Pc Problems After Fitting Additional Memory.

Hi Guys, I have a problem here that is giving me a lot of problems and I cannot find any info on it regarding sorting out my problem. I am trying to fit additional memory into my PC. I have been onto the Crucial site to establish my requirements and it was correct in what is said once I had opened the PC up. I have 4 slots which according to Crucial can take upto 4000 meg of ram and currently have 2 x 256 in slots 2 and 4, which are both coloured purple. The other 2 are green. I have purchased 2 x 512 parts and have tried to firstly fit them into the spare two slots to give me 1.5 meg of ram, then swapped them over so that the 2 x 512 are in the purple slots and the 2 x 256 are in the green slots, then removed the 2 x 256 and fitted the 2 x 512 in the place. Every time the PC starts to crash reguarly and is very unstable. I reformatted the PC to be on the safe side and then tried the above again and this time it wouldnt boot. I then went back to the 2 x 256 and everything is fine. Is there a teak that I have to make to the Bios? or is there something else I should have done? Any advice here would be greatly appreciated as I it looks like I have wasted my money. Thanks. Willothewisp.

hi Willothewisp, my homebuilts are not that quite up to date, duel channel or PCIe etc. i think you would find more info about the memory config, requirements at your board manuf. website. some also have FAQ/troubleshooting sections and forums. most likely the crucial config. picked the right memory you needed, its just something else like you said. sorry i cant help any more. keep us updated. shelf life

Thanks Shelflife. Is there a website that can determine what type my motherboard is? Or do I need to get into the PC and have a look? Thanks, Willothewisp.

Shelflife, got it. Its a MICRO-STAR MS-7041.

Been to the Micro star web site and downloaded a little utility that tells you what drivers you have and what you need. It says that the Bios is up to date. I needed a driver for the mainboard which I downloaded and installed. Cant find anything else regarding memory problems on the web site. I will keep looking for a bit and then I might try to install the memory again and see if the updated driver has any improvements.

you should be able to download a manual from the website for that MOBO.
some info here also that may prove useful:

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/TechSupport.asp

or here:
http://www.motherboards.org/mobot/manuals/

Shelflife, Thanks for the tip, I downloaded the maual and the advice was to adjust the memory in the BIOS to the memory size instead of automatic which i did. The PC was fine for a few hours then I started to get the blue screen of death saying the memory pool had corrupt memory. It started to crash so often that it wouldnt get to the log in screen. In the end I removed the new memory and reformatted the hard drive with what I originally had, and went to get my money back. So at this stage I am back where I started, but at least the PC is working well. But it should have been so easy to sort the memory out, it only plugs in and away you go. I will get some more in a few weeks and try again. Strangely enough, when I sent it back, the girl said did it make your PC crash, I wonder if it was a dodgy batch. They are also offering it as a clearance, probably going to stop selling it. By the way,the memory was made by PNY, is it well known?

it does sound like you got a bad module. At least you got your money back. nothing wrong with PNY memory as far as i know. some other good ones are crucial, OCZ, kingston, mushkin. best bet: stick with a well known brand when it comes to memory.