Testing RAM

[Unholey]

I got some new (but slightly used) RAM the other day. All the specs match up with what I can put into my mo board. When I install it the computer says something is wrong with the config and the OS won't come up.

Is my RAM bad? How can I test it to see if it is functional? Can I put my old RAM in and access the BIOS to change something around so that the machine will recognize the new stuff?

And yes, I'm certain it was all put in correctly, things were snapped snuggly into place and I tried it with different combos of RAM in different slots 1gb, 2gb etc. When I put the old stuff in again everything worked normally.

And no, I did not follow Rob's Crucial reccomendation so please no lectures now Rob. ;)

Any help would be appreciated.


Un

[The Wise Monkey]

Try downloading Memtest: http://www.memtest.org/

Download the ISO, burn it to a CD, install the memory and boot to the CD to run the program. Hopefully this will show/fix any errors.

Could you be more specific about what the error message is please?

[RickyTick]

Its possible that the new ram requires more voltage. You can change that in the bios.

List your system specs, and the type of ram.

Also check with the ram manufacturer and see if it requires a voltage higher than 1.8v.

[Unholey]

Hey guys, thanks for offering some help. Here is a snippet of my system config report:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 10/14/2007, 17:13:29
Machine name:
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: INTELR
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
Page File: 355MB used, 892MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

Here is a link to the Mother board: http://eu.shuttle.com/archive/en/fs51.htm#mainboardfs5

Right now I have Infinion 1 x 512 PC2700 (DDR333). The stuff I bought is Infinion 2 x 1gb PC2700 (DDR333)

The error I get is on a blue screen and reads: BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO

To compound my frustration I have a German keyboard layout and don't even know which button is <del> to get into the BIOS. :mad:

[The Wise Monkey]

Is this what you are getting?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326679

[Unholey]

That's the one there TWM. Now I need to test the RAM I guess.

[Unholey]

Download the ISO, burn it to a CD, install the memory and boot to the CD to run the program.

I burned it to a CD. Is there some way I can designate the CD as the thing which boots up my computer? It went right past the CD with the cloned image on it and booted from the HD as usual. (I was experimenting on my old functioning RAM first. With the new stuff in nothing boots, just the nasty blue screen I talked about earlier)

THanks for your support TWM.


Un

[JasonG]

Yes, In your BIOS change the boot sequence from Hard Disk to CD ROM as the primary boot device.