Laptop memory

[suityou01]

Thanks for all your responses.

I have ruled out dirty contacts.
I have ruled out cosmic rays.
I have ruled out sunspots.

I have discovered that when replacing RAM in a laptop, one should :

First remove the battery.
Second depress the power button for 10 seconds (this resets the CMOS)
Install memory.
Replace battery.

Off and running.

Windows installed, but the HDD keeps reporting itself as varying sizes so maybe the SATA controller is naffed. I note it had been overheating so I dismantled it and "hoovered" it out. This stopped the overheating and allowed Windows to be installed, but during the installation process it wants to reboot and then it won't come back up. I let it cool and then booted and it said missing operating system, when I actually expected it to move to phase 2 of the windows install.

Any machine that misbehaves when it warms up must have had some heat damage IMVHO.

Conclusion, I bought a rucker.

Frakin ebay.

[Platypus]

Except when I went to install windows it got 57% through and shut itself down

That sounds like the RAM is still bad. I know from past painful experience that bad RAM = Windows won't install.

Seriously: try some Crucial memory. If that doesn't work, you have a more serious problem (i.e. motherboard)

[Churchill]

Damn those stray cosmic rays, sir! Damn them I say!

[threaded]

People often say dirty contacts, but, I ask, how? The chip has presumably been in the laptop since manufacture, and inside the machine, so how have contaminants got in there?

I'd like to think a stray cosmic ray, passing through, caused an "SCR lock-up". Because a laptop always has some charge wandering about it was held on. Taking the chip out allowed it to discharge.

And I much prefer my theory for incidents such as this.

[b0redom]

You're working on a laptop with only 1GB of memory!?

[The Wikir Man]

Have you tried bleeding the radiators?

[TykeMerc]

Why? Because the contacts were dirty. Removing and replacing the old RAM cleaned them up enough to work.

WSS is extremely likely.

[suityou01]

Why? Because the contacts were dirty. Removing and replacing the old RAM cleaned them up enough to work.

Very good Zips.
I swopped em back and forwards a few times. Old RAM worked, new'un did not. So I started thinking about CMOS resets. It turns out, when swapping RAM in a laptop you should do it with the battery removed. Then hold the power button down for 5-10s as this resets the CMOS.

Then switch back on and weyhey

Except when I went to install windows it got 57% through and shut itself down and now won't boot. I can get to the BIOS screen but no more.

I think this laptop is well and truly fooked.

[Zippy]

Why? Because the contacts were dirty. Removing and replacing the old RAM cleaned them up enough to work.

[suityou01]

Because you didn't order from Crucial.

I thought everyone knew that.

You deserve your troubles because you went to PC World

Thanks

[Platypus]

Because you didn't order from Crucial.

I thought everyone knew that.

You deserve your troubles because you went to PC World

[suityou01]

The next thing to go wrong in my ongoing torture that I vaguely recognise as some semblance of a life.

Laptop gone on the blink. Memtest indicates the memory is naffed. PC2 5300S 1GB.

Ho hum. Off to the PC World shop. They don't have what I reserved so offer me some PC2 6400 which should "clock down". Nope.

So they then find some dearer 5300 ram. Install. Nope. Nada. Nichts. Zip. Diddly.

Put the old "partially buggered" ram in and it boots up fine.

Question to the panel.

Why?