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XPS2 Not Starting Up with 2GB of Ram

post #1 of 19
4/7/06 at 12:45pm
Thread Starter 
I purchased 2GB of Mushkin PC2-4200 SO-DIMM 533MHZ ram from Newegg. Got it in today and installed, turn on the lappy and nothing. It just sat there with the bluetooth light and wifi lights on, nothing else happened. I took out 1 stick and fired it, works like a champ. Swapped sticks and fired it up again and it still worked great. Threw that 2nd stick in and nothing. Reverted back to the original 512 and everything is fine. Is there something I'm missing?

Also, when I started it up, a prompt popped uo asking if I wanted to run the setup utility (F2). I looked in there to see if there was something I needed to change, but I didnt see anything. Am I missing simething?
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post #2 of 19
4/7/06 at 4:11pm
2 GB total, or 2 GB per stick?
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post #3 of 19
4/7/06 at 7:11pm
Is it just one stick that is causing the problem?
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post #4 of 19
4/7/06 at 7:13pm
Did you try both sticks of RAM in both slots when they were in their by themselves?
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post #5 of 19
4/7/06 at 7:17pm
i had the same problem today with my RAM. I took it out yesterday and put it on standby over night. The next morning I woke up and decided to go on but all it did was the fans would turn on and then it would just die. Try taking out both sticks and run it just on AC power (take out the battery). Then throw those badboys back in. Should run perfect. What computers have to do is they run through a checklist when it turns on and if they arent put in right the comp just shuts down cause it doenst know what to do with it. Hope this helps.
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post #6 of 19
4/7/06 at 7:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amorget
Did you try both sticks of RAM in both slots when they were in their by themselves?


Did you try each stick in both slots?
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post #7 of 19
4/8/06 at 12:12am
Thread Starter 
Both sticks work in either slot, alone and with 1 256 stick from original set. Its 2 1GB sticks. I'll try the AC power/no battery thing to see if it works; posting results in a few.
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post #8 of 19
4/8/06 at 12:21am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tea Baggin' Tom
i had the same problem today with my RAM. I took it out yesterday and put it on standby over night. The next morning I woke up and decided to go on but all it did was the fans would turn on and then it would just die. Try taking out both sticks and run it just on AC power (take out the battery). Then throw those badboys back in. Should run perfect. What computers have to do is they run through a checklist when it turns on and if they arent put in right the comp just shuts down cause it doenst know what to do with it. Hope this helps.
Did you put them in while the computer was running off of AC power or when it was turned off?
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post #9 of 19
4/8/06 at 12:42am
Thread Starter 
Okay, I started it up with 1 stick in and no battery installed. I checked to see if it was recognized and it was. I then inserted the 2nd stick while it was running and restarted the laptop. It came back up with both sticks and both were recognized.

I shutdown the laptop and it hung. The LEDs, bluetooth, wifi and power lights were on, nothing on the screen and nothing spoiling up inside other than the fans. I had to hold down the power button to get it to shut down.

I started it back up with both sticks and it went fine. Says 1.99GHz 2.00 GB of RAM. Shut it down again and again it hung up.

Installed the battery and it started up with both sticks again, still recognizing both sticks of RAM. This time at 768MHz 2.00 GB of RAM. Shut it down and yet again, it hung.

Went for another try and got the same exact results.

Any other suggestions?
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post #10 of 19
4/8/06 at 12:53am
order a warranty mobo
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post #11 of 19
4/8/06 at 3:01am
Thread Starter 
Just got of a chat with the most helpful tech rep I've ever dealt with. The problem still isn't fix, but the guy went through everything and he was actually in the US, not one of those out-sourced companies in India.

Anyways, I found out there's a chipset and flashbios update. They helped a little, the computer can now start up with the RAM perfectly, it still can't shutdown properly. I'll have to contact Mushkin when they open.

I ran their test to see what would be compatible with my XPS and it said a 1GB stick would work, didn't say anything about 2 1GB sticks.
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post #12 of 19
4/8/06 at 3:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cynik6
I then inserted the 2nd stick while it was running and restarted the laptop. It came back up with both sticks and both were recognized.
Did I read correctly that you installed the second RAM stick while the computer was running???
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post #13 of 19
4/8/06 at 3:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by WiKDMoNKY
Did I read correctly that you installed the second RAM stick while the computer was running???
Thats how I took what he said as well.

That is a big NONO!
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post #14 of 19
4/8/06 at 3:58am
If he did, it would definetly would explain why its not booting.

Im suprised it works at all now...
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post #15 of 19
4/8/06 at 3:59am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, its a nono, but it didnt do anything. Maybe I'm just lucky.....
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post #16 of 19
4/8/06 at 10:03am
Cynik try puttin them in with the comp off and with the battery uninstalled and unpluged from the ac unit. The only other suggestion is that you got the wrong kind of RAM. What kind did you get?
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post #17 of 19
4/8/06 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
Here's what I got:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820146440

The Dell tech had me insert both sticks, remove the battery and power cord and hold down the power button for 10 seconds to bleed off any remaining power.

That didn't work either. Now I tried to start the laptop this morning and no joy. I took out one stick and inserted a 256 to take its spot and nothing. I swapped the 1GB for the other one and it came up. I'm starting to believe that one stick is bad.

I guess the next step is to call Newegg and possibly RMA this stuff and choose something else.
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post #18 of 19
4/8/06 at 6:52pm
yah thats what i would prolly do too. what kind of RAM is it so I dont end up getting that kind? yah, if the RAM still wont work by now its got to be defective.
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post #19 of 19
4/8/06 at 7:01pm
nvm bout the RAM, (saw the link), lollerz......
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