Bad Ram Slot Question

I have an Emachine EL1352-01e with 2gb of memory and wanted to add another 2gb which would max it out.

Ordered the ram and now after a series of deductions I have determined that one of the ram slots is bad. Can I buy a 4gb stick and just place that in the one working slot?

I know it is not the additional memory stick because I switched it into the other slot and it worked perfectly. I did a lot of swapping and switching and its the slot.

They should make something where you can plug in or piggy back.

 

Most likely not. With the majority of computers out there, the max amount of memory you can install is determined by how much you can put in each slot. Your max is 2GB per slot, and since you have two slots, that means your total computer max is 4GB. If you had four slots it would be 8GB.

That said, you have nothing to lose by buying a 4GB and trying it out. The 2GB you bought works, so you obviously know what specifications you need. Just get the exact same thing, but in 4GB. And make sure you buy from someone who lets you return it for a full refund even after you've opened and installed the part!

 

Thank you. I will try that.

 

It worked! Thanks again.

 

So you're all set with 4GB? Great!

Thank you for coming back and letting us know it worked. That will be very helpful for others who are wondering the same thing.

 

Update: I got a checksum error yesterday and after some research and help from the hardware forum decided to switch ram again. Switched back to 2gb and problem solved. Had noticed the night before the computer was on and the screen went off. I thought it was the screen but got it working and turned it off for the night. Next day got the checksum error. So I don't know if its the slot really is only for 2gb or if the 4gb stick is bad. My thought is slot capacity.

 

If the slot couldn't handle 4GB modules it would never have booted with one in there, the computer would have just sat there and looked stupid while beeping at you. So if Windows loaded and worked with the 4GB installed, it's compatible. which windows do you have? Vista and later have a built in memory diagnostic you can run to see if the module is bad. Run it on other modules in that slot as well, to make sure hte slot isn't faulty.

 

Wow. I didn't know about the diagnostic. I'm running 7 64bit. Only thing is I can't get anything to boot with the 4gb stick installed and i only have the one slot Cant get to the BIOS or setup - it freezes before loading. Stuck at the PLEASE WAIT.....

Thanks for all advice. I really learn a lot.

 

Which version of Windows do you have? Also, do you have a copy of the installation disk for the OS?

If you can run a chkdsk /r that might solve your problem. There are various boot CD problem solvers that would help in this situation. The only one I know of is one Major Geeks is not keen on, but maybe someone else can pop in and provide an answer for this. If you find a good one, you will, of course, need to be able to burn download and burn the .iso to make the disk...

BTW...some of these disks have Memtest, which might help in your situation...

 

Hold off on boot CDs and disk repair until we know if you have a bad module or not. No point moving straight to brain surgery without ruling out all other causes of a head ache first.

Let's back up a little bit. You said in an earlier post that the 4GB worked, correct? By that, did you mean everything worked just fine, until suddenly one day you had checksum errors and can't boot? Or did it sort of kind of work but not quite? If it used to work just fine, stick your old memory back in and check if everything goes back to normal now. If it does, take the out and put the 4GB back in, and see if you can get to your BIOS or setup. That will tell you if the motherboard can still handle the 4GB or not. Once we know that, we'll go from there.

 

Yes Mimsy with the 4gb installed in the only working slot all was working fine, no problems whatsoever. The computer was turned on Thursday and the screen suddenly went out. Thought it was the screen but now I'm thinking ram problems. The the checksum error on was on Friday. This morning I switched back to the 2gb stick and it went straight to the repair screen. I completed that and all is well so far. Just missing the extra memory. Did notice something today though...when I had the 4 gb in and was running a DVD converter program it converted slower than with the 2gb stick. Don't know if that raises any red flags.
I did do the switch: reseated the 4gb and no go, switched back to the 2gb and it worked, switched to 4 again and same problem, finally put 2 gb back in and all has been well ever since. I'm going to get another 4gb stick and try again. Thoughts? Hope I answered all questions.

 

My thoughts are, unless I misunderstand you the problems happen only with the 4GB memory is installed, so get it replaced. If you're lucky, all that's happened is that it died on you, and that is easily fixed. That's what warranties are for.

So before you go spend money on a new one, explore the warranty options for the one you have right now, either through the store that sold it to you, or through the manufacturer if they do direct warranty replacements.

 

Will let you know how it goes. Thanks again.

