Guest RET.CW4.ThievingSix=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Ok so this is going to sound really weird but i think dell have somehow locked my ram? i couldn't really find anything explaining it on the internet so im asking it here, is this possible, heres the story. So i bought a Dimensions 9100 from dell around 2004 and i've been using that ever since recently its started to go funny though so i've changed and added new parts. First i added 2 new sticks of ram into it making the total ram 3gb (512mb + 1gb + 512mb +1gb) and then i upgraded the video card and the harddrive. Now the weirdest thing happened one of the 512mb sticks died so now i have (1gb + 512gb + 1gb + 0) and the computer is working fine apart from some small freezing issues. I decided i would try out Qotsa's suggestion of removing the other 512mb stick to see if i could resolve the freezing issues and when i did the pc refused to boot, it refused the even turn on the monitor so i got no display at all, it doesn't even seem to reach POST. The weird thing is that as soon an i put the stick back in to any of the four slots the pc will boot up fine. I've tried changing the slots of the ram in every combination conceivable with 3 sticks and the pc will not boot without that 512mb stick. In theory it should work fine since i've added more ram than what it originally has (1gb to 3gb). I've checked the memory and its all the same PC2-4200 533mhz, all the sticks have ecc off and their all compatible with each other. Does anyone have any idea how dell would do this, or how i could possibly get around this?, does that mean that the bios is somehow stored on the ram? which i don't see being possible. It basically means if that other 512mb stick does then i will never be able to boot my computer. Heres the summary in a few words The pc won't boot without the 512mb stick of ram installed, it will not even enter bios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.Maj.Skyler=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Ok, So the reason your monitor stayed black was because there was a Bad Ram chip inserted into your computer. No Screen = Bad ram(which usually peeps continuously. Also some motherboards are very picky about having the ram chips in order. Meaning if you put Ram in slot 2,3,4, instead of doing 1,2,3 it wont work or causes problems like you received. Yes the Bios does hold back memory as a preserve, If you go into your Bios settings you will see something(I forget exactly where) about Storing/holding back a portion of your Ram memory, which can be turned off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.CW4.ThievingSix=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Yeah but i've tried all the slot combinations and it refuses to work, even the one's suggested in the manual. This is what its supposed to be Dimm_1 - 512mb Dimm_2 - 0 Dimm_3 - 512mb Dimm_4 - 0 This is what mine is Dimm_1 - 1gb Dimm_2 - 512mb Dimm_3 - 1gb Dimm_4 - 0 You probably guessed, slot 1&3 are a pair and slot 2&4 are a pair. If i take out the 512mb nothing works. The BIOS has no option to change the memory settings , infact because its a dell bios i cant change anything in there everything is disabled, i cant edit any RAM settings or CPU settings its all locked. And the 2x1GB sticks are fine because i've tried them in another computer and that boots without any issues. I even ran a windows memory test and got no errors yet when i remove that stick nothing will boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.Maj.Skyler=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 To be honest, I hate dell for many reasons and the Bios is 1. What if you put Slot 1 & 3 with slot 1 as a 1gig, and slot 3 as the 512. Does it work, if so how much does your computer say it has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.CW4.ThievingSix=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 It says i have 1.5gb when i tried that for both 1gb sticks. It makes me think why would dell disable external ram?, do they only want to upgrade through their certified ram, i honestly don't see the difference and their's is almost always more expensive. In fact i don't think they even sell memory for my computer, it took me 2 weeks to track down my memory PC2-4200 533mhz just isent available any more and the one's that are are old and used and i have no idea what could be wrong with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.Maj.Skyler=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 It says i have 1.5gb when i tried that for both 1gb sticks. It makes me think why would dell disable external ram?, do they only want to upgrade through their certified ram, i honestly don't see the difference and their's is almost always more expensive. In fact i don't think they even sell memory for my computer, it took me 2 weeks to track down my memory PC2-4200 533mhz just isent available any more and the one's that are are old and used and i have no idea what could be wrong with them. That brings me to another reason i hate dell(which is actually the main reason). Yes, they do want you to only buy their Hardware and they make it so you only can buy their products to run on their machines. Which they hike up the prices since you have to buy only from them they own a monopoly on it once you get a Dell machine. It sounds like nothing is wrong with your ram and it is showing the correct values. Most likely the Freezing is Software related ether by Operating system or depending what your doing at the time maybe coming from your Graphics card/drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.CW4.ThievingSix=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Yeah i isolated the freezing to my graphics card when i turned off the overclocks it was stable again. But it makes me wonder Dell also used BTX specification for my motherboard which now is non-existant meaning i cant upgrade the motherboard and the PSU is only 350W which is bare minimum for PC's, the Ram has compatability issues and the case only supports half height graphics cards, the best of which is the nvidia GT240 which i have the CPU cooler cant be upgraded because dell has custom mounting holes and the chipset is not even compatible to perform any kind of CPU upgrade. The BIOS is locked and the original harddrive has become really noisy for some reason like the drive head is grinding away the platter's. Only now have i realised that dell screwed me over, i payed $2000 for a piece of crap... Thats why in the future im never getting a dell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.Maj.Skyler=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Yeah i isolated the freezing to my graphics card when i turned off the overclocks it was stable again. But it makes me wonder Dell also used BTX specification for my motherboard which now is non-existant meaning i cant upgrade the motherboard and the PSU is only 350W which is bare minimum for PC's, the Ram has compatability issues and the case only supports half height graphics cards, the best of which is the nvidia GT240 which i have the CPU cooler cant be upgraded because dell has custom mounting holes and the chipset is not even compatible to perform any kind of CPU upgrade. The BIOS is locked and the original harddrive has become really noisy for some reason like the drive head is grinding away the platter's. Only now have i realised that dell screwed me over, i payed $2000 for a piece of crap... Thats why in the future im never getting a dell. Ya, this is why i always built my own PC's since I was 10. Dell Limits and screws people over in the exact reason/way you said. I mean to even replace 1 thing you need to replace A lot of hardware, or find yourself lucky after looking at a dell store to upgrade the hardware your looking at which will be higher price then usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.Maj.SKI=US= Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 With all the bashing of DELL, my DELL laptop has had it's feelings hurt. I have two three/four year old DELL PRECISION laptops that have been good machines (one for business/one for gaming). Of course I know upgrades are near impossible, but they are serving me well. I do feel your pain though, since early 2000's DELL's customer service and quality have been going down hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.Maj.Skyler=US= Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 With all the bashing of DELL, my DELL laptop has had it's feelings hurt. I have two three/four year old DELL PRECISION laptops that have been good machines (one for business/one for gaming). Of course I know upgrades are near impossible, but they are serving me well. I do feel your pain though, since early 2000's DELL's customer service and quality have been going down hill. Laptops are a bit diffrent story due to you can't really upgrade them anyways so the problems don't effect them as much. Alieanware Laptops are now Dell i believe which i still want tog et the newest one. But never a dell computer lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.CW4.ThievingSix=US= Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Yeah i agree, dell's laptops are a different story, i think their alright since you can't really do much with them anyway, i have a toshiba r700 though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RET.SSgt.Haterade=US= Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Dell laptops are still overpriced from what I've saw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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