updating BIOS to upgrade RAM

my dad has an old Inspiron 7500 , that i am trying to upgrade for him . i went to crucial.com and typed in the make and model and was told that it would handle 2 sticks of 256MB for a total of 512MB . so i ordered the appropriate RAM and installed it . once installed , the laptop won't boot . i reinstalled the 2 strips of 128MB and it booted fine . i took one 128 out and put one 256 in . now the machine boots but can't find the necessary files to run windows .

checking to see if i had the right RAM , i went to memorystock.com , and they confirmed that i indeed did have the right RAM . they also mentioned that i may need to update the BIOS . i have searched everywhere i could think of for a BIOS update , but all the ones that i have found have not been newer than the one i already have . i do not know what to try next . any help would be greatly appreciated .

hopefully , my dad won't be stuck with 256MB of total RAM . that would suck .

 

Hey man umm if you can return the ram and buy ram straight from dell that would be best.I had 2 laptops from dell and baught memory twice once it wasent compatible and second time it just didnt work.I baught dell memeory worked perfect.If you have a dell computer buy dell memory=)