 

Well....it happened again. This time with the original 2gb stick in. Turned on the computer and got a SERVICE ERROR. Restarted and it booted up normally and stayed on for about two hours. Then I saw the screen go out just like before - 4gb was installed then. Green computer power light was still on, WD External blue light still on, and screen not functioning. Held down power button on computer and green light goes out, screen power light goes off but the blue power light on external drive and the lights on the keyboard stay on. Got beeped at a few times but got it running again and ran the windows 7 memory test. It said no errors found.

Really confused now. Bad motherboard maybe? Love the computer but frustrating.

 

shut the system off, completely. Unplug all unnecessary external devices (like you WD drive), the power it on again and use it for a few hours. What happens?

 

Thanks Mimsy for following this thread. You have been my voice of sanity.

It is off now as I am at work. I will give you an update later on this evening After work I will turn on the computer around 7:00 and post around 11:00 pm.

The WD My Book Essential external drive is USB but does have drivers that come with it. I used the generic usb driver installed with Windows 7 to gain access. Could this cause a problem if there are drivers or updated drivers or firmware available? Just trying to give you all the known info for your consideration.

 

No need to thank me. I'm here to help, just like all the other geeks around here. But sure, you're welcome.

Bad or corrupted drivers can definitely cause problems, yes, but hardly ever the ones you're having. Driver issues happen inside Windows, when the computer is running Yours isn't getting to Windows, which means whatever is going on is not caused by anything inside the OS. The reason I wanted you to unplug all unnecessary peripheral things was to see if it's a power issue. If it is, having fewer items use power through start-up might let it boot.

If it refuses to boot Windows when you have your old 2GB installed, see if you can go to BIOS. On eMachines that's usually F1 or F2 on start-up (before the logo comes on screen). If the memory shows up okay there, try booting Windows in Safe Mode.

Link to how to boot SafeMode, if you need it.

 

Turned the computer on around 7 with the WD unplugged and it booted smoothly with no problems. It has been on for four hours now with no issues. Will leave it on all night.

 

It stayed on all night - no problem.

 

The Emachine EL1352-01e has a 220w power supply. I think I will try upgrading to a 250w. I have been looking at prices and they seem to be reasonable.

 

Hooray! That is very good news. Being left without a computer at the end of all this would have sucked.

In addition to only being 220W to start with, you also have to take into account that power supplies do not age well. They're like athletes that way, they lose a little bit of juice every year, so the actual output of the PSU is a lot less if it's 5 years old, than when it's brand new.

Also, a low-power PSU, like the 250W you're considering is usually affordable and they're not that difficult to install. I would suggest though that if this is the first time you have ever bought one, start a new thread here for feedback and advice. The power supply is the only internal component that can kill other components when it dies, and that happens far more often with low quality PSUs than with high quality ones. If it costs a little bit more to get one capable of self-destructing without surging the motherboard, that might be worth paying that little extra.

 

Hi Mimsy,

I have bought and replaced power supplies before but did not know that they could kill components (maybe that's what happened to the 4gb ram).

Well anyway I will bow to your knowledge and will start a thread in search of a more powerful SFF (more than 275) power supply. My only restriction is that it has to be SFF because of the case size.

It stayed on all last night again until this morning when I tried using AVS DVD Converter and I got an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD. I'm thinking that this piece of software caused this error. Your thoughts.

 

Nah. When power supplies commit murder they leave smoke and sometimes sparks behind. And you can smell the burning circuitry a mile away.

That might make it a bit harder to find, but not by much. One advantage of SFF systems is they don't use as much power, so you won't have to worry about looking for very powerful ones.

I'm thinking you're right. Uninstall it, and the error should go away. If it doesn't, boot to SafeMode (tap F8 during POST to get to boot selection menu where you can pick SafeMode) and look in your Event Viewer to see which specific driver it was that caused the crash/BSOD and uninstall that one.

Once the crashing and BSOD has stopped you can reinstall the driver, either in SafeMode or normal, and that should take care of it. If it doesn't you will need to test out various installation methods, like As Administrator, or without AV running, or in SafeMode, and so on.

 

Will definitely uninstall it because like you I am of the mind that it is AVS. I left it running yesterday morning and it should have been at a certain point when I got home but the computer had completely rebooted -waiting on the password and there was a .dmp report when I ran WhoCrashed (can't remember what it said though - something about USB). Will report back this weekend.

