Memory... what memory?

Hey... got a odd one here.

Dell Dimension 4400 P4 1.6GHz
2 memory slots = 1GB RAM

Was running (2) 256mb of RAM - working OK but needed to beef it up abit.

Remove (1) 256mb and replaced with a (1) 512mb adding that to the pre-existing 256mb and things seemed OK but was having "memory" issues especially with the Norton AV 2005. It would say that it would not function fully.

So just for giggles, I removed the other 256mb and replaced that with another 512mb of RAM, thus having 1024mb. Now it boots up into Safe Mode all the time.

Any assist from the crowd?

thanks

 

FYI.... because this system is needed for business during the week, I have gone back to the (1) 512mb (in the 1st memory slot) and (1) 256mb (in the 2nd memory slot). And then it boots up into windows but... after a moment it goes to "blue" screen with this exact warning...

WARNING! System memory is running very low. Norton AV Auto-Protect may not be able to function properly. Press any key to continue...

So, what is going on? Can the 24mb of memory over the 1GB be that much of an issue? But then how come when I put it at 768mb, I get "low memory" issues?

FYI... I am hoping to move this system up to WinXP (Home) version but if this keeps up not sure if that would be wise.

Thanks again

 

OK.... I uninstalled NortonAV and things seemed fine. Tried boosting the memory up to the (2) 512mb or 1024mb and it still would not load up properly - kept going to Safe Mode.

Backed it back down to 784mb and windows loaded. Checked the System info and found that under Performance it was having issues with MS-DOS compatiblity mode. Rebooted and rechecked and things seemed back to normal.

At this point, I reinstalled the Norton AV. Which also gave me some problems at first but then seemed to settle down. This was yesterday.

Today, the system seemd to be just fine. Then it suddenly disappeared off the net and needed to be rebooted and guess what... it is back to giving me that damn message about Norton AV and Low Memory.

Seriously do not understand why I am such trouble with it in just boosting its memory (a little or even a lot). The system originally came with WinXP Home on it and I am hoping to go back to that OS but I am not sure if that would help smooth out the issues that I am having right now.

Anyone?

 

ok... there is a brand difference between the 256mb stick and the 512mb stick BUT there is NO brand difference between the 512mb sticks.

But I have installed different brands of memory before and not had this much problem. Do different brands really cause this amount of problems/conflicts?

Understand the GB issue. thanks.

 

Possible Problem & Solution...?

At another site, someone answered the question that I stated here about upgrading memory on a Dell system -- does anyone else agree to the statement below?

Another problem that seems to come up quite often is installing more than 512Mb of ram on Windows 95, 98, or ME. Basically, if you want to install more than 512Mb of ram in your computer, for example 1Gb of memory, then you really should be using Windows XP. This is due to the fact that Windows 95 and 98 don't officially support more than 512Mb of ram and you may get errors happening when you use large amounts of ram. For example, I noticed that with 1Gb of ram in Windows ME, you cannot install certain graphics card drivers.

However, if you really do want to use more than 512Mb of ram in earlier versions of windows, then it is possible to do so, by editing your system.ini file. To do this, please do the following;

1. Click "start", then click "run".
2. In the box, type in the following without the quotation marks, "C:\windows\system.ini notepad"
3. Scroll down until you get to the [VCache] section.
4. If the line "MaxFileCache = " already exists, then change it to read "MaxFileCache=524288" (without the quotation marks).

If however the line doesn't already exist, then simply add it directly underneath the [VCache] section.

If this is the solution, then my upgrading this system OS to WinXP Home is the way to go to resolve the whole mess. Thanks.

 

Which Windows are you running?
Win 95, 98, ME statement about not being able to handle more than 512MB is true
Windows 2000 Pro cannot handle more than 1GB (i think )
Windows XP cannot handle more than 4GB
It is how there memory management routines are written
if you go above this threshold then the operating system ignores it or complains about it. there is no easy fix for this problem that i personnaly am aware of. my previous mother board could handle 3x1Gb 266 Ram but i was running windows 2000 pro and if i had more than 1Gb (i tried 1.5) the damn thing would get corrupted and blue screen of death me all the time till i removed the extra 512 stick.
Now running Win XP Home with 1GB, no problems at all , although my new Mobo can only take 2x1GB 400 DDR oh well, at least i wont be breaking any records lol

 

I believe you are correct on some matters:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/architec/8_ar_ts_8dbn.asp

The above link tallks about the different flavours of windows 2000. It appears that 2 gigs of memory is max for pro.

Now, windows 98 on the other matter, has a patch that allows windows to work better with more memory.

The patch is below:
http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

Could have sworn this was hosted on major geeks....

anyway, the above patch fixes:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=253912

What OS are we talking about? I know that 9x has a blue screen, but no BSOD was mentioned.

 

Will your BIOS support 1 gig of RAM? Is there anything in the manual, or their website, that says yes, or no? Bazza

 

You might also want to check the speed and whether both sticks of memory are ECC or non ECC. Mixing ECC and non ECC is not a good idea. Also the OS can be an issue.