also, this may help you out..

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums ... e&q=L733r+