 

Well Mimsy I'm about ready to cry uncle. Turned on the computer and right into a SERVICE EXCEPTION BSOD. Tried turning it off but noticed after powering off the keyboard light was still on, had to turn off from power strip several times before it turned off. Tried turning it on got slowly blinking power light. Finally got to SAFE MODE and the Event Viewer. The Event Count was 1,031. The log from the top read with today's date: WMI (1), SERVICE CONTROL MANAGER (8), DISTRIBUTED COM (1) and WINLOGON (1). This is all I could photo before it rebooted. The list is in order and the numbers are how many times the event appeared in a row. UNCLE!!!!! (Unless you tell me it's worth moving further). Love the machine and hate to give up.

 

I ran sfc/scannow from the cmd line after doing a little reading and it said that the integrity was alright. And then I ran the event viewer again and was able to get a better look. It looks different after I ran the scannow and the computer is running just a little better. I don't know if it really is or if I just want it to be. I noticed that when I clicked on a few that they mentioned a program that I have installed called DriverMax. Should I delete that program? Here is the event log zipped. I don't know if it will do any good if you can't click on them.

 

That event log is... disconcerting. There's a lot of things giving errors and warnings, far too many for it to be a single program or process. I would say, based on that event log, that you either have a serious problem with windows itself, or you have hardware problems. Neither option is very encouraging.

How is the computer running now? Stable, crashing, sluggish, or back to normal?

If it's still unstable, it might be worth your while to reset the CMOS. Some motherboards get confused when you swap components back and forth, particularly ones that they may not recognize, and need a full reset back to factory defaults to go back to being themselves again.

CMOS resets can be tricky, so don't do it unless you're completely comfortable with the process. If you do it wrong, you could end up hurting your motherboard, and cause more problems, which we really don't want at this point. This article gives you three different ways to reset CMOS. I suggest the BIOS method first, the battery method second. The jumper method is the easiest one to accidentally get wrong, the BIOS method the easiest to get right. Battery method depends on your manual dexterity.

 

To get the meanings of the error codes generated, go here. This will give you a better idea as to whether the problems are hardware or software related.

 

Good Morning Mimsy and mdonah.

Mimsy I am not afraid to reset the CMOS or anything else with a computer. I like to learn and sometimes I learn the hard way. My theory is if I don't cure it I'll kill it and its not working correctly anyway so I will give it a try. After resetting the CMOS should I do a fresh install of Windows 7. I don't have that much stuff on the computer or anything that needs backing up. It's still crashing randomly and yesterday I got a BSOD that talked about hardware changing or something like that when I first booted but nothing has been changed hardware wise since I set up the computer. I did finally get it started again but didn't run any programs and it stayed on all day and night until this morning when I shut it down. I did read an article saying that Avast and Virtual Clone Drive might be culprits - I do have both installed - just letting you know. Thanks to both of you.

Mdonah - Thank you for the error code guide. I appreciate that.

 

No, you don't need to reinstall Windows after a CMOS reset. However, if you want to reinstall it's not going to hurt. And it would conclusively rule out if the problems are software caused or not.

 

I will probably reset the CMOS over the weekend and see how it runs and report back on Monday. If the problems continue after Monday I will reset the CMOS again and reinstall everything and see how that goes.

 

I reset the CMOS by pulling the battery and did a fresh install of Windows 7 64bit. I did notice that while loading it told me things about the software that it didn't tell me before. Then I loaded the software that I had before. Now to do the driver updates. We shall see..... Will keep you updated.

By the way....I noticed that my CPU is 42C (109F) and my System is 40C (104F). Is that too high and what can I do if it is.

 

Both those are fully acceptable temperatures, in fact, they're very good. When it comes to the CPU, if it says under 60C under heavy workload, you have nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the update! Please let us know how it works out going forward.

 

Hi Mimsy

I'm back but without any good news. I've reset the CMOS several times and have done numerous fresh installs with the same results (at least three or four). I'm still getting BSODs with all kinds of error messages. The one I got last night I don't think I've seen before. It suggested updating the BIOS do you think that this might be the problem - Its an American Megatrends. Could the CPU be bad? Just throwing out some things because I'm thinking about making this a project and installing another motherboard but don't want to throw away good money on something that has no hope of working. Your thoughts and advice have been so helpful in these frustrating times.